More corrupt cops: This is your WOD, citizens

DRCNET ^ | 1/23/03 | DRCNet

[Pahuanui]

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story

It never ends. This week's winners are Jefferson County (Greater Louisville), KY, Metro Narcotics officers Mark A. Watson and Christie Richards. The daring duo is on trial this week in Louisville on charges of using photocopied judges' signatures to create bogus search warrants, lying on affidavits to obtain search warrants, and pocketing money they were supposed to be paying to informers. Watson faces 472 counts, while Richardson faces 467.

The pair are accused of 133 separate incidents of wrongdoing, according to court documents. Watson and Richards were suspended in February 2000 after questions were raised about improprieties in pay Watson was receiving for court appearances. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported in March that 21 of Watson's 41 cases in 2001 were dropped because he failed to appear in court, but he nonetheless collected court pay for 10 of the missed cases.

As their misdeeds came to light, more cases they made have crumbled. Judges have overturned eight convictions and prosecutors have dropped charges against 32 defendants in 19 cases in circuit court and dismissed an additional 15 cases in district court. Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit naming the pair, the city of Louisville, and two former Jefferson County police chiefs remains on hold pending the outcome of the criminal trial. The plaintiffs, who are people investigated by Watson and Richards, accuse them of violating their constitutional rights and accuse other officials of condoning such activities.

Watson and Richards' misconduct also sparked a $60,000 review of Metro Narcotics by the Police Executive Review Board. That review found that Metro Narcotics supervisors missed or ignored warning signs. Jefferson County Police Chief William Carcara, who retired last month when the city and county police forces merged, implemented some changes in the unit, including encouraging detectives to pursue cases involving higher level dealers, requiring commanding officers to witness informant payments, and evaluating the quality of arrests and whether they result in convictions. Oh, yeah, and now officers have to prove they were in court to testify before they can get that overtime pay.

[Pahuanui]

Business as usual in the travesty of the WOD, but I'm sure that won't upset the mandarins of self-righteous moralism around here who support it tooth-and-nail.

[Mr. Bird]

How is this related to the War on Drugs? If the cops in question worked in homicide, would their actions taint laws against murder? These are just corrupt cops.

A better story against the WOD is the one about the cancer stricken lady who was jailed because the pharmacist thought she had forged the prescription. Heard that one on the radio this morning.

This story: a nonstory.

[Johnny Gage]

here's what they deserve:

Leg chains, and a sign attached saying: "I'm a dirty cop who hates minorities" and then drop them off in the worst crime infested 'hood in Louisville, and let them fend for themselves. If they make it out alive, then ship their sorry a$$es to jail.

[blackdog]

Have you seen that Denzel Washington movie called "Training Day"? Absolutely the most horrific film of behavior from our WOD crowd immaginable. At first I let it pass as hollywood usual. After a few days I realized that the plot was just a compilation of about two years worth of LEO conduct in LA, condensed into one rookies day.

The film really shows the society in which these guys operate. They create their own world with their own set of laws which only apply to the cop who lies worst.

[recalcitrant]

I wonder at times, if a cop who would forge a warrant, lie to the judge having jurisdiction; might plant false evidence as well as the other crimes he has committed... in order to stick the citizen he has targetted.

[FreeTally]

How is this related to the War on Drugs?

Metro Narcotics officers

Uh, how is it not related?

If the cops in question worked in homicide, would their actions taint laws against murder?

Stupid question. The differemce between the violation of rights(murder) and the peaceful use of substances(not a violation of rights) has been explaiend literally thousands of times on FR.

These are just corrupt cops.

No, they are cops corrupted by the opportunities that the war on drugs present. Without the drug laws, they couldn't have done what they did. There would be no people to serve false warrants to and no informants to pocket bribe money from.

[recalcitrant]

I wonder at times, if a cop who would forge a warrant, lie to the judge having jurisdiction; might plant false evidence as well as the other crimes he has committed... in order to stick the citizen he has targetted.

