Officers Said They Smelled Pot. The Judge Called Them Liars.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Police officers can often justify a search with six words: “I smelled an odor of marijuana.”

Courts in New York have long ruled if a car smells like marijuana smoke, the police can search it — and, according to some judges, even the occupants — without a warrant.

But in late July, a judge in the Bronx said in a scathing opinion that officers claim to smell marijuana so often that it strains credulity, and she called on judges across the state to stop letting police officers get away with lying about it.

“The time has come to reject the canard of marijuana emanating from nearly every vehicle subject to a traffic stop,” Judge April Newbauer wrote in a decision in a case involving a gun the police discovered in car they had searched after claiming to have smelled marijuana.

She added, “So ubiquitous has police testimony about odors from cars become that it should be subject to a heightened level of scrutiny if it is to supply the grounds for a search.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/officers-said-they-smelled-pot-the-judge-called-them-liars/ar-AAHbJOM?li=BBnb7Kz

[yonder]

1. Yet another good reason for decriminalizing/legalizing cannabis.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. Decriminalizing won't stop searched

It's still illegal to drive while high here in MI, the state with the most liberal recreational weed laws in the country. If they smell weed, it probably means you're going to be suspected of DUI in which case they'll search your vehicle and test you.

[yonder]

12. How does Michigan test for cannabis intoxication?

[Johnny2X2X]

13. The have a sobriety test just like DUI before breathalyzers

They were doing a swab test as a trial but the results weren't reliable so they've stopped that.

I imagine it will be like DUIs before breathalyzers, you fail a field test, get arrested and then they take blood.

[yonder]

21. From the OP's link:

"Some other states have more stringent rules. North Carolina, for instance, does not allow the smell of pot to justify a search of the occupants of the vehicle." I can only hope that with the trend toward decriminalization we will see more states adopt this approach.

Unfortunately, I have every confidence that, for now, my very red state will use "smelling the smell" as justification for a search/test, whether warranted or not.

[Danascot]

17. Do the tests actually indicate that one is under the influence?

Last I heard they only proved that you had smoked pot in the last 10 days or so.

[alfredo]

18. When I was living in Michigan, it felt weird driving sober.

Even the cops got high.

One day I picked up an off duty cop in my cab. He proceeded to roll joints and lit them up as we traveled through the west side of Detroit. We were stopping off at brothels and dealers apartments picking up his payoffs. That went on for a couple of hours. Once finished with his rounds he gave me a $20 tip, and two fatties. At that time, a $20 tip was good. Fares were split 50/50.

I didn't believe he could walk after all he consumed. I guess being a cop, drugs don't affect them the same. When I got home I sparked up. Two tokes and I was comatose. That cop must have been super human.

In Ann Arbor John Sinclair dug some "bomb craters" then planted weed in them. Ann Kalso had a store there for selling earth shoes. The franchisee was a guy named Tiny. He turned out to be a big time dealer. He got assassinated. Also up there there was a big time health food distributor. They got their seed money by shipping bales of pot up from Florida.

A good time was had by all, except for Tiny.

[WePurrsevere]

27. NY recently passed a law expanding decriminalization...

so now up 2 ounces is considered only a violation with up to a $200 fine. While not the fully legalized most of us would like to see at least it's a forward motion and there's even more hope for full legalisation next year if the reps can iron out the financial stuff I heard was the road block to passage.

From HERE...

New York decriminalized small amounts of the drug in 1977, up to 25 grams, or nearly an ounce. The new bill will treat possession of less than one ounce as a violation subject to a $50 fine; possession of between one to two ounces, currently a Class B misdemeanor, will become a violation punishable by up to a $200 fine. More than two ounces would still be considered a crime, not a violation. Under the bill, smoking marijuana in public will be a violation. It had previously been considered a misdemeanor.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Finally!!!!!!

It's their "go-to" excuse for a search. About time this "tactic" was called out.

[Newest Reality]

3. Legality

It was great to see a judge call them on that flagrant abuse and miscarriage of justice.

It is so ridiculous that some states still hold out on decriminalization at this point. It is both archaic and laughable as well as tragic to continue to enforce archaic laws like that and affect people's lives, families and livelihood that way. There is no real excuse for that and obviously, we see how those antiquated laws lend themselves to abuse by law enforcement, which is a crime in itself.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. This judge makes good points...and I agree that pot should be made legal, but this will mean...

that they'll come up w/ something else (instead of a pot smell, they smell something else, etc.).

[NightWatcher]

5. But now that hemp is legal, the smell is no longer 100% indicative of a crime and no longer valid PC

(Probable Cause)

They've had to throw out a ton of cases for this reason.

Plus, the driver or other occupant may have been present where it was legally smoked (but not intoxicated themselves) and is this no longer valid PC.

[Va Lefty]

6. LEAGLIZE IT!

[irisblue]

7. Testa-Lying by LEOs.

Shocking

[JudyM]

9. Ha! Heightened scrutiny. Clever judge.

[Midnight Writer]

10. There should be a statistical test of this. How often does a pot smell search reveal actual pot?

[Mr.Bill]

16. Counting the times

the cops plant it, or not?

[Mr.Bill]

11. They do the same thing with "I smelled alcohol on their breath".

I was riding in a car my wife was driving and we were both alcohol free. We pulled into one of those roadside sobriety checks and the cop said he smelled alcohol on my wife's breath. She is an RN and had just gotten off a 12 hour shift. They got her out of the car and put her through one of those roadside tests that you have to be an 18 year old gymnast to pass, then had her blow into a breathalyzer. She blew a .00 and of course they ley us go. No apology or anything. Actually they were quite rude.

[cannabis_flower]

14. Maybe

They smelled rubbing alcohol on her fingers and thought it was on her breath.

[Mr.Bill]

15. No. When you leave work at a hospital, you wash your hands thoroughly.

[TheBlackAdder]

19. What's bullshit are drug-sniffing dogs. They can make any motion and the officer says, it's a signal

.

Or the dogs can be trained to react to certain words or gestures to react.

.

[Midnight Writer]

20. Exactly. They pat the car door and the dog goes to sniff. Hell, my dumbass dog will do that.

[uponit7771]

22. K&R,

[ck4829]

25. +1

[soryang]

23. the driver seemed nervous, was sweating, or looked like he reached for something...

I've heard this bs in the courtroom and the judge let's it fly. I've wondered how many times the cops found nothing. Okay here's your ticket get the signal light fixed. It's usually black drivers I saw getting their vehicle tossed on the side of the highway.

[ck4829]

24. K&R

[The Wizard]

26. Whenever they shot someone

they said they saw a shiny object in the victim's hand. Another standard pretext is the victim reached for his waistband. And there's the ever popular "The victim failed to comply with the officer's commands."

[2naSalit]

28. Yeah like

"Stop resisting!" while handcuffed on the ground.

[hughee99]

29. So this person had a gun on them that they were not supposed to have

And the story doesn’t seem to really get into that at all? It feels like just last week everyone was talking about how dangerous guns are, especially in the hands of people not allowed to have them. How we need to do whatever is necessary, even if it’s marginally constitutional, but the place the line is drawn is “I think I smell pot”?