We're the Only Ones Searching Enough

Officers in Durham have apparently discovered that they can create the legal pretext for a search by lying about calls to 9-1-1 emergency services that never actually took place. The tactic is apparently legal — and commonplace — according to an officer’s sworn statements. [More]

So if you know they're liars, and have such flagrant disregard for rights they swore to uphold, why would you believe them when they swear to anything else?

This brings to mind one of the ways gun snitch lines invite official abuse:

Or what if I'm one of those policemen Commissioner Kelly doesn't trust? What if I have no probable cause for a search warrant, but I don't want to let the Fourth Amendment get in my way any more than the Second does in NYC? Why not just call in the tip myself, and enjoy a toll-free bypass around the Constitution?

Securing the blessings of Liberty...

[Via Neil W]