Drugs, large sum of cash, and a sawed-off shotgun were some of the items recovered by North Vancouver RCMP after an officer stopped a vehicle for a minor traffic violation.
A police officer spotted a speeding vehicle as it entered the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge.
When the driver failed to signal a lane change, the officer stopped the vehicle, and discovered that one of the three men in vehicle had an outstanding arrest warrant.
That man was arrested.
The vehicle search yielded a sizeable amount of cash, drug trafficking paraphernalia, and a sawed-off shotgun, said Sgt. Peter DrVries of North Vancouver RCMP.
Benjamin James Gilleland, a 35-year-old resident of Surrey, was held in custody on the outstanding warrant, while the other two occupants were released.
The investigation into the drugs and the weapon continues.
“Sometimes, our officers are criticized for pulling over vehicles for minor offences,” said DeVries.
“Nobody enjoys being pulled over and possibly served a ticket. But the truth is, this type of enforcement does so much more than just keep our streets safe from poor drivers,” he said.
“Traffic enforcement often enables us to identify dangerous offenders and remove guns and drugs off our streets.”
In other words please ignore us if we break a civil right, and figure out a shady technicality to have plausible deniability probable cause, in order to have cover to harass motorists under the guise of “traffic enforcement”
What BS. It’s cops like this who work in the grey area of strong on your personal rights and freedoms, thereby giving a black eye all good cops who are trying to uphold the fragile moral authority to wear a badge and detain citizens committing felonies.
This cop got lucky they had an illegal weapon. That arrest might get thrown out on shady probable cause. Fruit of the poison tree based on an illegal search because the underlying justification was BS.
Tl;Dr this kind of crapola needs to stop.