FORGET BILL OF RIGHTS

Forget Bill of Rights. Regarding Cmdr. Dennis Freelove's response (Journal
letters, Nov. 24) to my letter about shocking police corruption arising
from the war on drugs, I can only say his Clintonesque response of changing
the subject and attacking the messenger avoids a solution.

Yes, I did observe drug-running and crooked cops firsthand when I was
married to the father of my children, a stage and film director and
producer in Las Vegas. We viewed the parade from a front row seat. Remember
that this was in the '50s when the mob ruled, and yes they maintained an
iron-handed order.

It was woe to the petty thief or mugger that might discourage the public
from bringing their money to tinsel town.

The topic I addressed was retired police Chief Joseph McNamara's
forthcoming book, "Gangster Cops: The Hidden Cost of America's War on
Drugs." A Research Fellow at Stanford, his expose details decay that can
only be described as cancerous, fed first by the obscene profits made
possible by drug prohibition and second by the police "code of silence"
that keeps the rot under wraps.

I have mailed a summary published in the Los Angeles Times to Commander
Freelove (of the Placer Special Investigations Unit) so that he may be
better informed, as well as to the Auburn Journal should they opt to
publish it.

As to local corruption? How about the search, seizure and forfeiture laws
that are nothing more than legalized theft?

Is it any wonder that the public has lost respect for the drug police as
well as the judiciary?

This should give us all, including Commander Freelove, pause to review our
Bill of Rights, in particular the portion on unreasonable search and
seizures and defining the boundaries of federal and state authority beyond
which it is in the right of the people to do as they please.

Assuming the commander has sworn to protect and defend our Constitution, 30
years of busting down doors "just following orders" just doesn't wash.

Carol Colburn, Meadow Vista