Liberty Minute March 19 2014

Georgia resident Adam Bennett was a passenger in a truck driven by his girlfriend. A police officer stopped them and said that the truck was missing a rear bumper. Rather than performing a license check, the officer immediately asked if either the driver or the passenger was on probation or parole. Bennett volunteered that he was on probation for drugs. Eventually, a small amount of drugs was found during a search of Bennett?s clothing.

Bennett filed a motion to suppress the drug evidence. A state appeals court ruled that the search was impermissible because the officer had not prolonged the pretense that it was intended to address a traffic violation. Instead, the officer dropped the pretext and went directly to a search for narcotics.

The typical traffic stop pits a vulnerable citizen against an armed stranger who is given a license to lie. Yes, there are decent and conscientious people who become police officers ? but their social function is to extract revenue from you and put you in a cage if they can find an excuse to do so. Obviously, people shouldn?t commit acts that would justify prosecution ? but they also shouldn?t underestimate the ability of cops to devise an excuse to do so anyway.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.