This is one of those stories that will make you very, very angry — so consider yourself warned. Let’s start with the facts:
1.) K-9 Officer Joe Avila was dispatched to pick up a package of pot that weighed between four and five pounds from a UPS store. Per police protocol, the Richmond, California cop was then supposed to escort the goods to an evidence room and file an incident report — which he radioed a dispatcher he would be doing. Only he didn’t.
2.) Instead Officer Avila somehow found himself with the stash in his own home. And shockingly, no one would have known if not for an ongoing investigation into him failing to file 37 reports. When authorities questioned him about the whereabouts of the weed, Avila reportedly told them that he used some to train his dog. Yet, when pressed further, he admitted there may have been some in his trunk … and in his house.
3.) At this point we’d usually say something like: “You dumb coppers, you think you are above the law and can just steal our pot with no repercussions. How wrong you were.” Only, it seems this sticky-fingered cop will indeed get away nearly scot-free.
4.) DA Robin Lipetzky has commented that the district attorney’s office would “not be inclined to file charges” because of a “lack of evidence.”
Let that sink in for a minute. This officer lied, stole and was found to be hiding a stash of precisely a shit-ton of what is considered an illegal plant. In some countries people are put to death for smoking a joint. In our country you can be thrown in jail for for life for possessing some pot brownies. In the state of California, hospitals can deny you an organ transplant for using medical marijuana. And in Contra Costa, an officer of the law can get away with a slap on the wrist for an egregious abuse of both power and the law. How about that?
