Brooklyn judge snuffs out ‘sniff test’
By Eric Goldschein
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The “sniff test,” a time-honored NYPD tradition, is not a proper means for determining whether an open container contains alcohol — at least according to Brooklyn Civil Court Judge Noach Dear.
After years of presiding over public drinking cases, Dear wrote in a decision on Thursday that from now on, he will no longer recognize a police officer’s olfactory hunch as proof that a defendant’s beverage was illegally alcoholic.