The Willamette Weekly (WW) has a fantastic article (from 2002) about turning the tables on Portland, Oregon's top officials regarding their support of trash swiping; the practice by which the police can rummage through your trash without a search warrant. The WW decided to steal the trash of the police chief, the mayor and the district attorney and see how they liked it. They didn't. There is real reason to be afraid when the police steal your garbage. In one incident, which is the case that prompted WW to take action, a female police officer had her trash confiscated (without warrant) by the cops who then sent her bloody tampon to have drug, DNA and semen testing done on it. Do the cops really have a right to do DNA testing on you without your knowledge?

Here's an excerpt:

Perched in his office on the 15th floor of the Justice Center, Chief Kroeker seemed perfectly comfortable with the idea of trash as public property.

"Things inside your house are to be guarded," he told WW. "Those that are in the trash are open for trash men and pickers and--and police. And so it's not a matter of privacy anymore."

Then we spread some highlights from our haul on the table in front of him.

"This is very cheap," he blurted out, frowning as we pointed out a receipt with his credit-card number, a summary of his wife's investments, an email prepping the mayor about his job application to be police chief of Los Angeles, a well-chewed cigar stub, and a handwritten note scribbled in pencil on a napkin, so personal it made us cringe. We also drew his attention to a newsletter from the conservative political advocacy group Focus on the Family, addressed to "Mr. & Mrs. Mark Kroeker."

"Are you a member of Focus on the Family?" we asked.

"No," the chief replied.

"Is your wife?"

"You know," he said, with a Clint Eastwood gaze, "it's none of your business."

Link