WEEKEND MEMOS

'Weekend memos' give our editorial writers a chance to express their own opinions, comment on topics they have been writing about, or take a lighter approach. The opinions in 'Memos' do not always follow the Enquirer's editorial positions.

Those who value privacy earned a rare victory at the Ohio Supreme Court this week.

Wednesday, the court ruled 5-2 that police cannot arrest and search people during citations for minor infractions. Dali Jacques Brown, 25, of Dayton, was cited for jaywalking in April 2001. The police arrested him because he couldn't show "verifiable identification," and then searched him. The man was carrying cocaine and was then charged with a felony.

This was legal under an earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The Ohio court disagreed and said the cocaine couldn't be used as evidence because it's illegal for police to detain someone for jaywalking. The ruling will stand - states are allowed to grant more civil liberties than the feds do, but not less.

Some may say this ruling ties the hands of the police. But when you think of the incredible potential to abuse the federal court ruling, it doesn't tie their hands so much as it reattaches them to the constitution.

Think about some common minor misdemeanors: speeding, failing to use a turn signal, overtime parking and jaywalking. Those all are crimes a lot of us commit on a lunch hour.

Before Wednesday's ruling, if you happened out of the office without your purse or wallet and got cited for any of these offenses, you could be searched and held in jail.

Considering the innumerable "public order"ordinances, rules and laws, even the best citizens run afoul of them from time to time. "Pretext" is a powerful word to use, but it's not hard to imagine police taking advantage of a minor offense to do a little snooping.

The law has always made a serious distinction between crimes that can lead to jail time and crimes that can't. Both in theory and in practice, there's a huge difference between jaywalking and assault. Fortunately, the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed that.

I don't think anyone regrets seeing Brown part ways with his cocaine. But most of us don't use drugs and shouldn't be susceptible to that sort of invasion of privacy.

Ben Fischer