It’s no wonder people have lost faith in our justice system, and no wonder why the police are throwing up their hands in frustration.
A recent news story out of Kelowna paints a disturbing picture of what’s wrong with the system, particularly with how our laws are written.
Try not to laugh too much.
Police set up surveillance of an apartment where they believed drug trafficking was taking place. They subsequently started following a vehicle and pulled it over for a traffic violation. An officer then noticed a marijuana joint near a passenger whom he suspected was a drug dealer.
An arrest was made, and the officer noticed a creamy lotion in the glove box. This prompted the officer to suspect that the man had used it to shove drugs up his rectum, which is what happened in a similar drug bust the officer had made previously.
The suspect was then taken to a holding cell that had its water turned off. (You know where this is going.) The idea was the man could not use the toilet to flush away any evidence.
Sure enough, the suspect was later found pushing feces-covered plastic packages through the floor drain. These 53 packages contained heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, the drug that has been killing many addicts lately.
Kudos to the cops who caught this guy red-handed, and to the officer whose hunch paid off.
But not so fast, partner. The judge wasn’t done talking, so sit down. He said the man’s arrest and detainment were unlawful, therefore, the drugs up the guy’s butt should be excluded as evidence in the trial.
Say that again; I don’t think we heard right.
The judge explained that the driver of the suspect vehicle was only guilty of failing to signal a lane change, which did not give the officer a reasonable suspicion of drug possession.
What a bunch of crap! Pardon the pun. Are you sure this wasn’t a television crime show? Yes, it was real!
All we can say is “unbelievable.”
The police took the time to set up surveillance of a suspected drug house, followed the drug dealers and pulled them over for a traffic violation. Marijuana was found, along with rectum cream, and to make a long story short, the guy crapped out hard drugs, the kind that kill people, and he tried to get rid of the evidence.
Then along comes a judge to deem the arrest unlawful. Drug dealers have rights too, you know, despite the fact many people are dying from the drugs that these guys are pushing.
What a deplorable system we have when the rights of criminals supersede our right to live in a safe society.
Lyonel Doherty, editor
