COMPROMISED CRIMEFIGHTERS

Local Cops' First Priority Must Be Criminal Activity, Not Grabbing
Assets In The 'War On Drugs'

If these incidents weren't so serious they'd be kind of
funny.

A local narcotics cop used to look in the want ads for a vehicle he'd
like to seize. He'd offer to buy it and when the purchase was nearly
consum-mated he'd tell the seller his money was from selling dope. The
seller didn't care. Once the cash changed hands the cop would seize
the

man's vehicle under Arizona's asset forfeiture laws.

An East Valley narcotics lieutenant got a convict out of jail to
inform. After his release he ripped off the cop's "buy" money and
disappeared.

Law enforcement officials from the East Valley, county, state and
federal governments got a con-man convict out of prison to inform. The
convict had done just six years of a 20-year sen-tence. His impact on
the flow of drugs was zero. The con man conned the cops and is now a
free man.

Was this sound judgment by the cops or just more flawed
decision-making

in the war on drugs?

Drug trafficking in America is now a multibillion-dollar a year
business. Drug money is an integral part of the world's economy. It's
a

business run by people who know risk and make allowances for loss of
product and cash. Just like any shrewd businessman does.

Quite the opposite of how law enforcement often operates, where.
emotions and egos can guide decision-making, especially in drug
enforcement.

The Tribune reported Mesa City Councilman Tom Rawles is asking hard
questions about how the city's police department handles drug
enforcement. Questions that need to be answered objectively, honestly
and without hysteria and statistical babble. Leave the pie charts and
graphs at home on this one, chief.

Rawles is the first city councilman I've heard of to ask objective
questions about cops and dope. He wants to know what the effect of
Mesa's involvement in a federal task force program is going to have on
the local supply and demand for dope. I worked dope for almost half my
career and still consult on illegal drug issues. It's a great question.

Vice Mayor Claudia Walters said if Mesa doesn't buy off on the program
every major drug dealer around will come to Mesa. Sorry, many are
already there and have been for decades.

Attacking dope emotionally and incessantly like the local cops have
for

years has cost us millions and yielded little in positive results. The
drug business and their cash have gone mainstream.

PDs are addicted to the tax dollars spent on drug enforcement and the
cash from seized assets, just like a junkie's hooked on heroin. Some
in law enforcement will do anything to make a drug case, even if it
endangers the community by getting a convict out of jail or taking a
man's property without charging him with a crime.

A police executive asked me what I thought his department should do
about dope. "Stay focused on the criminals that commit violent and
serious property crime. Your highest priority is to reduce crime and
violence in your community. If bad guys are in jail, they aren't
committing crime. Drug enforcement must be a part of a strategic and
overall anti-crime plan. Don't waste manpower and money on undercover
cases that drag on for days and weeks or trips to Glendale or Tucson
to

buy dope. Let the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the Arizona
Department of Public Safety do that. No matter how much you seize in
dope and assets, it won't make any permanent difference in Arizona's
multibillion-dollar a year drug business. Make your city safe by
putting all the bad guys you can in jail."

Without clear directives from policy makers, exceptional leadership
and

critical oversight, law enforcement often loses sight of what they're
really supposed to be doing. Just like they've done in the war on drugs.

Drug enforcement has become an emotionally charged and publicity
grabbing venture for bureaucrats and egos. It's time to rethink how to
keep a community safe.

Mesa has a serious violent crime problem. Armed robbers are
terrorizing

citizens with gasoline and it seems like there's a murder every other
week. Mesa PD has spent millions on drug enforcement and has nearly
100

people assigned to the special investigation division. Yet beat cars
sit empty as major crimes go unsolved.

Lots of money and manpower spent on dope has produced suspect and
questionable outcomes. To me Rawles is asking the right questions at
the right time.

And to officials in our other East Valley cities: Mesa doesn't have an
exclusive on the problem; you need to start asking hard questions too.
==============
Retired Mesa master police officer Bill Richardson lives in Tempe.