I missed N&R editor Doug Clark’s original post on Sen. Phil Berger’s probation bill that helps fill in the logic that I missed in today’s editorial.
OK, I get it: Prisons are crowded, so more criminals are being placed on probation, which means we need more probation officers with a wider latitude to be as effective as they should be. Fair enough. But Clark still uses the same faulty logic offered up in the editorial:
The big idea here is not to make more arrests. It’s to deter criminal behavior. If every cop has the right to search you on the spot, without probable cause, you might think twice before walking around with a gun under your shirt.
Yeah, and Chris Patterson (right — with his buddy D. Eddie Majors) thought twice about walking around with a gun under his shirt while on probation. Patterson is a perfect example of what will happen if probation officers are allowed to perform warrantless searches —- he ended up in prison when his probation was revoked for —you guessed it — carrying a firearm.
By the way, the ‘D’ stands for ‘Dimarkchrisy.’
