Gretchen Peters certainly has a sense of timing.

Thousands of US Marines poured into Afghanistan's southern Helmand province this week to take the battle against the Taliban to the foe's stronghold.

The Prince Georges County, Maryland, Sheriff's Department has finished its investigation into a drug raid last summer in which deputies charged into the home of the mayor of Berwyn Heights and kill

As summer arrives in Afghanistan, it's not just the temperature that is heating up.

Phillip S. Smith, Writer/Editor

I recently mentioned the controversy surrounding some drug cops in Philadelphia who've been stealing cash and merchandise from convenience stores under the guise of enforcing paraphernalia laws.

Via Radley Balko, it looks like the story is getting more interesting. The Philadelphia Daily News obtained surveillance video from one of the stores, which shows officers sabotaging security cameras. While the video doesn’t catch officers actually stealing anything, it certainly doesn't look good that they're cutting wires on security cameras right before the alleged theft took place. The video also shows that the paraphernalia purchase cited on the search warrant never actually took place. Uh-oh.

The bottom line is that these cops are more than just a little bit dirty. They are insanely corrupt. And yet, the last time I wrote about this, someone actually complained about it in the comment section:

The majority of the criminals out there are bad mouthing the police organization because they are upset they got busted. Documented are thousands of cases where police acted as heroes and law enforcers; no one seems to want to report or testify on their behalf, so I am. I respect the law enforcement organizations for what their true goals are and strongly suggest that people such as your selves find a new line of work.

Yeah, I'll stop complaining about police misconduct when police stop committing outrageous crimes. I appreciate good police work as much as anyone, but I won't ignore or forgive horrible misconduct just because other cops are doing their job. Most bus drivers aren't alcoholics, but that doesn't mean every incident of drunk bus driving should become a celebration of all the heroic bus drivers who don't go to work wasted.

One crooked cop is one too many. And if the good cops can’t get rid of the bad ones, then they're not exactly perfect either.

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I had an appointment today with Lismore police, Area Commander Bluey Lyons, Crime Manager Stephen Clark, and the applicant, Detective Sargent Michael Smith who is threatening the Museum’s landlord with the Restricted Premises Act 1943.

It was agreed that we had common ground in that we all wanted “a Nimbin where mums and dads can walk with their kiddies without seeing any drug dealing” (Bluey’s words). The mutual understanding finished there though, because we had entirely different approaches to achieving that.

I think we need regulated cannabis cafes or a cannabis market place, and an attitude that drug use is a health issue. The police believe in the war on drugs despite making no impact, or even going backwards, with street cameras live to their police station in Nimbin and nine permanent officers in the tiny village.

As we have warned from Nimbin for over a decade, the increased policing of easy to bust cannabis has helped create a new illegal pharmaceutical drug industry with an unending supply of almost invisible, odourless pills with no quality control. At least with organic outdoor grown cannabis which Nimbin is famous for you know what you’re getting.

I also talked to the landlord of the Museum today. I expect an eviction letter soon giving me one month’s notice. The police appear to have made this conditional if the landlord wants to avoid court and potential costs. They are also asking that the new tenants of the Museum building install surveillance cameras covering every room and the extensive back yard. Police want access to this footage at any time, perhaps if it was all live on the net they would be satisfied.

It makes little sense even when you realize this discussion with the Crown Prosecutor, is happening in Sydney where the Museum landlord lives. He has never been to Nimbin.

If the community is keen enough for the Museum to stay alive, we may find a willing taker but it is very disappointing we had no say in any discussions, because after all we do by far the majority of the police work in the village which resembles a refugee camp from the war on drugs. In fact the feeling in town is that closing the Museum will do little to stop any drug dealing but have a major impact on tourism.

And anyway, if they can’t keep drug dealing out of jails, which are surely on CCTV, how can we be expected to?

Further info Michael at the Museum 6689 1123 or home 6689 7525

MEDIA RELEASE: NIMBIN MUSEUM FRIDAY, AUG 29

NIMBIN MUSEUM OFFERS TO CLOSE FOR A MONTH TO ASSIST POLICE

The Nimbin Museum is a cultural icon in the tiny Northern NSW village inland from Byron Bay, internationally famous for its alternative culture.

Police have put the squeeze on the Museum’s landlord to evict the curator Michael Balderstone because of drug supply on the premises. He says in response to the threat of the Museum closure, “We offer to close the Museum for a month to see what difference it makes to drug dealing in the village. It is offensive for police to suggest we haven’t tried our hardest to keep dealing out of the Museum since we began here over twenty years ago.

It has been an impossible chore and caused more than one nervous breakdown for Museum volunteers. We have never stopped policing the dealing and extremely difficult behaviour associated with it, in and around the Museum, as the police themselves are rarely here. The many police I have had to work with for two decades all know how much I and the Museum volunteers have tried to stop drug dealing in the Museum.”

“In the month we are closed I ask that artists be allowed to work inside to restore some of the damage done to exhibits by the young, disrespectful, alienated, angry and paranoid youth who risk jail daily in Nimbin just to sell a bit of pot. Why?”

Elspeth Jones, almost a resident artist and exhausted dealer ‘thrower outerer’ says, “The Museum is a gathering place for the community.

Every day we welcome many people to the Museum, both visitors and locals. Our youth, young children with ever extending families and their elders share tables, pots of tea and good conversation with people from all over the world. It is really a place for cultural exchange, education and for breaking down barriers. It has become such a popular attraction because visitors ultimately want to see a place where the locals are getting on with their lives, where they can meet with the people who make Nimbin such a colourful and different place and feel part of it. They see Nimbin warts and all, and mostly love it”.

“We aim to maintain a friendly atmosphere inside, and have never denied entry to the police. They become in a way part of it, we have on display the ins and outs of prohibition to all. Visitors can see for themselves that the war on drugs is futile, and our endeavours to curb the dealing around the Museum and indeed throughout Nimbin have been as successful as the war on drugs world wide.”, said Elspeth

“The permanent closure of the Museum would create a huge gap in village life, scattering and diluting the alternative and indiginous culture here even further. We would be cutting off our nose to spite our face, creating a dull “Everytown” where tourists eat and leave none the wiser.”

Further information 66891123 or after hours 66897525 www.nimbinmuseum.com

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