Carrollton Police Continually to Stop Young Adults Looking for Pot

January 13th, 2016

Awake Goy

This post was submitted via the CopBlock.org Submission tab by Carrollton Speed Tax (CST). In this post and video he highlights how the police prey on young kids, violate their right and all for what? According to CST:

Being young in Carrollton seems to have it’s challenges. Much of which seems to be that the Carrollton Police Department (CPD) look at them as a gold mine to be harvested by all means necessary. It appears that “Driving While Young” is the impetus that CPD uses to find a reason to pull over young adults. After getting them in their grasp the vague “I smell pot” is the weapon of choice and means used to get their search.

In this video, we find another group of young men who were pulled over by the same cop and had the “I smell pot” claim used to search them. As you can see, they are very thorough in looking for any contraband that they can haul them in with. Leaving them on a curb while being violated isn’t their concern. It’s all about the getting that bust.

Whether or not pot should be illegal isn’t the issue here. It’s the apparent all out attack the CPD is waging on the youth in the city. The fact that hauling a young person in for a very small amount of pot seems absurd. The real, lifelong problems a young person could have to deal with just for having a joint in their car certainly isn’t their problem.

This is the FOURTH drug search we have filmed in Carrollton, and all four have resulted in no arrests (Carrollton is not a pot citation city). This is the SECOND search we have filmed with this officer….both using the “I smell pot” claim and using very minor things to pull them over (1 for front plate, 1 for expired registration). All of them have been young drivers and with young passengers.

There is also a bigger problem at hand. The Carrollton Police “point” system with its officers. Of course, they claim it’s a performance metric, but it sure seems like a new name for illegal quotas. This particular stop looks to be a point gold mine with a citation, a vehicle search, THREE ID checks and THREE body searches. Probably explains why there were three officers there – to share in the wealth.

Carrollton has a reputation as a bad place to go if you’re young. That probably speaks to why senior centers, hospice care facilities and retirement homes are a big growth area. Instead of moving toward young and vibrant, it appears to be the place to mail it in.

– Carrollton Speed Tax

Something Carrollton Speed Tax does not touch on here is his presence with the camera and what that means for these roadside searches. While he notes that he’s filmed a few of these searches, and that none of them have resulted in drugs found or arrest, he attributes that to harassment or the mere existence of a point system. While those likely do play a factor into these types of stops I wouldn’t be surprised if these officers were doing these searches to a lesser degree because they were being recorded. Now, I’m not saying they found drugs and choose not to arrest them but I know when I’m recording the police there are less tickets written, more warnings given and less thorough searches of vehicles.

Which is why when Carrollton Speed Tax, who’s submitted post to CopBlock.org in the past (see here, here and here), stops to film these ‘minor’ traffic stops (or as I call them, fishing expeditions) he’s doing more for the community than the cops. While they sometimes find drugs during these searches, the community is no more safe when they do. Within a few days a new drug supply will come through and the business will continue as usual. Yet, if these cops just so happen to ruin the life of one of these young adults over some rights violating searches, that cannot be replaced. Plus, many individuals who smoke, or smoked, weed grew up to do great things. Young adults experimenting with safely with drugs should not be the concern of the police.