Crooked Police?

[Magrus]

Something reminded me of a story I heard in regards to a drug bust that went down around here a few years ago. Someone I know personally was at the house that got raided playing video games with some friends. He was unaware of the situation, and was just drinking (illegally and underage, yes), and playing video games with some older guys. Well, turns out, the owner of the house was waiting on a large delivery of cocaine, and had $50,000 on hand. It also turns out that the guys had their video game up so loud, they were oblivious to the narcotics division and S.W.A.T team that had surrounded the house, broken in, and was watching them all through the windows and from the stairs at the top of the basement, which they were in playing video games.

So, SWAT rushed in, all the guys were pinned down with guns at their heads and searched. The cops ended up taking the scale, alcohol and some marijuana and pipes, which they reported. They also reported that they stopped a drug bust. All of this was true. However, the police reported that they had found $15,000 in cash on the guys which was going to be used for buying drugs. Which leads me to my point...

Those cops stole money. Regardless of where it was from, and the fact it was illegally come by in the first place...the cops stole evidence. They pocketed $35,000 US to keep for themselves. Frankly, my view on this is a highly negative one, as the local police are running protection on people who deal and distribute Cocaine in my area of NY. The fact the police are confiscating drugs and drug money, keeping the money, and in turn selling the drugs to dealers disturbs me. IMHO it is one thing for someone to deal drugs and another for people who swear to uphold the law as their career of choice to do so.

I'm curious, do people find this wrong that the police around here are doing this? Do you feel it is worse for the police to be doing this than the standard drug dealers in the first place?

[Chimaera182]

This does not surprise me. I've given up looking to police forces as paragons of good and right, protectors of justice. It's unfortunate, but without them, things would be a lot worse. 'course, things could be a lot better, too.

[dj_venom]

I think it is bad, but - no offence - how reliable are those people. I just ask, because, and don't take it personally if you use it, I wouldn't trust people who use drugs. He could easily be making this up, just for attention, become famous etc. If it is true, then I am against corruption, but it is just heresay without proof at the moment.

Originally Posted by Chimaera182

This does not surprise me. I've given up looking to police forces as paragons of good and right, protectors of justice.

Well that's a generalisation there. I'm sure there is a large, overwhelming, majority of 'straight' policemen. And I'm sure they would object to you labelling police as corrupt, especially when they have to go through so much, and can't do anything. In Australia, they can be walking along, and if a bunch of people start verbally abusing them, they can't do a thing. I think that while some can be bad, the majority deserve respect.

[Beldin]

Originally Posted by Chimaera182

I've given up looking to police forces as paragons of good and right, protectors of justice.

That reminds me of something that was bothering me years ago....

...and that was not only the police, but also the justice system....

*digs up some ancient Link*

No worries, just interested ...

Beldin

[Ashen]

Meh, it's the same everywhere, here in E as well. I guess it's just how things are. When I was younger I actually had ideals, and thought things like these can be cleared up etc, etc, etc. I don't anymore, and at this point I have no faith in either police, the justice system or the whole govt/politicians (not that I ever believed in them though).

When ever there is potential for abuse, some human being will take that chance in order to get more power (in various forms, including money). I don't think it can be stopped.

[Chimaera182]

Originally Posted by Ashen

When ever there is potential for abuse, some human being will take that chance in order to get more power (in various forms, including money). I don't think it can be stopped.

How cynical. -applause- It's sad but true. No one's above that sort of thing, especially the police.

[Lestat]

In my experience 15 & 50 (or 13 & 30 or 14 & 40 for that matter) get confused sometimes... so maybe simple misunderstanding or mangling by the gossip machine...

de Lioncourt & Associates, Devils' Advocates at your service...

[Darzog]

Originally Posted by Chimaera182

How cynical. -applause- It's sad but true. No one's above that sort of thing, especially the police.

And why are police especially not above this?

I agree that not all police are paragons of good; some get into it because they want to control others, some get into it for the "rush", and some just get tempted by something along the way. But from my experience (even with the stories I've posted about Austin PD) the vast majority of cops are good people trying to do a good thing for society. Most times they aren't given many options, and none of them are good, but they try to do the right thing.

And I would be more inclined to believe that either the person or media were mistaken about the amount, or the person was lying about how much cash the cops confiscated. That has happened several times in Austin and not once was it ever substantiated (and not just through police investigations but namby-pamby activists trying to blame the cops for something have never found evidence either).

[Chimaera182]

Originally Posted by Darzog

And why are police especially not above this?

Just a way of saying they're not above it, either. Plus some cops take being a police officer as a power trip; they are the long arm of the law, and a person can't fight back against them for fear of having harsher penalities inflicted on them.

[Darzog]

I would have understood that if you had said "No one's above that sort of thing, not even the police." With what you said I thought you were implying that police are more likely to abuse power than anyone else, ehich I disagree with.

[Chimaera182]

Originally Posted by Darzog

I would have understood that if you had said "No one's above that sort of thing, not even the police." With what you said I thought you were implying that police are more likely to abuse power than anyone else, ehich I disagree with.

Yeah, that's my fault. I took "especially the police" to be the same as "even the police."

[Magrus]

Originally Posted by dj_venom

I think it is bad, but - no offence - how reliable are those people. I just ask, because, and don't take it personally if you use it, I wouldn't trust people who use drugs. He could easily be making this up, just for attention, become famous etc. If it is true, then I am against corruption, but it is just heresay without proof at the moment.

Well, first of all, there is a large difference in the character of a person who smokes pot and a crack addict who would steal and sell anything not nailed down to get a fix. The guy who told me this story is a highly responsible person, who happens to show up on time for work everyday, do his job well, treat his gf and family well, and is well liked by everyone. He's shy, but I haven't caught him in a lie yet to date so I have no reason to disbelieve him.

