People v. Smith

Defendant was charged by information with possession of cocaine. He successfully moved in the superior court for dismissal of the information. This appeal by the People followed. We reverse.

Facts:

In the early morning hours on August 28, 1979, Officer Baker of the Los Angeles Police Department, assigned to the Van Nuys division, was on duty in a marked police vehicle on Ventura Boulevard near Firmament Avenue. With him was another officer. Both were in uniform.

In the past two months, the police had received numerous complaints about prowlers and attempted break-ins at the apartments of single women in the area just described. That very evening at roll call the officers had been told that in the area in question a male Caucasian had 10 days earlier forced a woman into her vehicle where he attempted to rape her. After roll call, at 12:31 in the morning, Officer Baker personally checked out a report about an attempted rape in the neighborhood. The woman described the suspect as a male Caucasian in his mid twenties, with brown hair.

*286 Thereafter, at 4:30 in the morning, while continuing his patrol of the neighborhood, Officer Baker’s attention was drawn to a…