We know that now. But we have the benefit of hindsight. At the time, it sure did appear that she was attempting to "smuggle" three condoms filled with a white powder through an airport screener -- powder that tested positive for cocaine.
"The real story, as you agree, is that the Philadelphia police cannot tell cocaine from flour, and cannot staff their department with personnel able to tell the difference without the use of technology."
True. But if they didn't use technology and mistakenly arrested you for trafficking in cocaine, I'm sure you would quickly and forcefully insist that they do.
"At $180,000, the city got off lightly."
At $180,000, the city got screwed. In my opinion.
If it appeared she was attempting to smuggle cocaine in that way, to an experienced narcotics officer, it must have also seemed that she was the most incredibly inept smuggler in human history, yes? And to an experienced narcotics officer, don't you think that ineptitude and sheer naivete might have prompted a red flag or two?
Now I know you're always going to come down on the side of the state, but it seems to me that someone with a few months of experience under his or her belt can tell the difference between coke and flour by using one of the five senses alone, without the aid of sophisticated electronic equipment, and the difference between a cocaine smuggler and a ditzy comp lit major from Brynn Mawr.
True. But if they didn't use technology and mistakenly arrested you for trafficking in cocaine, I'm sure you would quickly and forcefully insist that they do.
That goes without saying, yes? If I wasn't trafficking cocaine, I'd look to everything and anything that proves I wasn't.
At $180,000, the city got screwed. In my opinion.
So if the cops put you in the slammer for no reason at all, your time and your freedom isn't worth $60K a week? What is it worth, then?