To the Editor:
I read on Wednesday ("Drug charges leveled against senior after police search frat," April 20) that: "Police told [Tabard President Michael Guzman '06] that one of the officers noticed evidence of illicit substances in plain view in room 10, while scouring the house for any fires."
Police now scour private rooms for fires? What a confusingly supererogatory public service. Maybe we should leave the fire-scouring to firemen and firewomen, who are firefighting experts, not to the police, who are law enforcement experts (and thus have the legal privileges of police, not of firefighters, who may violate privacy with greater justification; i.e. they may enter private rooms without search warrants, I assume). By analogy, assume I am suspected of having swollen lymph nodes. My pal calls in the Hanover Police to give me a thorough frisking; who needs a doctor when the police are closer at hand and more plentiful?
If Kyle Sherlock's case goes to trial, I hope the judge considers the inadmissibility of evidence discovered in this way. Of course I may be misconceived about the distinct roles of "firefighter" and "policeman," in which case I will happily accept edifying comments on the matter. And if policemen and firefighters share the same privileges and responsibilities, I'd like to know why the police don't also publish glossy calendars full of hard, tan bodies ...
