The Inefficiency In Using Drug Field Tests
Various police agencies around the country have been engaged in roadside alcohol and drug testing for many years now. But there are some very concerning issues with these drug field tests that the police have used, specifically when it comes to them being used to criminalize people wrongfully.
These drug tests have falsely identified items as contraband in a number of instances.
Another man from Minnesota lost 2 months of his life sitting in a cell, after a test wrongfully identified a bag of vitamins he had, suggesting that they were amphetamines.
They aren't the only victims, there are many others.
These tests have produced a great deal of false positives and mistakenly identified many items as some sort of contraband.
Imagine being locked in a cage for several months, unable to see your loved ones or exercise your freedom, because some tool the police were using, wrongfully identified some cookies you had, to be some sort of contraband.
If these tools are operating with a high error rate, which they seem to be, then the police should cease from using them, rather than risk wrongfully violating someone's personal liberty.
These tools have been used on many occasions to enable the police to carry out wrongful arrests.
The idea is that these tests are being used, to try and stop some impaired driver from potentially infringing upon the liberty of another (crashing etc). And yet, with their inefficient results these tools are helping the police to do just that; enable them to unjustly infringe upon the liberty of those on the road.
There is lucrative reasoning as to why law enforcement might hope for a positive result, especially since under legislation like civil asset forfeiture rules they can pretty much take whatever they want if they find something (“drugs”).
And this fuels a very interesting problem for the people who these agencies serve rule over. Not only does it benefit them financially to harass those people over victimless crimes, but thanks to these roadside drug tests they've got a tool that can easily enable them to go about doing it.
For the people who are targeted by this sort of injustice, it's going to be the less fortunate who suffer the most. Those who cannot afford the legal help to sort out the problem, or who don't have the immediate funds available to post bail. How many more people have to be wrongfully and unjustly harassed, fined, or jailed?
Pics:
Pixabay
Giphy
pixabay
Sources:
http://www.manningrivertimes.com.au/story/5293196/drivers-test-positive-to-drink-and-drugs/
https://www.livescience.com/60458-marijuana-hair-testing.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/02/26/a-partial-list-of-things-that-field-testing-drug-kits-have-mistakenly-identified-as-contraband/?utm_term=.96d9790591dd
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/03/springfield_patrolman_flunks_t.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2018/03/13/why-are-police-departments-still-using-drug-field-tests/?utm_term=.a713a9a148f3
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1 in 5? Wow. So basically something with a 20% rating is being used to criminalize people. And the public is paying for this crap in two ways. First, it is coming from taxes. Second, people's lives are being destroyed. Way to guys.
incompetence
Yes you are right
thank you for sharing
I detest being pulled over by the Police for any reason. One can not know what negative outcome I may be in because of the Policemen's errors.
Good post my friend 😊😊
It's not just that either. It's the all the ripple effects this type of stuff causes. Know any employers that are just going to be "understanding" about you "mistakenly being locked up?" Yeah, that's what I thought.
Since many people are just one paycheck away from being homeless -- you end up in jail for something you didn't have anything to do with. Then you lose your job. Then you lose the roof over your head, including your credit rating. Your family may or may not be split up if you have kids, depending on where they go to school and where your significant other can find shelter.
Have a little bit of "emergency" savings saved up? Good for you! Say goodbye to food stamps, day care assistance or even emergency rental money in the event of foreclosure.
No money to pay the insurance on the car? Tail light out again? Got pulled over again? Maybe the car gets impounded this time.
It's not just being caught in one of these "mistakes", it's the ripple effect that these mistakes cause -- all.the.time.
Does anyone ever get restitution for these wrong doings at the hands of our public officials? If so, how much $$$ did they have to pay in order to be sufficiently defended in court? Did you know that now you have to pay taxes on all your court winnings even if the lawyer takes a giant chunk of it? YEP.
So BASICALLLLLLYYYYY....... your entire life is SCREWED because someone decided they needed to meet one more quota on tickets for the night/end of the month, etc. Or some guy was in training and decided to administer one of these tests.
YOUR WHOLE LIFE JUST GOT SCREWED!!!! What restitution is there for victims of this?
Thank you for posting this.
Weither we like it or not, Police offericers are a necessary part of civilized society. They allow us to "get a long" and to focus on doing other things than "surviving, fighting, defending, and war" - in our general communites. They serve a wonderful purpose and do a challenging job.
Its a challenging job that is compicated by Policies, politics and social pressures. There is a lot of pressure on Officers to comply with and support agendas that get them into trouble like this.
As much as we need to watch and observer our police officers, we also need to keep a wholistic perspective about the situation that we are all in.
This is only going to change when individuals start taking responsability for themselves.
We have to change consciousness around such things as police and drugs in order to raise awareness about it.
this news is incredible and the worst of all is that it happens in many parts of the world. Innocent people are always imprisoned, and those who are truly guilty are free, whether because of bribery or political influence.
Thank you very much for sharing this news dear friend @doitvoluntarily
I wish you a great day
My strangest field test occurred in the South Island, New Zealand 9am, somewhere in the vicinity of Greymouth (if memory serves). Yeah, 9am (on a frikin Tuesday) as my wife and I are driving along in our campervan about as touristy as you get. It was a mundane procedure, perform by a half-awake cop on a Tuesday morning.
Clearly the cops weren't attempting to catch people on the party scene. I doubt there is a big problem with drunk tourists roaming around Greymouth on a Tuesday morning. Most likely there is a substance problem in the area and the roadblock was looking to catch anyone/everyone in the area to push them through the legal meatgrinder in some half-ass attempt to resolve an issue.
I couldn't help but think to myself, "if there is a substance abuse problem in the area, wouldn't it be better to assist with some programs, some rehabilitation, something, ANYTHING, other than beating already compromised people down just a little bit more...make their precarious situation just a little bit more untenable."
I don't know, municipalities (around the globe) seem to think that the police are the fix-all to every problem.
Of course it is being used haha... It's how the system works, here in my country police only harasses children that stay outside past 23:00 but when they see a gun or family abuse they cover their eyes.
Great info.