Thread: Busloads of ski-bound teens turn pot over to Nevada police is this an illegal search

Nazi Sheriff Illegally Searches Busloads of ski-bound teens who lick his boot or else

12-30-2011 • Reuters
Five busloads of students who stopped in Nevada en route to a ski trip were given a break on Thursday when police let them to go free in exchange for turning over large quantities of marijuana and alcohol stashed in their luggage.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7BT06O20111230


Busloads of ski-bound teens turn pot over to Nevada police

By Stephen Ward

LAS VEGAS | Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:29pm EST

(Reuters) - Five busloads of students who stopped in Nevada en route to a ski trip were given a break on Thursday when police let them to go free in exchange for turning over large quantities of marijuana and alcohol stashed in their luggage.

Elko Police Chief Don Zumwalt said the decision to release some 250 teenagers and their young-adult chaperons with a warning, rather than arrest them, hinged in part on a lack of jail space for detaining such a large group in the small northeastern Nevada town.

According to Zumwalt, the majority of the high school students, all of them on their way from California to a ski resort in Utah, were grateful for his generosity.

"Most kids thanked me when we were done," he said. "There were a few who weren't very happy, but for the most part I'm gonna say they were respectful."

The buses were inspected by police after a convenience store clerk called authorities to report that the youths appeared to have been smoking drugs in the parking lot of his store just off Interstate 80.

Although the teens were accompanied by chaperons, Elko police said no one present appeared to be older than 20.

Three of the town's four police patrol units were sent to the scene.

Zumwalt said that had the students declined to voluntarily give up their pot, alcohol and drug paraphernalia stowed in baggage compartments, police would have been forced to obtain a search warrant, impound the buses and place the entire group in custody.

Knowing that the nearest juvenile detention center and local jail lacked sufficient space to accommodate everyone was a factor in how police chose to handle the situation, he said.

"I don't know how many beds are over in juvenile, but we would've overwhelmed the juvenile department as well as the jail," he said. "We wouldn't have had room for all of them."

Zumwalt said Elko police have not yet weighed the marijuana they seized -- it was roughly enough to fill two large kitchen trash bags, he said -- but no one appeared under the influence at the time the buses were stopped.

He said he was trying to contact officials with the tour group, Summer Winter Action Tours, to inform them of the incident.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7BT06O20111230



Is anyone questioning why this search of 5 buss's took place to begin with???? Regardless of the fact that they had an illegal substance with them, this is an illegal search and seizure. They were let go because of that fact....but... again why were they stopped in the first place?

New Jersey cops destroy BMW searching for weed that wasn’t there

In what's being treated as a metaphor for the fruitlessness of the War on Drugs itself, New Jersey cops caused over $12,000 in damage to a BMW 325i, tearing it apart in search of marijuana. After tearing apart the dash, doors, seats and prying off exterior body panels, what'd they find? Nada.

Police impounded Darren Richardson's 2004 3-series after smelling a "strong odor of raw marijuana" during a routine traffic stop. When it was returned days later, Richardson found the dash cut apart, seats slashed, the console pried open and the bumpers and other body parts crudely pulled off his car. GEICO, his insurance company, estimated the damage at $12,636.42, more than he'd bought the car for. Totaled.

"The root of these problems, with the drug laws, is sometimes they (police departments) can't distinguish between the Medellin cartel and somebody smoking a spliff," an assistant district attorney told NJ.com.

New Jersey cops destroy BMW searching for weed that wasn't thereRichardson has now filed a claim against the department for false arrest and malicious prosecution. There's also talk that GEICO may sue the department to recover the vehicle's loss.

The incident occurred after Richardson allegedly almost caused a traffic accident. Having served time in the past for drug-related charges, a sniffer dog was brought to the scene and indicated the presence of drugs in the BMW's trunk. Unable to find any drugs during an on-site search, the local cops impounded the vehicle and enlisted the aid of a Federal drug task force to complete a comprehensive search of the vehicle.

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"The way they were acting, their whole demeanor, and the way I was antagonizing them, I knew they were going to mess with me," says Richardson of the incident. He and his passenger were initially charged with offenses ranging from evidence tampering, to resisting arrest to "making terroristic threats." All of which have now been downgraded to "petty disorderly persons offenses" that will be heard in municipal, not criminal court.

"This is a great illustration of the costs of this kind of enforcement, which yielded nothing for public safety," states the ACLU. "All those resources went for something that most Americans don't even think should be a crime."



http://jalopnik.com/5871909/new-jers...at-wasnt-there



Okay now tell me why are they not enforcing our borders confiscating this stuff along with arresting the illegals that are bringing it in????? Maybe it isn't easy pickings to do that what do you think???

I'm no legal expert, but since a store clerk called the police and told them he saw them smoking pot, it seems the police had probable cause to believe the students were doing something illegal and to investigate.

Originally Posted by patbrunz

I'm no legal expert, but since a store clerk called the police and told them he saw them smoking pot, it seems the police had probable cause to believe the students were doing something illegal and to investigate.

How did they know that a store clerk at the store didn't want to cause trouble for there own reasons of his or her own, just to make trouble for them. I mean come on 5 busloads he saw smoking pot? So now we are at the possibility of a whistle blower with an axe to grind any where or for anyone is allowed to make that call. Okay good one there, now think of the possibilities that could arise from that scenario! Truth or fiction...hmmm stranger than for me!!!!