Spring Break
Letter To The Editor: Having a lot of cash doesn't make one a dealer
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Commentary
Having a lot of cash doesn't make one a dealer
I wish to inform my student body of an act bordering on police brutality that occurred on campus earlier this week. A friend of mine was awoken on Monday morning with a knock on his door that turned out to be campus police.
The policemen proceeded to handcuff my friend and his roommate, push them down on the ground, call them "dirty ________" and attempt to get a confession about dealing marijuana. The police searched the room and found no scale and no baggies - what they did find was a gram and a half of weed and $800 in cash. Since the drug-sniffing dog the police had called in "knew the money was drug money," it didn't matter that the cash was not, in fact, used for drug trafficking. Even if the dog smelled traces of drugs on the money, there is no possible way to prove who the residue was from; money passes through hundreds of peoples' hands daily.
The cash allegedly used to buy and sell drugs was, in fact, for a synthesizer. My friend had seen an ad for it on Craigslist and the seller only accepted cash, which is why he had such a large amount in his room at the time of the search. Since UConn is a state school, the dorms are considered state property, which means unfortunately police do not need a warrant to search a room.
If you've been following the weekly police blotters in this paper, you'll notice that there has been an evident increase in minor drug offenses. I don't think this is because more people have been smoking pot, but because the job of campus police has been transformed into a witch hunt, and marijuana users are the ones being burned. What the blotter doesn't tell you is how disrupted the lives of these "criminals" become after they are arrested. If you've been touched by an injustice similar to the one my friend found himself in earlier this week, come forward. Tell someone. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, Latino, Asian, male, female, gay, or straight. Campus police needs to know that they cannot continue targeting nonviolent crimes and abusing their power, especially when their job is to serve and protect, not instill fear in individuals doing no harm to anyone else.
-Marisa Gumpert
6th-semester English major
I wish to inform my student body of an act bordering on police brutality that occurred on campus earlier this week. A friend of mine was awoken on Monday morning with a knock on his door that turned out to be campus police.
The policemen proceeded to handcuff my friend and his roommate, push them down on the ground, call them "dirty ________" and attempt to get a confession about dealing marijuana. The police searched the room and found no scale and no baggies - what they did find was a gram and a half of weed and $800 in cash. Since the drug-sniffing dog the police had called in "knew the money was drug money," it didn't matter that the cash was not, in fact, used for drug trafficking. Even if the dog smelled traces of drugs on the money, there is no possible way to prove who the residue was from; money passes through hundreds of peoples' hands daily.
The cash allegedly used to buy and sell drugs was, in fact, for a synthesizer. My friend had seen an ad for it on Craigslist and the seller only accepted cash, which is why he had such a large amount in his room at the time of the search. Since UConn is a state school, the dorms are considered state property, which means unfortunately police do not need a warrant to search a room.
If you've been following the weekly police blotters in this paper, you'll notice that there has been an evident increase in minor drug offenses. I don't think this is because more people have been smoking pot, but because the job of campus police has been transformed into a witch hunt, and marijuana users are the ones being burned. What the blotter doesn't tell you is how disrupted the lives of these "criminals" become after they are arrested. If you've been touched by an injustice similar to the one my friend found himself in earlier this week, come forward. Tell someone. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, Latino, Asian, male, female, gay, or straight. Campus police needs to know that they cannot continue targeting nonviolent crimes and abusing their power, especially when their job is to serve and protect, not instill fear in individuals doing no harm to anyone else.
-Marisa Gumpert
6th-semester English major
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 7
Benny
posted 5/01/09 @ 10:05 AM EST
To Marisa:
The phone number of the ACLU-CT is 860-523-9146. There is an ACLU UConn chapter, I urge everyone to get involved to try to put a stop to the police state in Storrs. (Continued…)
Steve
posted 5/01/09 @ 10:20 AM EST
Welcome to "1984". Guilty until proven innocent. Breakins without warrants. Your money and your car are becoming "proofs" of your "crimes". This is scary. (Continued…)
John
posted 5/01/09 @ 10:43 AM EST
I, along with pretty much anyone else commeting on this, wasnt there and dont know the events leading up to this.
Did they receive a tip to check the room?
I highly doubt they just brought a drug dog down to the dorms for a walk, and then the dog sniffed at a door and the police barged in. (Continued…)
melinuxfool
posted 5/01/09 @ 2:41 PM EST
What everyone fails to notice is that this entire incident would have easily been avoided had the idiot not had the marijuana in the first place.
Don't you people realize that it is illegal to be in possession of ANY amount of marijuana, regardless of the purpose. (Continued…)
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