Police stage a car jacking


The War on Drugs charts another exception
Sometimes I think government agencies are more interested in protecting and expanding their powers than protecting liberty. Case in point. Emphasis added.

But it was all a set up worthy of David Mamet. DEA agents were tracking a drug gang and had bought drugs out of the car months earlier, though not when Alverez-Tejeda was there.  Using wiretaps and surveillance, the DEA learned that Alverez-Tejeda was using the leader's car to transport illicit drugs. The agents then decided to stage something, perhaps even a carjacking, in order to seize the drugs without tipping off the conspirators. They never consulted a judge, but every person in the story, other than Alverez-Tejeda and his girlfriend, was a cop of some sort.

Once they got the car, the agents got a search warrant without telling the judge about the caper and seized cocaine and methamphetamines, as well as property belonging to Alverez-Tejeda and his girlfriend. The government indicted Alverez-Tejeda but the district court in Washington found that the caper violated the Fourth Amendment, thus making the drugs inadmissable in court. The government appealed.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's decision Friday, finding that this police escapade was legal since the cops had probable cause already to seize and search the car, thanks to the vehicle exception to the Fourth Amendment created by the courts during the War on Drugs. Therefore, the court found, the police are allowed much latitude in how they seize the car and arrest the driver.  The tap was considered only a minimal use of force, and the fake chase wasn't considered to have put any civilians lives in danger.

Just think about that. Cops breaking the law in order to enforce the law.

And yes, they were breaking the law. If it hadn't been a "police agency" that staged the car jacking, there could have been criminal charges filed. It's these exceptions to the law that make some police believe that they do not have to answer to the public.

Now I am not defending the guy, his girlfriend, or whatever they were involved in. I just have to question the tactics the police chose and without judicial approval.

Okay, I have problems with the Drug War anyway, I believe that most of the problems would fix themselves if it were left to the free market.

But come on! Police staging a crime? Sounds like something out of a bad movie.

If we can't depend on the police to follow the law, then why have them?

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - June 15, 2007 at 12:22 PM  Tag


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