The Ojai Post

Wow, that is a chilling report. If that is really how it went down, we all need to be afraid. If not, I think the Sheriffs Dept better get a better PR person.

"Received information?" That a citizen was "possibly involved" in cocaine sales?

From who - one of these neighborhood informants that certain people in this Valley are cheering? From undercover agents? From perhaps an ex-spouse or some other person with a bone to pick with the poor guy?

Can't the Sheriff at least say "we received information, and, after investigating and verifying the information, determined there was probable cause to investigate further." (And, ideally, have a statement like that be true.) Sounds a whole lot better.

"Found to be under the influence?"

Hmm. I guess the sheriff is telling us they know this gentleman very well. They have observed him keenly over a period of weeks, and therefore they actually know how he speaks. walks, blinks, sweats and otherwise behaves well enough to know that there were differences in his behavior on this occasion that were consistent with cocaine use, and inconsistent with Red Bull, coffee or something like that.

Or are they just saying, we wanted a reason to bust in his house/search his person without a warrant, so we decided to allege he was under the influence and detain him. That gave us an excuse to go in/search him. We found some cocaine, so now we can proceed. If we hadn't, hey, no harm, no foul, right? Sure, we'd have to arrest him anyway for being "under the influence", to make sure he doesn't sue us, but hey, all in a day's work. Poor guy was unlucky, shouldn't have pissed off whoever he pissed off.

(What? He has a family? They're going to lose the house now that he's in jail fighting a bogus charge? The wife and infants are out in the street? Damn. Better get the vagrant patrol on their case. Get them to move on out of here.)

Next, they tell us he must be a dealer because he has "4 grams packaged for sale." I'm no expert, but isn't 4 grams about what people will do in a big party weekend?

And, uh, if it is "packaged for sale," how does that imply the person possessing it is selling it? When I go to the grocery store, I buy a bunch of stuff packaged for sale. If the sheriff stops me on the way home and sees all those groceries packaged for sale, am I now some kind of illegal grocery store?

Do we all need to get retail permits just to have on hand in case we get stopped bringing the groceries home?

Meanwhile: If someone really is a dealer, and you catch them at their home/place of business, aren't you likely to find things like baggies, scales, guns, lots of cash, shady sunglasses and whatever else dealers supposedly have?

I mean, if all you've got is 4 grams "packaged for sale", and a guy "under the influence", and no cash or other dealer stuff, doesn't common sense tell you he's a user, not a dealer?

Luckily for law enforcement, this matter will be tried in the Ventura County courts.

Finally, I am, like, totally forgetting my ancient world history here. Once upon a time, wasn't there a country where people believed that quaint concept that a person is innocent until proven guilty?

What country was that again? Anyone recall?