Your Weekly Crime Watch Jewel: How To Write About A Marijuana Arrest

By alcalde in Blog on January 21, 2010 at 12:32 pm | 1 Comment

No one could ever accuse police officers of having easy jobs, but the cop who writes UTPD’s daily Campus Watch e-mail can’t ever complain about having to work overtime.

Take a look at this little gem from today’s e-mail, a report of an officer stumbling upon three students in the Brazos Parking Garage near Jester Center sitting with a “7-inch colored glass pipe with a green leafy substance in the pipe’s bowl.”

Possession of Marijuana / Possession of Drug Paraphernalia:  A UT police officer observed three UT students sitting side-by-side.  As the officer approached the subjects, he detected the odor of burning marijuana wafting in the area.  The officer stepped in front of the students and saw the middle subject holding a 7-inch colored glass pipe with a green leafy substance in the pipe’s bowl along with a clear plastic baggy laying at his feet. The same green leafy substance was inside the bag. The middle subject was taken into custody for Possession of Marijuana he invoked his 5th Amendment Right and did not say where he had gotten the marijuana.  As the investigation continued, the student sitting to the left had not heard where the marijuana had come from. And yes the 3rd subject sitting to the right had not seen it. All three students were referred to the Dean of Student’s Office. Occurred on: 1-21-10, at 1:01 AM.