Pubdate: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 Source: Standard-Times (MA) Copyright: 1999 The Standard-Times Contact: 25 Elm Street, New Bedford, MA 02740 Website: http://www.s-t.com/ Forum: http://www.s-t.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?actionintro Author: Redford Givens DRUG PROHIBITION IS A CORRUPTING INFLUENCE To the editor: We had better become aware of the pervasive corruption generated by our lunatic drug prohibition policies before it's too late. The number of police officers convicted of corruption charges in the last five years has risen over 400 percent, most for drug-related transgressions. The fact that New Bedford Detective Stephen Greany was willing to put innocent lives at risk for a bribe is nothing new. Murderous officers in the Rampart Division of Los Angeles Police Department confessed to shooting and framing dozens of innocent people. In Philadelphia, corrupted cops falsely convicted hundreds of people, mostly on trumped-up drug charges. Hundreds of convictions have been overturned, costing Philadelphia millions in damages. In Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and New Orleans, corruption cases routinely get names such as the "dirty thirty" or the "Cleveland 44." Drug prohibition related perjury by police in New York City is so pervasive they coined a term for it: "testi-lying." This misconduct is directly related to misguided drug prohibition efforts, and if this trend continues, we will end up with the same rotten-to-the-core policing they suffer in Mexico, where the police themselves run kidnap-murder gangs out of the station house. It's time to end an insane drug prohibition policy that has never worked for anything, anywhere, anytime. REDFORD GIVENS San Francisco - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto