Crime Suppression Team’ Nabs Drug Trafficking Suspect

After Bulloch County authorities executed a search warrant, they arrested a man and charged him with several drug trafficking-related offenses.

On April 1, investigators located a trafficking amount of marijuana, THC products, Psilocybin edibles, firearms, and U.S. currency at a resident in Cottage Row in Statesboro. Investigators estimate the street value of the narcotics seized at over $180,000.

Sheriff Brown said in a press release that he encourages citizens to contact the Crime Suppression Team with any complaints of drug activity that you may suspect. All complaints will remain anonymous and will be investigated thoroughly.

Targeted Enforcement Campaigns

Whenever a Marietta criminal defense lawyer hears a phrase like “Crime Suppression Team,” alarm bells go off. As a rule of thumb, these STEP campaigns result in many arrests, but few convictions.

In the ongoing war on crime, as far as law enforcement officers are concerned, the number of arrests is the only measure of victory. If the case doesn’t result in a conviction, it’s easy to blame prosecutors for dropping the ball and allowing a Marietta criminal defense lawyer to “get the defendant off” on a “technicality.” One of the biggest technicalities in criminal law, especially in drug trafficking cases, is discussed below.

Usually, during a STEP campaign, supervisors deploy inexperienced officers onto the field, to pad the department’s arrest total. Inexperienced officers often make procedural errors and have issues collecting evidence.

Jumping-the-gun motorist detentions might be the most common procedural errors in STEP campaign arrests. An officer sees a vehicle that fits a certain profile, like a vehicle leaving a bar late at night. The officer is so anxious to make a DUI arrest that s/he detains the motorist without reasonable suspicion.

This standard of evidence, which is basically an evidence-based hunch, has always been low. It’s even lower now, since the Supreme Court has watered it down recently. However, police officers still need some evidence. A hunch alone is insufficient.

Procedural errors, such as a lack of reasonable suspicion, are unfixable, if that’s a word. No one can go back in time and change what happened in the past.

Furthermore, inexperienced officers have often had little interaction with prosecutors. So, they don’t know what evidence is compelling in Cobb County courts, and what evidence resonates with Cobb County jurors. Inexperienced officers only know what they learned in training academies or at weekend seminars.

Therefore, when a STEP campaign case goes to court, the evidence is often weak. Prosecutors could retrace their steps and beef up their cases. However, they’d usually rather work out a deal with a Marietta criminal defense lawyer.

Search Warrants

Anonymity encourages participation, giving police investigators more evidence to work with. People are more willing to come forward if they know there will be no blowback. However, anonymity adversely affects reliability, for the same reason.

Unreliable information often does not constitute probable cause, which is a much higher standard than reasonable suspicion. Search warrants are invalid unless officers submit valid probable cause affidavits.

Paid informers are almost as unreliable as anonymous informers. Police officers pay most informants thousands of dollars or give them immunity in another matter (e.g. tell us who Mr. Big is, and we’ll drop these drug possession charges). Many people will say practically anything for love or money.

In court, prosecutors cannot work backwards. They cannot argue that since the information an anonymous or paid informant provided was accurate, it was reliable as well. That’s not the way it works. Information in probable cause affidavits stands or falls on its own, based on what the judge knew at the time s/he issued the warrant.

Drug Trafficking Nuts and Bolts

If a drug trafficking case makes it past the initial stop phase and probable cause phase, prosecutors must prove the defendant sold, delivered, or manufactured a controlled substance, or possessed more than a certain quantity of a controlled substance.

In terms of the first three, surreptitious street corner deals are few and far between. Delivery and manufacturing are much more common.

Delivery cases often involve very small quantities of a controlled substance, such as one or two opioid pain pills. If Jack gives Jill his leftover Oxycontin, even if Jill gives him nothing of value, Jack could be guilty of drug trafficking.

We mentioned jumping-the-gun police interventions above. Jumping-the-gun interventions are also common in methamphetamine drug trafficking cases. Making meth is very dangerous and this substance is highly addictive.

Buying meth ingredients usually isn’t a crime. Cooking meth is almost certainly a crime. There’s a lot of space between these two endpoints that might or might not constitute drug trafficking. Generally, the sooner the police move in, the more people they protect, but the weaker the case is in court.

Resolving Drug Trafficking Matters

Trials only resolve a handful of criminal cases. Instead, agreed plea bargains (out-of-court settlements) resolve nearly all criminal cases.

Weak evidence or procedural problem drug trafficking cases usually lend themselves to charge reduction plea bargains, which are perhaps the best tool in a Marietta criminal defense lawyer’s toolbox.

Drug trafficking to drug possession is one of the most common charge reduction plea bargain. Others include aggravated assault to ordinary assault, murder to manslaughter, and, in some cases, DUI to reckless driving.

DUI charge reduction plea bargains are unavailable in many jurisdictions. Many counties have mandatory DUI prosecution policies. If the state files DUI charges, court prosecutors must either take the case to trial or enter into a DUI plea bargain agreement. There’s no surrender or retreat, even if surrender or retreat is a much better option than a hopeless charge up a well-defended hill.

Post-verdict relief, such as early termination of probation, modification of probation conditions, and record sealing, is usually available in drug trafficking cases.

Drug trafficking cases have a number of moving parts. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta criminal defense lawyer, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. We routinely handle matters in Cobb County and nearby jurisdictions.