23536
Bluelight Crew
When Pompton Lakes police seized Darren Richardson’s car on a rainy September afternoon, they told him it was headed for an impound lot. When they returned it three weeks later, he says, the 2004 BMW belonged in a junk yard.
The instrument cluster and leather dashboard were gone. The caramel-colored seats were torn up. The gear shift was ripped out and stray wires hung limp everywhere. Geico, Richardson’s insurance company estimated the damage at $12,636.42 — more than he paid for the car — and declared the vehicle a "total loss."
According to police reports, the damage to the black BMW 325i came in the aftermath of a traffic stop during which officers detected a "strong odor of raw marijuana" inside the vehicle. Searching for a cache of drugs, members of three different police agencies and a detective from a federal drug task force spent two days tearing the car apart, the reports said.
So what did police find after their $12,000 search?
Absolutely nothing.
The incident has led to an internal affairs investigation by the Pompton Lakes Police Department, opened the door for litigation that could cost local taxpayers and left experts wondering whether the department wasted resources in pursuit of what many see as a minor crime.
"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," said Eugene O’Donnel, a former police officer and assistant district attorney who teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.
. . .
According to the police reports, Agosto smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. Moments later, Richardson and his passenger got out of the car and continued arguing with Agosto, but found themselves in handcufffs by the end of the dispute, according to the police reports.
From inside Agosto’s cruiser, Richardson watched a drug-sniffing dog scratch at the BMW’s trunk, indicating the presence of narcotics, according to the report. Police obtained a search warrant and Richardson’s car was impounded, the reports said.
Four days later, at an impound lot, police conducted another search of the vehicle, according to police reports. A second dog was used, but this canine scratched at the dashboard, not the trunk, the reports said.
Unable to find the source of the drug scent, police called in a "trap expert" to see if marijuana was hidden in a secret compartment inside the vehicle. Nothing was found. With the car now partially disassembled and unable to be driven, Pompton Lakes police contacted New York City Detective Ellen Friedman, an expert in concealed drug compartments who is part of a Drug Enforcement Administration task force, the reports said.
On Sept. 28, Friedman searched the car and found nothing, but told police that at one time it may have been used as a drug transport in the past, according to the reports. Richardson denied that allegation.
In the end, the searches yielded no drugs, but resulted in more than $12,600 in damage to Richardson’s car, according to an itemized insurance claim.
. . .
Civil rights advocates said the case illustrates how many police agencies waste resources in pursuit of marijuana offenders.
"This is a great illustration of the costs of this kind of enforcement, which yielded nothing for public safety," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the state ACLU. "All those resources went for something that most Americans don’t even think should be a crime."
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/in_futile_car_search_for_drugs.html
The instrument cluster and leather dashboard were gone. The caramel-colored seats were torn up. The gear shift was ripped out and stray wires hung limp everywhere. Geico, Richardson’s insurance company estimated the damage at $12,636.42 — more than he paid for the car — and declared the vehicle a "total loss."
According to police reports, the damage to the black BMW 325i came in the aftermath of a traffic stop during which officers detected a "strong odor of raw marijuana" inside the vehicle. Searching for a cache of drugs, members of three different police agencies and a detective from a federal drug task force spent two days tearing the car apart, the reports said.
So what did police find after their $12,000 search?
Absolutely nothing.
The incident has led to an internal affairs investigation by the Pompton Lakes Police Department, opened the door for litigation that could cost local taxpayers and left experts wondering whether the department wasted resources in pursuit of what many see as a minor crime.
"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," said Eugene O’Donnel, a former police officer and assistant district attorney who teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.
. . .
According to the police reports, Agosto smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. Moments later, Richardson and his passenger got out of the car and continued arguing with Agosto, but found themselves in handcufffs by the end of the dispute, according to the police reports.
From inside Agosto’s cruiser, Richardson watched a drug-sniffing dog scratch at the BMW’s trunk, indicating the presence of narcotics, according to the report. Police obtained a search warrant and Richardson’s car was impounded, the reports said.
Four days later, at an impound lot, police conducted another search of the vehicle, according to police reports. A second dog was used, but this canine scratched at the dashboard, not the trunk, the reports said.
Unable to find the source of the drug scent, police called in a "trap expert" to see if marijuana was hidden in a secret compartment inside the vehicle. Nothing was found. With the car now partially disassembled and unable to be driven, Pompton Lakes police contacted New York City Detective Ellen Friedman, an expert in concealed drug compartments who is part of a Drug Enforcement Administration task force, the reports said.
On Sept. 28, Friedman searched the car and found nothing, but told police that at one time it may have been used as a drug transport in the past, according to the reports. Richardson denied that allegation.
In the end, the searches yielded no drugs, but resulted in more than $12,600 in damage to Richardson’s car, according to an itemized insurance claim.
. . .
Civil rights advocates said the case illustrates how many police agencies waste resources in pursuit of marijuana offenders.
"This is a great illustration of the costs of this kind of enforcement, which yielded nothing for public safety," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the state ACLU. "All those resources went for something that most Americans don’t even think should be a crime."
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/in_futile_car_search_for_drugs.html
