Garrett

I dissent.

The majority decision holds that a sale on a street in broad daylight of an item in a plastic baggie or waxed paper for currency is not usually made and therefore provokes not alone suspicion but is sufficient to inspire in the mind of a seasoned narcotics officer who admitted he didn’t know what the bag contained not only suspicion but probable cause to arrest and search the buyer for contraband. (Cf. People v. Henze, 253 Cal.App.2d 986 [ 61 Cal.Rptr. 545 ], hg. den.)

The trial judge frankly euphemized a distinction between the facts at bench from those in Cunha v. Superior Court, 2 Cal.3d 352 [ 85 Cal.Rptr. 160 , 466 P.2d 704 ] and Remers v. Superior Court, 2 Cal.3d 659 [ 87 Cal.Rptr. 202 , 470 P.2d 11 ], He said in pertinent part:

“And yet this case seems to- fall pretty squarely into the somewhat ivory tower reasoning of Cunha and Remers. ... It is a street transaction. . . .

“I have to distinguish the cases. This has to do with a plastic baggie, and the other ones didn’t. . . .”

The facts in Cunha and Remers involved street transactions observed by seasoned narcotic officers, but unlike the transaction at bench the sales in Cunha and Remers were in a high…

Garrett appeals his conviction for possession of marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11530), an offense adjudicated a misdemeanor *537 and for which he was placed on probation on condition of 15 days in the county jail.

About 8:15 a.m. on 11 October 1971 Compton Police Sergeant Alfred S. Smith was parked in an unmarked police vehicle at a street intersection adjacent to Compton High School near a location designated by the school as a smoking spot for students. Garrett, age 20, was leaning against a chain link fence about 40 feet from the police officer’s vehicle. A young man wearing a red and white shirt and carrying a notebook folder walked up to Garrett, and the two appeared to converse. Garrett then handed Red and White Shirt “some type of paper currency . . . green in color.” Red and White Shirt reached into his notebook folder and pulled out a package “five inches long, about an inch and a half to two inches wide. It appeared to be flat and wrapped in wax paper.” He gave it to Garrett, who put it in his right rear pocket. After further brief conversation Red and White Shirt entered the school campus.

Sergeant Smith, commander of the Compton Police Department’s vice…

Garrett appeals his conviction for possession of marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11530), an offense adjudicated a misdemeanor and for which he was placed on probation on condition of 15 days in the county jail.

About 8:15 a.m. on 11 October 1971 Compton Police Sergeant Alfred S. Smith was parked in an unmarked police vehicle at a street intersection adjacent to Compton High School near a location designated by the school as a smoking spot for students. Garrett, age 20, was leaning against a chain link fence about 40 feet from the police officer's vehicle. A young man wearing a red and white shirt and carrying a notebook folder walked up to Garrett, and the two appeared to converse. Garrett then handed Red and White Shirt "some type of paper currency ... green in color." Red and White Shirt reached into his notebook folder and pulled out a package "five inches long, about an inch and a half to two inches wide. It appeared to be flat and wrapped in wax paper." He gave it to Garrett, who put it in his right rear pocket. After further brief conversation Red and White Shirt entered the school campus.

Sergeant Smith, commander of the Compton Police Department's…