Pubdate: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV) Copyright: 2013 Las Vegas Review-Journal Website: http://www.lvrj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n573/a04.html Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n573/a07.html Author: William C. Dwyer DRUG WAR ARRESTS To the editor: The Review-Journal's Monday editorial ("No drugs on you?"), concerning the incarceration of people who do not possess drugs, is a lot of things: infuriating, misleading, inaccurate and irresponsible. Having been a police officer for 32 years, I take exception to much of what was written, and to one line in particular: alleging police forces "lock up citizens for nothing at all." Really? First of all, any police officer who engages in arresting people for nothing should not be a cop. The Review-Journal cited the Norman Gurley case in Ohio as an example. I am not familiar with the case, but I am highly skeptical of what the Review-Journal calls facts. Nor am I familiar with the Ohio law that made having a secret compartment a felony. Apparently the legislature was convinced it had merit. Police everywhere operate on one basic concept: probable cause. The Review-Journal questions an Ohio state trooper's veracity on whether or not the vehicle in question reeked of the smell of marijuana. I have experienced the same thing many times. When a police officer approaches a vehicle and notices the unmistakable, pungent odor of marijuana permeating from the car, it becomes obvious that there is marijuana there. If the Review-Journal had an inclination to be fair and objective, they might have wondered why, combined with the odor, such a secret compartment existed. The possibility a person constructed it to conceal sunglasses or tools doesn't, as the Review-Journal suggested, pass the sniff test. You know the old adage, "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck =C2=85" While joining the ranks to legalize grass, you might want to consider why a huge number of companies have policies mandating drug testing for marijuana. I wonder if the Review-Journal does such testing. WILLIAM C. DWYER LAS VEGAS - --- MAP posted-by: Matt