Notes from a drug warrior

[Smackie Chan]

Joseph D. McNamara was a beat cop in Harlem in the late 50s, busting heroin addicts. He later spent a year as a criminal justice fellow at Harvard Law School, and eventually earned a PhD. in public administration. He served as Kansas City police chief from '73-'76, and as San Jose's top cop from '76 until his retirement in '91. He currently works at Stanford's Hoover Institution where he conducts seminars on the war on drugs for law enforcement officials.

From a recent interview with Mr. McNamara:

Last year, state and local police made somewhere around 1.4 million drug arrests. Almost none of those arrests had search warrants. Sometimes the guy goes, "Sure, officer, go ahead and open the trunk of my car. I have a kilo of cocaine back there, but I don't want you to think I don't cooperate with the local police." Or the suspect conveniently leaves the dope on the desk or throws it at the feet of the police officer as he approaches. But often nothing like that happens.

The fact is that sometimes the officer reaches inside the suspect's pocket for the drugs and testifies that the suspect "dropped" it as the officer approached. It's so common that it's called "dropsy testimony." The lying is called "white perjury." Otherwise honest cops think it's legitimate to commit these illegal searches and to perjure themselves because they are fighting an evil. In New York it's called "testilying," and in Los Angeles it's called joining the "Liar's Club." It has led some people to say LAPD stands for Los Angeles Perjury Department. It has undermined one of the most precious cornerstones of the whole criminal justice process: the integrity of the police officer on the witness stand.

The drug war is an assault on the African-American community. Any police chief that used the tactics used in inner cities against minorities in a middle-class neighborhood would be fired within a couple of weeks.

If anyone tried to pass laws [today on the basis on which Jim Crow laws were passed in the first half of the 20th Century], they'd be condemned. Yet the laws that we have are the last vestiges of Jim Crow. You don't have to identify yourself as a bigot anymore--you can be for the drug war and you really are "getting them."

[mvscal]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Smackie Chan:
"The drug war is an assault on the [snip]American community." </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's better.

[Smackie Chan]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by mvscal:


That's better.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

I won't argue with that...just quoting the interviewee. But the illegal searches and testilying are certainly more focused on blacks.

[Patty In Modesto]

Fukken stupid LAPD...


Sincerely,

[mvscal]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Smackie Chan:

But the illegal searches and testilying are certainly more focused on blacks.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

And the asset forfeitures are more focused on whites. This is equal opportunity thievery.

If this is a "war" on drugs, someone needs to remind these so called warriors of a time honored military axiom, "You don't reinforce failure."
This shit has to stop NOW.

[Cuda]

There's no point in denying that drug prohibition originally grew out of racism. William Randolph Hearst via his newspaper empire beat the drums for prohibition of both drugs and alcohol by playing on the fears of white america over "these big Negro men get all hopped-up and go out looking for white women to rape".

Unfortunately, arguing against the so-called Drug War on the grounds of being racist isn't going to go anywhere.

I prefer to argue against it on the grounds that it has proven to be a monumental failure as well as a collossal waste of time, money & resources.

[Smackie Chan]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Cuda:

Unfortunately, arguing against the so-called Drug War on the grounds of being racist isn't going to go anywhere.

I prefer to argue against it on the grounds that it has proven to be a monumental failure as well as a collossal waste of time, money & resources.</font></font></font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree, but according to McNamara: "[I]t's asking an awful lot for [police chiefs] to come out and say, 'Look, this drug prohibition is a stupid thing we shouldn't have started in 1914 and it gets worse and worse every year.' That's a big step for a police chief. That's asking them to commit career suicide."

<font color="#330033" size="1">[ March 14, 2002 03:30 PM: Message edited by: Smackie Chan ]</font>

<font color="#330033" size="1">[ March 14, 2002 03:31 PM: Message edited by: Smackie Chan ]</font>

[Cuda]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Smackie Chan:


I agree, but according to McNamara: "[I]t's asking an awful lot for [police chiefs] to come out and say, 'Look, this drug prohibition is a stupid thing we shouldn't have started in 1914 and it gets worse and worse every year.' That's a big step for a police chief. That's asking them to commit career suicide."</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not to mention that they'd be cutting themselves off from all that money & property that they get to confiscate and keep. AND all the federal funding they line up for.

No drug is more addicting than the drug called "Government Funding", and those hooked on it will lie, cheat, steal & kill faster and more savagely than any heroin addict. Just look at Joe Califano's blatant lie- errr, misrepresentation, of an already suspect "Study" on underage drinking.

Califano trumpeted the figure of 25% of all alcohol consumed in this country is by "children" (meaning anyone under 27, but implying that it means teenagers). The people who did the study admitted a few days later that their figure was actually closer to 11%, which means the real number is well under 10%.

But for Califano, the higher the number (i.e. the bigger the failure of anti-drinking programs)the more funding he gets to promote his anti-drinking programs. Not much of an incentive for him to succeed, is there?

[Cuda]

Originally posted by Smackie Chan:


I agree, but according to McNamara: "[I]t's asking an awful lot for [police chiefs] to come out and say, 'Look, this drug prohibition is a stupid thing we shouldn't have started in 1914 and it gets worse and worse every year.' That's a big step for a police chief. That's asking them to commit career suicide."

Not to mention that they'd be cutting themselves off from all that money & property that they get to confiscate and keep. AND all the federal funding they line up for.

No drug is more addicting than the drug called "Government Funding", and those hooked on it will lie, cheat, steal & kill faster and more savagely than any heroin addict. Just look at Joe Califano's blatant lie- errr, misrepresentation, of an already suspect "Study" on underage drinking.

Califano trumpeted the figure of 25% of all alcohol consumed in this country is by "children" (meaning anyone under 27, but implying that it means teenagers). The people who did the study admitted a few days later that their figure was actually closer to 11%, which means the real number is well under 10%.

But for Califano, the higher the number (i.e. the bigger the failure of anti-drinking programs)the more funding he gets to promote his anti-drinking programs. Not much of an incentive for him to succeed, is there?

Just thought I'd RACK! this fucking take