More corrupt cops: This is your WOD, citizens

DRCNET ^ | 1/23/03 | DRCNet

[Centurion2000]

These guys sounds more and more like the Mexican police.

Criminy......

[MrLeRoy]

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

Same story appeared in the Owensboro, KY Messenger-Inquirer.

Now wipe that egg off your face.

[steve-b]

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

This assumes that the one is completely independent of the other, which is simply not the case.

Police enforcing legitimate laws generally have the cooperation of the victim (or the victim's survivors), and of society in general. Police enforcing "vice" laws do not have the cooperation of anyone involved in the black-market transaction, and have only a segment of society on their side. Thus, the latter is strongly correlated with corruption and misconduct in general.

[alpowolf]

Our society has always had weak-willed people. The 19th Century was not a time when everybody was virtuous, any more than today. The difference is how we are responding to the problem.

When that happened, laws came in to protect society from those nitwits

No, Prohibition was and the WoD is misguided attempts to protect the weak from their own vices. That's a lost cause; it's why Prohibition failed, and why the WoD is failing.

[Pahuanui]

But then came those whose drug-infested lifestyles began to adversely affect the wholesome lifestyles of most. When that happened, laws came in to protect society from those nitwits.

Oh, you mean like how those stoned-out-of-their-minds minorities, no doubt listening to jazz, were assualting white women?

Your Goofus & Gallant world has never existed in order to be adversely effected.

[steve-b]

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.

Er, not even the DUfus crowd equates "not done by government" with "not done at all" so thoroughly as you just did.

[MrLeRoy]

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.

No, that's not the question; nobody supports the idea of, for example, letting drugs be sold to children. And you left out what else society gets with a WOsD: innocents killed in drug-turf wars, enriched criminals, and a price tag of at least $20 billion each year.

[Richard Kimball]

How is this related to the War on Drugs?

Older cops I know claim that anyone who spends more than 3 years in vice (drugs, prostitution enforcement), particularly undercover, ends up as dirty or dirtier than the people they're trying to catch. Not saying it's an argument to end all drug laws, but there are so many temptations to vice (money, drugs, good looking women), that it's far easier to corrupt the officers.

[Pahuanui]

Have a better idea sloth?

New to speaking English?

[alpowolf]

Thus, the latter is strongly correlated with corruption and misconduct in general.

The more so since the only practical way to enforce laws against "vice" is to break those same laws.

[MrLeRoy]

But then came those whose drug-infested lifestyles began to adversely affect the wholesome lifestyles of most. When that happened, laws came in to protect society from those nitwits.

WODdie fairy tale. What really happened is that out-of-work Prohibitionist Anslinger whipped up a bunch of hysterical lies to rationalize his continued employment.

[steve-b]

the considerable taxpayer dollars thus flushed down the crapper

The fact that the taxpayers, not the perps, have to pay is particularly galling.

Perhaps if the cost were line-itemed out of the police department's salary and bennies budget, the honest cops would get serious about rooting out the bad ones.

[wimpycat]

Main Entry: se·man·tics
Pronunciation: si-'man-tiks
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
Date: 1893
1 : the study of meanings: a : the historical and psychological study and the classification of changes in the signification of words or forms viewed as factors in linguistic development b (1) : SEMIOTIC (2) : a branch of semiotic dealing with the relations between signs and what they refer to and including theories of denotation, extension, naming, and truth
2 : GENERAL SEMANTICS
3 a : the meaning or relationship of meanings of a sign or set of signs; especially : connotative meaning b : the language used (as in advertising or political propaganda) to achieve a desired effect on an audience especially through the use of words with novel or dual meanings


I perfectly understand semantics. If you change the word, you change the meaning of the whole debate; at least that is the intention.

Look here, I'm just yanking your chain for the hell of it. It's nothing personal. I just don't accept at face value any "news" that comes from websites with an obvious fringe activist agenda, no matter what the cause. I haven't said anything against you personally, but you sure don't hesitate questioning the intellectual capacity of people who don't fall right in line with your way of thinking.

Chill out, relax, the weekend is upon us!

[wimpycat]

They require a password to access that link. But nevermind, I shouldn't have to verify it. They should have given sources for their information on the website.

[steve-b]

I just don't accept at face value any "news" that comes from websites with an obvious fringe activist agenda

Er, then why do you bother reading FR?

[wimpycat]

Because not everyone on FR has an obvious fringe activist agenda, the operative word being "fringe".

[Pahuanui]

Look here, I'm just yanking your chain for the hell of it. It's nothing personal. I just don't accept at face value any "news" that comes from websites with an obvious fringe activist agenda, no matter what the cause. I haven't said anything against you personally, but you sure don't hesitate questioning the intellectual capacity of people who don't fall right in line with your way of thinking.

If it's nothing personal, I'll thank you not to attribute to me positions that I do not adhere to. I was quite clear in my meaning: I do not support drug use. I do not support the WOD. These two positions are not incompatible, and one does not give tacit approval of the other. Clear now?

Chill out, relax, the weekend is upon us!

Ha! If you're a partner here, you work weekends, chilled out or otherwise, but thanks.

[MrLeRoy]

They require a password to access that link.

A Google News search on "Jefferson County" yields half-a-dozen more.

[Liberal Classic]

Prohibition is an awful flop. 
                    We like it.
It can't stop what it's meant to stop.
                    We like it.
It's left a trail of graft and slime,
It's filled our land with vice and crime,
It don't prohibit worth a dime,
                    Nevertheless we're for it. 

-- Franklin P. Adams, 1931

[wimpycat]

I know what you were saying, LOL! I'm just messing with you, like I said.