Pubdate: Sun, 22 Oct 2000
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2000 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  P.O. Box 85333, Richmond, VA 23293
Fax: (804) 775-8072
Feedback: http://www.gatewayva.com/feedback/totheeditor.shtml
Website: http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Author: Jerry Oliver
Note: Jerry Oliver, a 2000 Commentary Columnist, is Richmond's Chief of Police.
Bookmark: L.A. Rampart Scandal http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm

POLICE PAY, TOO: NATION'S WAR ON DRUGS EXACTS TERRIBLE PRICE

With each massive drug seizure, evidence mounts that this country is sadly 
losing the war on drugs - not to drug cartels or drug traffickers over 
there - but to the dependably relentless appetite for illegal drugs created 
by our neighbors right here at home. Eighty-six years after Congress passed 
the 1914 Harrison Act that criminalized drugs, America's drug consumption 
thrives. Our nation's premier drug-war strategy of more police, more 
interdiction, and more incarceration is failing and the trajectory 
continues downward.

Our strategy calls for more police presence on our nation's streets. 
Drug-law enforcement, however, is a very difficult proposition at all 
levels. Drug violations are generally consensual. In almost every case, 
willing buyers and willing sellers participate secretly in this highly 
profitable criminalized industry.

SO IN order for police - federal or otherwise - to do their jobs they must 
snoop, spy, sniff, sneak, and covertly surveil in order to snag drug 
quantities, drug traffickers, or drug users. Most of the snooping, 
sneaking, and snagging is done primarily through the use of informants - 
people who use their own criminal status or position to gain some benefit 
from the police by trading information.

It is a dangerous, dirty business, chock full of espionage, deceit, lies, 
and double-crosses. I am concerned about what this side of the police 
business is doing to other sides of our profession ethically and morally.

We need only to look at the LAPD's current Rampart scandal for a salient 
example. We put our integrity, our hard-earned community trust, and our 
credibility at risk when police stoop to snooping on fellow Americans over 
drugs.

I am concerned about the billions of dollars spent every year by our 
nation's police in attempting to eradicate or intercept illegal drug 
shipments to our country. These billions might be better spent on demand 
reduction, prevention, treatment, education, community-building, and 
supporting families. Federal agencies spend countless hours tracking 
planes, boats, trains, and other vehicles transporting cocaine, heroin, and 
marijuana earmarked for the U.S. market. These agencies and others have 
scored many widely publicized successes in detection, eradication, 
seizures, and arrests both in foreign countries and within our borders.

A FEW YEARS ago drug agents in Los Angeles seized nearly 20 tons of cocaine 
and more than $10 million in cash in what was called the largest drug haul 
in history, with street values estimated at up to $20 billion. What is 
really even more astounding about a seizure of this size is the non-effect 
it had on the street price of a usable quantity of cocaine.

During the weeks afterward the price per unit of cocaine actually dropped 
to the lowest levels ever in the L.A. area instead of rising, as one would 
expect because of market forces. This simply indicates that the nation is 
awash in cocaine and other illegal drugs and that even a mammoth seizure 
such as this one is just a drop in the proverbial bucket.

I am also concerned about the "business" of drug-crime incarcerations in 
our country. It really is big business, composed of hundreds of thousands 
of law-enforcement and prison officials, drug courts, private and public 
prisons, anti-drug organizations, drug-testing labs, clearing houses, and 
many others who benefit economically and politically from this ever-growing 
bounty.

Our lock-ups at all levels are fuller today than ever before. In 1980, 
approximately 50,000 people were behind bars for violating drug laws. 
Today, because of aggressive policing, prosecution, and mandatory 
sentences, that number is approaching 500,000. Warehousing people is one of 
the fastest growing and most profitable businesses in our country-all 
supported by taxpayer dollars.

SO IT appears our rigid anti-drug strategy and our punitive prohibition 
efforts are failing. Former Secretary of State George Shultz said recently 
that any real and lasting change that occurs in a democratic society is 
done through education and persuasion and not through coercion and force. 
Perhaps it's time to heed his sage advice and search for alternative 
approaches to our current drug-control strategies that will be more 
effective, fair, and humane in reducing drug usage and drug dependency; 
that will emphasize treatment, prevention, and education; and that will 
rely on our social and health systems more than on our criminal-justice 
systems.

A growing number of thoughtful Americans across the political spectrum have 
strong doubts about the efficacy of the current drug war, its costs, its 
true impact, and its future consequences. They want to rethink our 
direction and possibilities. As a police officer on the front line, quite 
frankly I'm one of them.
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