For the moment most police do not abuse this, no abuse, no one cares.
The police in Deming and Lordsburg seem to be abusing it to an absurd level.
There MUST be push-back to insure this does not become the norm.
Fair enough, but here’s the thing: the real issue here isn’t so much the Whren stop, it’s really more a matter of the nature of the search itself.
On the face of it, as presented by the plaintiff, it’s outlandish. Yeah, sure, people keester all sorts of things, and they also swallow dope, but dragging the guy all over the county and the extraordinary thoroughness of the search just seems excessive.
That said, the people of Luna county don’t have to wait for the federales to swoop in and protect their civil rights. There are only 14,000 people in the whole county for crying out loud: if they’re bent out of shape by this stuff, they can remove the sheriff, elect a new one and even pass local ordinances that prohibit the sheriff or his deputies from even requesting similar warrants if they think that they’re out of bounds.
I’d think that there would be a local outcry against the sheriff if all of the plaintiff’s claims were true, and are part of a pattern and practice in Luna county. On the other hand, the good people of Luna county may well be heartily sick and tired of tweakers and other druggies running amok, and may consider themselves more of the old-school “law and order” types. Curious to see how this pans out.