You Don’t Have to Let Them in

A couple people have sent us this clip from the latest cop show, Police Women of Broward County. I don’t know what exactly to say about it except that if you’ve decided it’s necessary to grow your own marijuana at home, you should really teach everyone in the house about their rights during police encounters, so that they don’t rat you instantly when cops come to the door.

Either there was simply no plan in place here, or the young man just completely freaked when he saw police in the doorway. Regardless, “it’s not mine” is a really awful response when police are inquiring about the possibility of contraband in your home. I would have recommended “do you have a warrant?” instead.

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Supreme Court Upholds 4th Amendment in Arizona v. Gant

For many years, the Supreme Court has permitted police to search the passenger compartment of a vehicle any time an occupant of the car is arrested. These so-called “searches incident to arrest” were authorized in New York v. Belton (1981) based in large part on concerns about officer safety, namely that the suspect might dive for a weapon hidden in the car. As a result, police have grown accustomed to searching vehicles for “safety reasons” even after the suspect has been taken into custody. This doesn’t protect officers, but it certainly encourages police to make more arrests so they can do more searches.
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