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I Hear You Knocking
Recently, I read with much interest about the Supreme Court decision concerning how long police officers must wait before they can enter the residence of a suspected drug dealer. Prior to the decision, it has been a back and forth argument about what constitutes a reasonable time before the police can forcibly enter a residence. Some of our more liberal minded friends had been upset that the police would enter the residence forcibly at all. In other words, why not simply knock, identify yourself as the POLICE and wait on the appropriate response of the resident opening the door? What city in the state of Utopia are these people residing? Remember, we are not talking about the Avon representative or the friendly face from Welcome Wagon; we are talking about the POLICE. You know, the guys that we have entrusted to put people in jail who violate the law. Let's get serious. Should we be expected to notify drug dealers by telegram? It is obvious that some believe that this is what is needed, in order to give reasonable notice.
Having spent some considerable time on the outside of that very door, let me give you a first hand look at how these situations occur. First of all, let's lay down the ground rules:
Rule number 1: Illegal drugs are against the law. With the exception of a few cities on the west coast who have authorized medicinal marijuana to be in the home, there are no exceptions to this rule. If you are in possession of illegal drugs, you are a criminal.
Rule number 2: Police are sworn to uphold the law and arrest those who violate those laws. This is their creed. If you are involved in illegal drugs, the police are going to focus that creed on you.
Rule number 3: Drug offenders have been known, on occasion, to flush those illegal drugs down the toilet when they think the police are at the door.
Rule number 4: This process takes about 10 seconds.
Rule number 5: If there are no drugs, there is no evidence, there is no case.
Rule number 6: Although this may comes as a complete surprise to drug violators, the police are aware of this flushing process.
Rule number 7: The Police are going to try and seize the drugs before they go down the Tidy Bowl Highway.
Rule number 8: This attempt to seize those drugs may come as they enter an opened door or as they step over one that has been knocked down.
Rule number 9: It is up to the criminal as to how entry is made.
Now that we know the rules, we come back to the original problem. How long do the police have to wait before they hear the loud swoosh that alerts them that their case just went down the toilet (no pun intended)? The Supreme Court, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that twenty seconds is a fair amount of time. Even though they actually set this time for the serving of a warrant, it applies to how drug enforcement officers will do their business (once again, no pun intended).
In defense of some who have been unfairly targeted by the police concerning bad addresses, the police must be as sure as they possibly can, that they are at the right address. There have been cases where the police have gone in forcibly only to find out that they are at the wrong address and in some cases innocent people have been seriously injured. When police utilize these methods, they must also be fully prepared to take responsibility for those wrongful entries. Remember, that most intelligence and I use that word loosely; concerning narcotics comes from people who are also users themselves. You can see the dilemma here. But, despite what we may think or see in our favorite television cop show, most drug offenders are not fond of hanging out with police officers and telling them when they will have a fresh supply of drugs in their home.
Is it a perfect system? Not by a long shot. Is it the best one we have available? I am afraid so. Of course, as always, there is a moral to this story. So here it goes. If you are a drug dealer and you have drugs in your home, be sure of two things. Be sure that you have a fortified door and a 20 second stop watch and be sure that your toilet is not stopped up. A failure on either of these can end up with some very ugly results.
For further information, visit www.voice4victims.com
If you are interested in having Mr. Hall speak at your next club or group meeting, please email contact information to:
SHall BadgeNotes@aol.com
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