Drug War Issues
This week we have three cops whose drug habits got them into trouble. It is Chronicle policy not to include police officers whose only offense is drug possession in this column. Dope-snorting cops may be hypocrites, but that doesn't make them corrupt. But in all three cases below, officers who used drugs also did something crooked. Let's get to it:
In Troy, Missouri, a Winfield police officer was arrested May 25 on suspicion of arranging to purchase cocaine. Officer Bud Chrum went down after investigators with the Lincoln County Narcotics Enforcement Team received information that Chrum and his brother, Tony, were trying to score in Winfield to replace two grams of cocaine Bud Chrum had taken from the Winfield Police evidence room. The narcs busted Tony after he made a purchase, then convinced him to snitch out his own brother, which he did. Officer Chrum was arrested when he arrived in uniform to meet his brother to pick up the coke. He is charged with conspiracy to distribute, deliver or manufacture a controlled substance, and was being held on $25,000 bond at last report.
In Mansfield, Louisiana, a Mansfield police officer was arrested May 25 after allegedly buying cocaine from an undercover officer. Officer Todd Brewer, 31, is charged with cocaine possession with intent to distribute it, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, malfeasance in office and possessing a gun during a drug transaction. Brewer went down after the local drug task force got reports he was involved in the buying and selling of drugs. He was busted after buying 10 grams -- possibly a sign of a really bad coke habit, but more likely a sellable quantity.
In Williamsburg, Kentucky, a former Williamsburg police officer will plead guilty to conspiring to sell drugs. Kenneth Nighbert's attorney filed a motion last Friday to set a plea hearing date. Nighbert and six others were indicted by a federal grand jury with conspiring to sell pain pills from December 2005 to May 2007. Nighbert was a police officer during part of that time -- until he was arrested on state charges of trafficking in Oxycontin. He did jail time for that already. The federal indictment also alleged that Nighbert burglarized a pharmacy while he was an officer in order to get more pain pills. Nighbert is the son of former state Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Cops gone bad
If the use of drugs were not illegal, there would be no need for undercover cops to entrap their brothers in uniform. How much money is spent each year investigating policemen and women who use drugs while not on duty? If that amount of money were spent on educating the young about drug use, we would have no real drug abuse problem in this nation.
I am not the first nor the only one to suggest this. But sometimes an old idea should be brought up anew.
Our prison population may be declining, but how many lives have been ruined by the foolish and useless laws prohibiting a person from exercising a natural right? It is abominable.
Thank you,
Robert Walker
Think about this...
Do you REALLY want the Drunk/Drugged cop armed to the teeth running around Fucking with you & yours...?
In reply to Think about this... by Jefferson Davis (not verified)
Really?
As I understand it, almost everyone, can be fired for being drunk on the job. It is no different if one is impaired from drug abuse.
Otherwise, your statement is either rhetorical or just really shows a lack of common sense!
Really? It's Me (Again)
The Common Sense of the matter shows that cops and other civil servants have "special" drug testing rules, where they're tested once a year and are given "announced" drug testing. I could go for a job like that, myself. Who wouldn't? Unlike the Dumb Truck Driver or Common Janitor that has to submit a Piss sample on demand.
The public employee unions and Civil Service board are responsible for these policies that are so generous to the few and so horrid for Society.
In reply to Really? It's Me (Again) by Thomas Paine (not verified)
let me understand
Your comment was about letting a drunk/drugged cop on the job. Well common sense tells, most likely, 100% response would be that NO I WOULD NOT. Everyone would agree that no cop should work impaired. So it is not making much sense to ask the question.
My response had nothing to do with the duplicity of justice in our country. Or addressing the alcohol elitists, or anything else. That is not what this discussion was about. You went off on a tangent, I guess, because you were looking for an argument. I agree with what you said about the system being screwy. They just love to damage people over consensual crimes. And, there are probably a lot of cops, and other civil servants, that are closet users of cannabis!
Re: "Let Me Understand"
I Couldn't agree with you more. If I were King of the Universe I wouldn't let them work either, because they DON'T deserve to. Try exsisting in a State like Idaho, Oregon or Colorado, where EVERYTHING is against the law!
So there, I've vented my frustration and anger. It's things others need to start thinking about talking about with their friends, family and associates. The World isn't going to change unless YOU change it.
Please, Good Friends and Gentle Readers, try and understand that not everybody uses Common Sense; they probably never learned to during their formative years. Will our Culture survive if we don't wrest power from the senseless that never learned any Humanity???
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