Chicago man arrested with suspected cannabis
CHAMPAIGN — A Chicago man who had suspected cannabis on him was arrested Wednesday at the Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign.
Terry Tates, 21, posted bond Thursday, was released from the Champaign County Jail and told to be back in court Monday.
Master Sgt. Ryan Starrick said Tates was arrested about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday by troopers who routinely patrol the bus and train terminal as part of what troopers call a "transportation safety initiative."
"He exhibited behaviors inconsistent with the transiting public," Starrick said of the troopers' reason for questioning Tates.
Starrick said he wasn't certain the amount of cannabis that Tates allegedly had but it was enough for him to be arrested on a felony charge of possession of 30 to 500 grams. Because the READY School is located in the same building as the bus and train station, Tates also faces a potential charge of possession within 1,000 feet of a school.
The state's attorney's office will decide what charge to file on Monday.
Illinois, along with the rest of the country, wastes millions of dollars prosecuting minor victimless crimes such as this and ignore many more serious and violent crimes. One Chicago woman has sued the city for police harassment. in her law suit, she claims to being followed by uniformed officers (not covertly) after being searched once for suspicion of possession. She says she did not have anything on her at the time of the initial search. Furthermore, she claims she has never possessed marijuana. The woman also claims in her law suit that the Chicago police battered down her front door and handed her a search warrant, then proceeded trash her house. A person who was with her at the time was arrested because he had less than an ounce of pot on his person at the time of the search, but after all their time and effort, the CPD have yet to produce any reason or evidence why they are targeting this woman. The CPD also has numerous active law suits against it for planting drugs on a person to justify pulling them over or arresting them.
What makes this woman's story even more unsettling is that before any of these events took place, she went to the police to report a battery. Turns out, the man she reported as the batterer is a know drug dealer. According to the woman's claims, the man is still on the streets and the CPD are targeting her instead of him.
Why is this happening? The federal government gives away boat loads of money to states and cities to combat drugs. But what this program is actually succeeding in doing is hampering the justice system because police department want the money being made available, so they do whatever they can to embellish their drug statistics. One newspaper columnist has speculated that police department make more money by waiting until AFTER the drugs hit the streets. This way, they get multiple arrests for targeting users instead of a single arrest from targeting dealers.
Follow the link below to find out where I got my information:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/drug-war-incentives-police-viol...
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