Originally Posted by
RadioGirl
Let me try another analogy. Everyone knows (from TV crime dramas) that drug deals always happen in public restrooms. Nevertheless, most people going into a public restroom are doing so for a perfectly legal reason. Should the TSA, or any gov't employee, for that matter, search anyone entering a public restroom on the grounds that they
might have be there for the purpose of conducting a drug deal?
If having a large but undermined amount of cash is a "potential crime" then so are many other things - driving a car
could be a getaway from a bank robbery. Walking down the street
could be someone casing the neighborhood. With enough imagination, any common and legal activity
could be linked to something illegal. "Could be" is simply not good enough justification for violating people's privacy.
As I've said elsewhere, that's why LE needs to have "probable" cause, not "possible" cause. Nearly any activity could *possibly* be criminal. In order for something to be "probably" criminal, you would need at least 2 to 3 other data points. And it's essential that cops not be permitted to hassle people in the course of trying to collect these data points. Walking down the street is *possibly* someone "casing the neighbourhood". Walking down the street videotaping homes might look even more suspicious. Some LE folks on this board might think such activity would justify them approaching that individual and trying to question them in an effort to establish PC. But permit that and then you permit all the many, many people who might be videotaping for numerous perfectly legitimate reasons to have endure being regularly hassled by the police.