Doorknob swabs challenged as invasion of rights (Drug tests on doorknobs)

[Khephra]

SALT LAKE CITY -- A man's home is his castle. To three Utahns, that means their sanctuary extends all the way to their doorknobs.

But they claim police are trespassing by wiping door handles or doorknobs with a cloth that collects traces of illegal drugs.

The men, in separate cases, are challenging the use of test results that allegedly revealed microscopic drug particles on their front doors _ information officers used to bolster their requests for search warrants.

To the trio, the high-tech approach is a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches.

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=DOORKNOBS-09-07-04

[arcos]

1. Mussolini would be proud... n/t

[Fovea]

2. What 4th amendment?

And now, welcome to PATRIOT Amerika.
This Fascist takeover brought to you by DARE.

[gulfcoastliberal]

3. Jesus

What 4th amendment? The war on drugs is really a war on Americans and the constitution.

[bahrbearian]

4. I'm for it , Starting with Camp David.

[punpirate]

5. There are so many legal and logical holes to...

... this procedure, I can't imagine any court acknowledging it as evidence for warrants. Someone you do not know tries to enter illegally and leaves traces. If police have that person under surveillance, you, too, could be brought into a case by having a warrant served on that basis.

Or, you could pick up a trace in a public place and then deposit it on your own doorknob.

This sounds rather insidious.

[leesa]

6. OK. So their drug use is so discreet that they have to resort to this?

Then I really don't think there IS a problem. Psycho cops.

[wrang_wrang]

7. Test the $100 bills in Republican politicians' pockets

This procedure will be discontinued within 24 hours.

[skygazer]

8. Okay, so this means

that when the Young Republicans come to my door campaigning for the Shrub

and I'm in the kitchen with my hands in the sink doing my dishes

and I holler "come in!" because I think it's my neighbor coming over for coffee

and they touch my doorknob and get cocaine residue all over it

I wind up in trouble?

Fuck that.

[mtnester]

9. God Bless America...

what's left of it

[acmavm]

10. What an easy way to frame someone. Smear a little bit of an illegal

drug on their door know and then call the police with an anonymous tip.

This is stupid. No way to really prove how the drug got there, or who is responsible for it.

[Khephra]

11. Heck, a cop who had just come from a drug bust who was visiting

a suspect could end up providing the drug residue themselves and not even purposefully!

[oscar111]

12. moved to another thread

Alsxxxxxx