Second, I'm assuming the police in your area of the world are a bit different than in mine. As I have stated before, the police don't do much beyond confiscate drugs and pass out speeding tickets. They don't track down suspects in assualt or rape cases unless the person is rich around here. Why? They're frightened. Which, I can see why they would be, however, it IS their career of choice to be doing such things, is it not? The chief of police in this town lives 3 houses down from my mother. His daughter is a whore, and I say that in the sense that since she hit 15 years old she has been having sex for money. He takes fireworks from people, as they are illegal, and either uses them with his family, or gives them to the guys on the police force or firemen for their kids to use. His staff have been harrassing me for YEARS as I walk down the street. I have no criminal record, and I have no reason for them to be pulling me over aside from my appearance, which is illegal. Yet, nothing can be done, because they are the police.

Third, the media is owned by the government. Anything, and I do mean...anything...printed or put on TV or radio is approved of by the government. When something isn't approved of by the government, suddenly the show shuts off in the middle of the viewing, or something of the sort. This happened a few months ago with a....rap artist or famous athlete I do believe? I stopped watching the news years ago, I do recall hearing a story about that though recently. Given that is common knowledge around here the cops in the county east of here are running drugs...meaning, anyone not on government or town payroll knows this. Whether it's the 13 year old girl down the street, or the old republican guy in the next town over, everyone knows it. The media is covering that up and touting drug busts, which are in reality cops seizing drugs and drug money, selling the drugs and keeping the money. If those guys had had their deal go down before they got busted, those cops would have said they found a lesser amount of cocaine than they found and sold the rest, like they have been doing for years.


So....yeah, I'll take the word of a responsible pot head over the police and the media.

Originally Posted by Lestat

In my experience 15 & 50 (or 13 & 30 or 14 & 40 for that matter) get confused sometimes... so maybe simple misunderstanding or mangling by the gossip machine...

de Lioncourt & Associates, Devils' Advocates at your service...

I dunno, if I was held at gunpoint while a SWAT team counted out $50,000 in front of me, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't mistake the number. If it was an isolated incident, your right, I'd probably disregard it as an error, or a story concocted to get attention. However, it's not a lonely story about something like this happening.

For example, a man who was caught smuggling marijuana in his car had a certain amount in the car. The seats were cut open, emptied and filled with bags of marijuana, the trunk, and the dashboard. The man was furious at his court hearing when the amount was read off. He attested there was more in the car. Given the make and model of the car mentioned, there is a limit to what can be hidden, and this guy was a big distributer. They found more in his house, he had absolutely no reason to not fill his car as much as he could, as there was more than enough to do so that they found. However, the fact the man ADMITTED to carrying 5 lbs more marijuana in his car IN court, and said the police were stealing it made me wonder.

Not to mention the guy who used to own a pipe shop in the town I used to live in. The police raided his apartment and reported what they found. Three kids who were exclaiming about the luck they had that they bought stuff off of him a few hours before that happened that came into the place I worked at to buy a newspaper to read the article had a different reaction when they read it. Now, granted, stuff can, and will be sold in the time span of 3 hours or so by a dealer. However, certain drugs do NOT sell fast on a normal basis. These kids saw what the man had, and said the paper only mentioned roughly half of what the man had when they had been there.

Not to mention, the father of one of my old friends sold a $58,000 car, cash....to a old man who was the known uncle of one of the people on the police force in the town of Lyons, NY. This is the town which is mentioned continuously as the main area police are running protection on coke dealers. Now, a 70-some-odd year old man, who lives in a trailer, with a beat up, rusty car who walks into a dealership and buys a car for $58,000 and some change in cash? That's not right, there is something wrong there. It's not as if his wife died and he got an insurance settlement or something out of nowhere before going on a shopping spree.

No, there is a pattern here, which disturbs me.

[slade]

stuff like this happens all the time....its called LA
sometimes its for good reasons
they use that money to buy more drugs and with that they go under cover and sell that stuff to the higher ups then arresting them
sometimes its taken as pocket money....cops dont get paid there worth plus they know that money never really goes to the department but to the higher ups who pocket that money.......so for them its more of a why not take a bit someone else who is way richer than me is going to take it anyways

and then theres the ones who take it too actually buy drugs for themselves

[Chimaera182]

This problem's been around since time immemorial (grr, my Hitler and Nazi Germany teacher this semester used that word so much it's become part of my vernacular). Twenty odd years ago, the Simpsons portrayed Chief Wiggum and several of his officers as corrupt and stealing evidence (think of the counterfeit jean ring for one example). Other movies have shown cops to be crooked in some form or another, but there's always a few who outshine the rest; don't they usually die in the end or something? There aren't enough checks and balances. It's like someone once said, "Who polices the police?" We need someone to keep an eye on the police, although someone in turn would have to keep an eye on them, as well; the police couldn't be trusted to do it for obvious reasons.

[slade]

Originally Posted by Chimaera182

This problem's been around since time immemorial (grr, my Hitler and Nazi Germany teacher this semester used that word so much it's become part of my vernacular). Twenty odd years ago, the Simpsons portrayed Chief Wiggum and several of his officers as corrupt and stealing evidence (think of the counterfeit jean ring for one example). Other movies have shown cops to be crooked in some form or another, but there's always a few who outshine the rest; don't they usually die in the end or something? There aren't enough checks and balances. It's like someone once said, "Who polices the police?" We need someone to keep an eye on the police, although someone in turn would have to keep an eye on them, as well; the police couldn't be trusted to do it for obvious reasons.

there called the DEA