TRAFFIC STOP

Much has been written about the recent court decision about the legality of
a traffic stop that resulted in two arrests for drug possession. I disagree
with the court's decision because of one indisputable fact: the two men
were in a car with illegal drugs. In fact, the driver admitted this when
the officer threatened to bring in a drug sniffing dog if the driver didn't
consent to the search. There was a confession before a search was ever
done. The officer was wrong because he acted on a hunch.

People in all walks of life operate on hunches. Doctors have hunches how to
treat a disease. Lawyers have hunches about how to present a case. Salesmen
use hunches, boys ask girls out on hunches, baseball players swing at a
pitch based on a hunch. Even the judges in this case had a hunch that to
hold these obviously guilty people would result in a flood of illegal
searches. I've been stopped, but officers never felt the need to search my
car. They never accused me, and I never confessed to having illegal drugs
in the car either. I think the judge's hunch is wrong.

Much has also been written about the recent death of the man in Cincinnati.
I suppose that it is tragic, but it doesn't strike me as tragic as the
deaths of police officers who are killed or assaulted each year while on
duty. In 2002, 56 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the
line of duty.

Harry Stewart,

Warner Robins