Potheads make my job easy

Brent left a comment on my last post saying "they make our job soooo easy". That statement is even more true when applied to potheads.

So far in my short time on the road I've made two small marijuana busts. Both were made incredibly easy by the actions of the bustees. The first came in the middle of July when I was still on FTO. My FTO and I were on a backroad on the outside of town. It was dark, and traffic was very light. I see a car approaching and it is missing a headlight. Well I'm bored since nothing is happening on the graveyard shift. I decided to stop the one-light car thinking I'll just give the driver a "fix-it" ticket.

I make a nice U-turn and get behind my target. I also notice it is missing a taillight and the license plate is improperly displayed. All valid reasons to stop the car. I let dispatch know I was going 10-60 and give my location, description of the vehicle, and the fact that it is occupied six times. My dispatcher freaks out a little bit and requests backup for me (I would have anyway, but never got a chance) I then switch on my overheads and spot light. As soon as I do this I see the three passengers in the back seat start moving around and bending over. "I need to get into this car" I think to myself, as my FTO asks if I saw that.

I approach the car and realize all occupants are juveniles. I get the driver's license and registration, and notice he is only sixteen years old. Better yet he has only had his license for three months, and in my state a new driver may not have passengers in the vehicle until he or she has had a driver's license for at least six months. This means everyone is coming out of the car and parents will be called.... at this point I notice something on the floorboard between the driver's feet. "Hmmm what can this be" I think as I shine my flashlight on the object. Sure enough it's a multicolored glass pipe. I now don't need to worry about the new driver I have my probable cause.

Out of the vehicle comes everyone. Two more deputies arrive, and with big grins on our faces we begin searching the car. I find a container with a "green leafy substance" in the ashtray and another pipe under the driver's seat. One of the other deputies finds another container with a "green leafy substance" under the passenger's seat.

None of the six people in the car seem to know where all this weed and the two pipes came from. No one would own up to bringing the pot. It must have been beamed aboard the car by Scotty from Star Trek because no one knows where it came from. Sooooo.... everyone was cited. Parents were called and juvenile court dates were set.

My second bust came two weeks ago. Early on my shift (I'm on afternoons now) I was dispatched on a suspicious persons call. The complainant has an open field behind her house and saw four people out there and heard screaming. I arrive and find four young adults sitting on lawn chairs under some trees. I can only think of one reason they'd be out there around 4:20pm, but I don't see any paraphernalia.

"What are we all doing out here?" I ask.

"Oh, nothing. Just enjoying the nice day."

B.S. Enjoying a nice green leafy substance is more like it. No one has written permission from the property owner to be there so I herd them all out of the field, and back to their car where I begin running names. Well one of them has a warrant. Not big enough for the jail to accept with the booking restrictions, but he doesn't know that. I tell him of his warrant and ask if he has anything on him I should know about. He says no, and I can't find anything. I ask to search the car. "Sure go ahead". Nothing in the car.... Damnit! I know these guys are smoking dope. Knowing potheads I know they'll be back. I make a big deal about telling Mr. Warrant that I'm cutting him a break by not taking him to jail, and that if I see any of them back out here I'm citing them all for trespassing. I cut them loose.

Several hours later, after dark, I return to the same field, and find a car parked back off the road. Three males are loitering near it. I tell dispatch I'll be out with three 10-47 males, and go to make contact. Well guess who one of them happens to be.... That's right, Mr. Warrant. I look at him and say "you again. Didn't I tell you not to come back?"

"Well I thought...."

"No, you weren't thinking."

And that is when I caught a wiff of burnt marijuana. I ask the other two nitwits what they are all doing out in a field at night. I get the standard response of "we were just hanging out".

"So if I look in your car I'm not going to find anything illegal?"

"No, go ahead and take a look," says one nitwit as he goes and opens the driver's side door for me. These guys didn't even make it a challenge. The weed was sitting in a plastic bag between the door and the driver's seat. I didn't even have to look for it. I pulled it out and let them know they were going to cut the crap and start telling the truth. Nitwit number one says it's his and produces another bag of pot from the ashtray, and a pipe from one of his pockets. He then opens the trunk where there is half a twelve pack of Corona, and shows me his pain pills. He has a prescription for the pills and it over 21 so he can have the beer. No appears to have been drinking so it's a citation for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia, a criminal trespassing charge for Mr. Warrant, and I get to book evidence!