1mo ago

When the evidence locker stash dries up

26 comments

Which then begs the question of whether their existence is needed.
- 80% of police work could be done better by trained social workers.
  
  The best thing would be to fully remove police from traffic tickets. Have enforcement for traffic ONLY. If you speed you are given a speeding ticket and move on. None of this let me check your asshole while I pulled you over for a broken tail light.
  
  Maybe we shouldn't make police do non-police work? Crazy idea, I know.
  Here's another: We should pay EMTs more!

I got curious. Here's the actual story:
VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. – Michigan State Police say that legalization >of marijuana is making their jobs difficult.
Officers say that they are able to smell marijuana at traffic stops but are not clear on how law enforcement should handle each situation.
Police are struggling to address reports they receive due to the legality of the substance.
“We come across a lot of kids that are under 21 that have possession of it and obviously that’s in violation so we seize it and go through the process that way but when we come across people that are 21 and older and actually have it legally that's where it's kind of hard to deal with it in that aspect," Michigan State Officer Andrew Jeffrey said.
Officer Jeffrey says police receive multiple reports of people smoking marijuana but police cannot do anything if they obtained the substance legally and are not underage.
- What's difficult about how to handle the situation of, "it's not illegal, do nothing"?
  
  Maybe they're saying that they're unsure how to handle potential DUI? Honestly, this article is so poorly written that we can't tell whether they're being whiny or making a legitimate point.
- Officer Jeffrey says police receive multiple reports of people smoking marijuana but police cannot do anything if they obtained the substance legally and are not underage.
  Yeah no shit, if it's legal for someone to have it why would the police be able to do anything?
  Aside from their general usual disregard for the rule of law.
  
  Can I start calling police whenever I'm in Michigan to report someone eating pineapple pizza? It's not illegal and it's not like I hate them for eating it, I just personally don't like the taste and therefore they shouldn't be allowed to eat it.
  That's how it goes now, right?
- I feel like I’m missing something here. How is this not just handled the same as alcohol? If underage then handle if not then move on to where a crime is actually happening.
  
  You're not missing anything.. There's a cognitive disconnect between "weed is legal now" and their brains.
  They do the thing they want, which is prioritize stopping minorities and anyone they feel is a target, and then if they smell weed.... Well* now they aren't allowed to legally brutalize someone. They have to actually find a real probable cause.
  That's what the "work is much harder now" means. Whether they say it out loud or not.
- Marijuana is a short-cut that police have been abusing for years to justify illegal searches of cars. That is what they're really up in arms about.
  Unlike many drugs, marijuana has a very pungent and distinctive odor to it. An officer can't justify a search by lying and claiming to smell cocaine. Where marijuana is illegal, police can search any vehicle or person they want simply by lying and saying they smell marijuana. Even if the search turns up nothing, that does not make the search invalid. The officer can simply claim they were mistaken. The barrier to justifying a search is rather low. It's impossible to prove the officer is lying. You can't prove they didn't smell marijuana. Marijuana is a tool that cops can use to flagrantly violate the 4th Amendment.
  This is the real reason police oppose marijuana legalization.
- Link to the article: https://www.abc57.com/news/michigan-police-claim-marijuana-legalization-has-made-work-difficult
  That half page of text is literally the whole article, quoting a single police referencing traffic stops like they imply legalized weed is causing more dangerous driving and traffic stops where they can't seize property anymore without linking the possession of medicine to an effect on their driving. There's no study that shows a link between legalizing cannabis and increased vehicle accidents or fatalities. The article reads like it was written as cop public relations with an alcohol trade group lobbyist looking over their shoulder.
  They ignore the position that drug abuse is a medical issue not a legal issue, and all drugs should be legalized for both the safety of the users and the community because it reduces violent crime and dangerous, unregulated black markets.
  
  . The article reads like it was written as cop public relations with an alcohol trade group lobbyist looking over their shoulder.
  That's because it probably was just a press release that was made into an article, which is frustratingly common.
- Ok so the meme but in long