Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Sigh.

I actually did get as indignant as I was supposed to reading this article. I mean, my opinion of Utah justice is not high and even I was a little apalled at arresting the paid security guards at the door (who had been confiscating drugs) for drug posession.

CC

2 comments:

fausto said...

Any Untah legislators among your clients? Perhaps one who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee?

TheCSO said...

The police also have a possible financial motive for arresting the guards. It sounds like they were doing work that's reserved for off-duty officers only, which was effectively money out of the officer's pockets. I'm not saying that this WAS the motivation - it sounds like this was just an "arrest everyone" incident on flimsy pretenses - but it certainly doesn't look good.

I do have to wonder if this bust would have happened, or would have been as brutal, if the organizers had hired off-duty cops for event security. Doing so is far from uncommon, and many clubs hire officers because they are a very effective supplement to their other security. At an event where the bouncers knew they would have to seize drugs, I do have to seriously wonder why they apparently didn't want any cops around.