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Mr. Miller. OK; and the gentleman from 



Mr. Pelham. As an individual. 



Mr. Miller. Thank you. 



Sheriff, there has been some discussion here about when the law 

 enforcement officials acted or did not act. 



Mr. Oelrich. Right. 



Mr. Miller. Did they act before, did they act afterwards or what 

 have you. How is that discretion handled in your department when 

 you know there is going to be a crime committed? Do you interrupt 

 those to prevent that crime? 



Mr. Oelrich. Absolutely; generally, this would be the same anal- 

 ogy that we are going to take someone down for five armed robber- 

 ies by waiting until the end of the fifth armed robbery to be com- 

 mitted. 



Mr. Miller. No, this was an ongoing, continuous act. I am ask- 

 ing you how do you make that determination? If you know a crime 

 is going to be committed, do you always interrupt that crime to 

 prevent that crime from taking place? 



Mr. Oelrich. I would say as a general rule, yes, we would inter- 

 rupt that crime from taking place. 



Mr. Miller. You do? So, if you know someone is going to buy 

 drugs on the street corner, you go to the purchaser and say do not 

 do that, because that is illegal? 



Mr. Oelrich. Would you restate that again? 



Mr. Miller. Well, I am asking you, then, if you observe or 

 knowledge comes to you that somebody is going to break the speed 

 limit or that somebody is going to shoplift or that somebody is 

 going to make a purchase of a controlled substance, you go to that 

 individual and tell them not to do that to prevent it from taking 

 place. 



Mr. Oelrich. Well, I think here again, we are talking about the 

 element of intent. A better analogy might be if we know that an 

 armed robbery is taking place, we would go in there and start 



Mr. Miller. I am not interested in your analogy; I am interested 

 in how that discretion is meted out. Is it policy that to prevent 

 crime from taking place, you interrupt crimes in progress? 



Mr. Oelrich. Yes. 



Mr. Miller. Or in anticipation of crimes. 



Mr. Oelrich. Yes, yes, we would 



Mr. Miller. You do that? 



Mr. Oelrich. Yes. 



Mr. Miller. So you do not set up a sting operation; you do not 

 watch people buy drugs and then arrest the purchaser and the sell- 

 er? Your department does not do those things? 



Mr. Oelrich. Oh, yes, we do that as well. 



Mr. Miller. So you do do that in cases. So, you do it both ways. 



Mr. Oelrich. Both ways. 



Mr. Miller. And the officer on the beat has some discretion or 

 not about how to do that? 



Mr. Oelrich. Yes. 



Mr. Miller. OK; when you keep saying to go to intent, you do 

 not have to intend to violate the speed limit. 



Mr. Oelrich. Well, it is a posted speed limit. The violation, Mr. 

 Miller, is exceeding the posted speed limit. 



