Hmm, maybe the reason so many people still support the war on drugs isn’t because they’re stupid jerks. Perhaps they just haven’t yet had the pleasure of getting spontaneously framed, arrested, and jailed for made-up cocaine crimes concocted by dirty drug cops.
A former NYPD narcotics detective snared in a corruption scandal testified it was common practice to fabricate drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas.
The bombshell testimony from Stephen Anderson is the first public account of the twisted culture behind the false arrests in the Brooklyn South and Queens narc squads, which led to the arrests of eight cops and a massive shakeup.
"As a detective, you still have a number to reach while you are in the narcotics division," he said.
NYPD officials did not respond to a request for comment. [NY Daily News]
What, did you think they were going to apologize? Because that would be a lot like admitting that it’s wrong to do these sorts of things. I can absolutely guarantee you that there are plenty of people in law enforcement who think that the worst thing about this whole episode is that it’s causing people to say unreasonable things about the cops.
I, on the other hand, am quite convinced that the worst thing about this mess is the part where they framed some random dudes for fake crimes. That is an act so extraordinarily corrupt, so corrosive to the concept of a free society, that it’s a wonder the politicians have yet to declare war on it.
Imagine for one second, at the risk of your head exploding, that despite the laws of economics, human nature and common sense, it somehow turned out to be the case that the vigorous enforcement of our drug laws actually led to a reduction in drug activity. Imagine that, and ask yourself what would happen if one day these quota-driven drug detectives couldn’t find enough dope dealers to drag downtown on drug charges. It chills the blood to imagine the multitude of malicious schemes that would emerge to ensure that the people whose job it is to put other people in prison are always busy doing just that.
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