When a story like this comes along, one really wishes that it didn’t happen and that it didn’t have to be told to anyone. But the sad fact is, mistakes do happen, and some of them are pretty awful.
For forty years the United States has engaged in what former President Nixon called “The War on Drugs.” Most people today see the statistics and conclude that it hasn’t stopped anything, has just become terribly costly, and that we need to figure out a different plan, probably including more in the way of help and therapy.
During summer 2011, police were told by a “credible source” that a particular woman whom we’ll call Jane had heroin in her possession. The woman was arrested and the Metro Narcotics Agency of Las Cruces, NM ordered her to undergo a cavity search at Memorial Medical Center. Now this means that she was forced to let someone check inside all of her body cavities to see if there were any drugs hidden there. The sad fact is, people hide drugs in such ways all of the time, and it is not that unusual. But in this case, no drugs were found.
Adding extreme insult to incredible injury, she was then hit with the bill for $1,122 to pay for the search. She hired an attorney who brought the claim to the county, telling them that they should be held responsible for the “unlawful” hospital fees.
She had no criminal record, and had not been formally arrested or charged with any crime. Yet she was held for several hours based on hearsay.
There was a somewhat similar case in Cleveland, Ohio, where a woman served 16 months in prison before her “credible” informant was arrested for murder and then admitted that he had made his entire accusation of her up.
Is it a stretch to consider the idea that maybe a criminal might lie to the police about such things? It reminds one just a little too much of “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller wherein women were burned as witches on the testimony of a couple of young girls who were just getting back at people.
Apparently more officers are relying on informants rather than using undercover officers, which is more costly and time consuming. The result is that there have been more unfair arrests and searches without proper evidence.
If this doesn’t meet the standard of “illegal search and seizure” I don’t know what does. Methods have to change.
