Almost, but not quite 100% accurate in my opinion. The key is to know what the law allows you to do and obey the law. I may have the worst drug dealer in town stopped, but if I cannot honestly develop probable cause based on the events happening at the time, I have no business keeping him a single second longer than I would any other citizen.texanjoker wrote:Nothing to do with your stop in general, but what one calls fishing I call proactive police work. Criminals are caught using the law as a tool. The key is to know when you stopped a law abiding citizen for a simple traffic violation and QUICKLY move on.
And while I would not usually know who was a big dealer when I was in San Antonio, working in Luling I knew exactly who was dealing and at what level. Proving it might have been another matter though.
I am a firm believer in proactive police work, and especially in using the law as a tool. There is almost nothing better than the transportation code for finding a legal reason to stop someone and talk to them. But making up a smell is always wrong. Obviously, I cannot prove the smell was made up in this case, but I agree with the others that reporting it is the best answer for future use. A trail like that always helps weed out the few bad cops out there.