To Protect and Serve

I am not an absolutist on many things,believe it or not, but I am as close to one as is possible when it comes to the 4th amendment. Absolutely nobody should be subject to having his or her property seized unless as the result of a conviction in court.

It is easy and attractive to start cutting corners with forfeiture laws because you only want to ignore the constitution to go after bad guys, like drug king pins and organized crime figures. Seems reasonable; it is easy to conclude that these scumbags don't deserve any constitutional considerations.

But, first, there is no disclaimer that the constitution does not apply to scumbags and assholes (either presumed or proven). Second, the police make mistakes in the identification of scumbags and assholes (just as they make mistakes in the identification of terrorists). And, finally, anytime you give this kind of discretionary power to the police, it will be abused in totally unforeseen ways, guaranteed.

Also absolutely nobody should have their person violated at the discretionary whim of an officer who has to pass no higher hurdle than to say he thought he smelled marijuana.

This video is tough to watch, but it is indicative of the way in which the 4th amendment, that prevents unlawful search, is taking a beating these days. This happens to be from Texas again. There are other video examples of similar activities in Texas. Yes, there have been lawsuits filed. Some of the officers involved have been fired and/or suspended. At least one has been reinstated. That isn't the point. Police need to know without a doubt (period, paragraph!) that this is not acceptable policy.

You might note in this video that the officers who supposedly smelled marijuana did not appear to make much of a search in the car itself. Apparently Texas police assume recreational pot smokers always put their unused stash up their asses or vaginas.

You will also note that the officer conducting the search did not change gloves between women or between body orifices.

The settlement in this lawsuit should bust the freaking state budget as far as I'm concerned.