Opinion ID: 304818
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Maybe 60 per cent of the time.

Text: 31  32    33 The Witness: Maybe four hundred times, three to four hundred times possibly. 2 34 As it turned out, the object, when removed from the suspect's pocket, was a folded $10 bill in which were 2.2 grams of cocaine. On some 50 previous occasions, the Agent had seen folded United States currency which contained cocaine. On some 300-400 occasions, knives or razor blades had been found. Therefore, the odds were 300-400 to 50 that the object might well have been dangerous. To the majority it strains credulity that the Agent could have suspected anything other than the possible presence of cocaine. They hold that as a matter of law a ten dollar bill folded to a size of 2 x 3/4 and containing 2.2 grams of cocaine could not reasonably have aroused suspicion of a weapon. But it was the Agent's experience and his life which count-not the court's present belief of what the Agent should have thought at the time. If the narcotics traffic is to be stopped or diminished, the Agents should be protected, not hampered. And in the final analysis, the odds in favor of the object containing a razor blade or knife were overwhelming. Therefore, in my opinion, the Agent's action in removing the object and inspecting its contents can only be characterized as reasonable under the circumstances. 35 The law boasts that it is based upon Reason. In this case, Reason motivated the Agent's acts. It should sustain him now. 36 I would reverse the order suppressing the seized cocaine.