Drug War Produces Bullies In Blue

Drugs are evil, but the fact that they can be so easily flushed down the toilet, moved, or placed in unexpected places without being noticed means that criminalizing them has created other problems. One problem: it is too easy to get rid of evidence, which puts pressure on law enforcement to erode Fourth Amendment protections. Another problem is it is so easy to plant evidence.

Collinsville, Illinois is small town outside St. Louis. If you ever stay overnight there in a hotel, unless something changes, it is possible that you will have drugs smeared on your car—enough so that drug dog can pick up the scent. If you then were to get stopped by a cop for any reason, and he happened to have a K-9 with him, you could get in deep trouble.

If this sounds strange, similar things have already happened. People get stopped for no reason at all, the police officer tells you a story about how he caught you “weaving” or doing something else on the road, and he finds an excuse to use a drug dog.

That is exactly what happened to Terrance Huff. He and his friend went to the Saint Louis Science Center to see a Star Trek display. The next day, Huff’s fortieth birthday, he drove back home but was pulled over by Officer Michael Reichert. Eventually, after creating a story about “weaving” on the road as a pretext for searching the vehicle, and then inventing another story about Huff’s friend seeming “real nervous,” ...

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