[Pahuanui]

How is this related to the War on Drugs? If the cops in question worked in homicide, would their actions taint laws against murder? These are just corrupt cops.

What, are you kidding? Here, let me help you out: the WOD justifies the payments that are available to informants, with much of these payments coming from funds from forteitures that stem from drug accusations, not necessarily verdicts from legal proceedings. Not only that, but there is a built-in incentive for departments to seize as much as they can for their own funding, since most asset forfeitures are uncontested due to their guilty-until-proven-innocent nature.

A better story against the WOD is the one about the cancer stricken lady who was jailed because the pharmacist thought she had forged the prescription. Heard that one on the radio this morning.

That's a good one as well.

This story: a nonstory.

Get real. This is an all too common occurence that stems directly from the WOD. Too much money is involved for anything other than massive corruption.

[rolling_stone]

I wonder at times, if a cop who would forge a warrant, lie to the judge having jurisdiction; might plant false evidence as well as the other crimes he has committed... in order to stick the citizen he has targetted.

I don't...

[cinFLA]

Business as usual in the travesty of the WOD, but I'm sure that won't upset the mandarins of self-righteous moralism around here who support it tooth-and-nail.

Apparently you want a society that is sideways in the gutter stoned out of their minds!

[alpowolf]

For every one cop like this that they catch, how many more continue to break the law? With the approval of the WoD Warriors of course; nothing is more important to them than "getting the druggies".

[coloradan]

More criminals-on-the-dole in the War On (some) Drugs.

[Pahuanui]

Apparently you want a society that is sideways in the gutter stoned out of their minds!

So, are you still beating your wife?

[ActionNewsBill]

Apparently you want a society that is sideways in the gutter stoned out of their minds!

A society with honest frigging cops would be better.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Was the country "gutter stoned out of their minds" prior to the outlawing of drugs? (approx 1914)

Why is a drug you drink beyond the control of the federal government but a drug you smoke not?

Why did the federal government need a constitutional amendment to outlaw alcohol but not marijuana?

Did Prohibition result in LESS crime or did it just open the doors for organized crime?

[wimpycat]

DRCNET: A bastion of objective and otherwised non-biased news that has no agenda whatsoever, and so can be counted upon to tell all the well-sourced facts, with no spin or ulterior motives.....NOT!!!!!

Get outta here, passing this crap off as news, ROFL!

[samtheman]

Yes, it's true that this kind of corruption would be hard to duplicate in the enforcement of murder laws. Maybe not so hard in the enforcement of SEC rules. (Should we disband the SEC?)

Granted that the WOD stimulates a measureably higher level of police corruption (though I would like to see the actual measurements), that fact doesn't, by itself, invalidate the WOD.

The question is: which is worse, a society with a WOD and some increased police corruption as a result, or a society in which no drugs are controlled in any way.

The Anti-WOD people seem to think that this isn't even a legitimate question. I believe it is. It is legitimate to question the vision of a future in America when all the controls are removed from drugs like crack cocaine, and methamphetamine.

[Pahuanui]

DRCNET: A bastion of objective and otherwised non-biased news that has no agenda whatsoever, and so can be counted upon to tell all the well-sourced facts, with no spin or ulterior motives.....NOT!!!!!

Get outta here, passing this crap off as news, ROFL!

Not the sharpest pencil on the desk, are you?

They're reporting a news story, and the content they provided in no way contradicts the facts in the case. The same story is available through any major newswire source.

Try a Yahoo or Google search, you'll get the same results and still look every bit as foolish.

[Kerberos]

" including encouraging detectives to pursue cases involving higher level dealers"

The drug warriors arn't about to do that. That's where the cash flows from. Now if someone misses a payment, that might be a different matter.

[Wolfie]

The funniest part is that their defense lawyers are complaining about the use of confidential informants. What goes around comes around.