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RUPERT -- Local law enforcement officials are applauding a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision supporting the use of K-9 drug dogs.

In a decision rendered last week, the court vacated an Illinois Supreme Court decision that overturned the conviction of Roy Cabelles on charges of narcotics possession.

Cabelles was stopped for speeding and during the stop an Illinois drug detection officer walked his K-9 around Cabelles vehicle while another officer wrote a warning ticket. The dog indicated on the trunk of the car, where officers found marijuana and arrested Cabelles on narcotics charges.

Cabelles attorneys petitioned the court to throw the evidence out, saying the search was illegal because the officers did not have probable cause to search his car. But the court held the dog's reaction was probable cause.

"This is a giant leap for K-9s, to affirm where we are trying to go with drug dogs," said Heyburn Police Chief and K-9 trainer George Warrell Jr.

"The dogs are a valuable tool for us in our fight against drugs -- without which our hands would be really tied. And the dogs are not intrusive of anyone's right to privacy."

Cabelles was convicted, sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $256,136.

The Illinois Supreme Court said Cabelles' right to privacy was invaded by the search because there was no reason for the officers to suspect anything illegal in the car.

The U.S. Supreme Court said, unlike the use of infrared detectors that provide a more intimate display, drug-sniffing dogs rely on the scent of drugs alone and thereby do not indicate probable cause unless contraband is present.

"It is not an invasion of a person's rights for a drug dog to be used to go around a vehicle or sniff the outside of a suitcase or a person," said Cassia County Prosecutor Al Barrus.

"This decision is a wonderful win for law enforcement in their effort to take our fight against drugs one further step. People do not have a constitutional right to possess illegal drugs."

Barrus said high courts have ruled against the use of infrared detectors because they provide law enforcement with a more intimate observance of a person's personal space than should constitutionally be allowed.

"But the dogs rely on scent alone and, while people have a right to be secure on their own private property, they have no right to grow dope or, as in this case, transport it," Barrus said.

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reggie_the_dog

I lived in Illinois for 24 years. IT IS ROUTINE TO GET SEARCHED WITH DOGS THERE. If you have long hair or tan or black skin you always look suspicious in the eyes of the cops, espically outside of the city of Chicago. If you get stopped, even before this new ruling, it was pretty much a given that the cops would say they thought they smelled weed or that you looked "nervous" so that they had "probable cause" to bring in the dogs.

But in my experience you can have a half ounce on you and the dogs wont smell it.

When I get searched I usually say "who is a good dog" and try to pet the dog. This drive the cops crazy.

PS In ILLINOIS the cops are allowed to walk K9's past the doors of hotel rooms to sniff each room for drugs. I have been searched like that a couple of times in the town of ELK GROVE VILLAGE.

grn2004

No constitutional right to own illegal drugs? Riiight. What about legal drugs? They both alter your consciousness. After all, we should have the right to pursue happiness, right? Alcohol and tobacco have just as much as potential as marijuana of causing serious problems in a person's life, if you want to make potentiality an issue, which SHOULD be the issue, if any at all. I just can't stand this kind of stuff, guys. It sickens me to see those white trash fags ruin our intrinsic personal freedoms. It's also great how, ya know, they do nothing but:

A) Fuel the "terrorists" with all the money the War on Drugs™ raises for drug dealers.

B) Don't care about actual threats to everyone's health besides one's own personal choices to inhale smoke to produce euphoria, i.e., industries, etc.

Oh, well; God bless Amurika!

PotShot

Wow.
*Applaud*

His point is kinda moot though, the constitution also says that it is unconstitiutional to make drugs illegal.

It seems to me that this makes it legal for "dog squads" to patrol public streets. Thankfully though the dogs do not have a 100% success rate, and methods of covering the smell are certainly possible.

What about more sophisticated "scent detection" methods being developed though? Like better trained dogs, or just alot more of them. Our how about gains in the "robotic nose" field, which now has encouragement?

A "drug dog" constructed from metal and silicon in a factory would be much cheaper than traditional animal "drug dogs". Maybe they could install them on every street corner! That would be another great "step for law enforcement" eh?

Just possibilities.

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Hey everyone, I've been looking everywhere for this information and it is driving me crazy; is it illegal to possess cannabis seeds in the state of Illinois?