Ziltoidia 9
Member
A lot of departments funding assistance is based on how much drugs they can "confiscate".
Several long term Dothan law enforcement officers, all part of an original group that initiated the investigation, believe the public has a right to know that the Dothan Police Department, and District Attorney Doug Valeska, targeted young black men by planting drugs and weapons on them over a decade. Most of the young men were prosecuted, many sentenced to prison, and some are still in prison. Many of the officers involved were subsequently promoted and are in leadership positions in law enforcement. They hope the mood of the country is one that demands action and that the US Department of Justice will intervene.
The group of officers requested they be granted anonymity, and shared hundreds of files from the Internal Affairs Division. They reveal a pattern of criminal behavior from within the highest levels of the Dothan Police Department and the district attorneys office in the 20th Judicial District of Alabama. Multiple current and former officers have agreed to testify if United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch appoints a special prosecutor from outside the state of Alabama, or before a Congressional hearing. The officers believe that there are currently nearly a thousand wrongful convictions resulting in felonies from the 20th Judicial District that are tied to planted drugs and weapons and question whether a system that allows this can be allowed to continue to operate.
There are two federal lawsuits currently pending by former police officers Keith Gray and Raemonica Carney against the Dothan Police Department. They will be given access as well as they substantiate their claims of racial discrimination and citys violation of a federal court decree.
Beginning in early 1996, the Dothan Police Department received complaints from black victims that drugs and weapons were being planted. Specifically young black men who had clean records were targeted. Police Chief, John White, allegedly instructed senior officers to ignore the complaints and they willingly complied.
In early 1998, a group of concerned white officers from within the Police Department complained in writing about what they witnessed. This is reflected in the document below where it refers to a series of allegations that took place over 11 months before the department acted. The initial written complaint from the departments own officers is dated June, 1998. The internal memo documents the last allegation as occurring in April of 1999. Almost a year of internal complaints by the departments own police officers passed before Chief White turned it over to the Internal Affairs Division.
On August 27, 1999 more than a dozen officers had allegations against them for planting drugs and weapons on black men they had falsely arrested. They were each notified of a formal investigation and required to prepare statements in writing to the Internal Affairs Division. They were then tested by polygraph examination, most reportedly failed. The notification of charges reference a combination of marijuana, cocaine, and guns being planted on citizens during arrests that were witnessed by multiple fellow police officers.
All of these cases involving planted drugs and weapons were subsequently prosecuted by District Attorney, Doug Valeska, despite the written allegations by police officers that the evidence was planted. Never was any such information shared in the discovery process with the defendants attorneys. We have been advised that each of these are considered felonies committed by the district attorney.
The documents reveal that Magrino contacted District Attorney Doug Valeska and Andy Hughes to intervene into the Internal Affairs investigation.
The head of the Internal Affairs investigation, Sgt. Keith Gray, repeatedly warned Magrino this was a violation of the departmental procedures. Magrino then threatened to go to the press if he was fired, according to a taped interview with Andy Hughes.
He basically would have done anything to save his skin, one of the officers told us and referred to him as the character from the movie Deliverance he squealed like a pig, eventually Hughes managed to shut him up and force him to resign to save the others.
In the internal affairs documents, three names worth noting appear repeatedly.
Capt. Carlton Bubba Ott, now commander of the departments Criminal Investigation Division, Steve Parrish, current Chief, and Andy Hughes, former Sheriff and current Director of Homeland Security for the state.
All were aware of the investigation and its outcome. All have been rewarded with careers in law enforcement by those for whom they covered, while those who spoke out were forced out of the department. Disturbingly, Ott and Parrish have both attended the FBI academy. Both were highly recommended by the district attorney and former Police Chief, John White.
All of these men are now in secure positions of leadership in law enforcement. Many of the men wrongly convicted however are still in prison and have felonies on their record, their lives destroyed.
The results of a polygraph tests given to officers like Michael Magrino were conclusive. The result was DECEPTION STRONGLY INDICATED probability of deception was greater than 99%.
The scale of the problem facing the city is indicated in Magrinos files where it mentions some 50 cases alone in his arrests that were questionably prosecuted. This number does not take into account the previous cases where he was the arresting officer, or the nearly dozen other officers in the squad with allegations against them by fellow officers.
Internal Affairs Sergeant, Keith Gray, recommended that Magrino be immediately discharged and prosecuted, all of his previous cases reopened for investigation, and the judges and attorneys of those convicted be immediately notified. Gray believed there were hundreds of false arrests in the system by the group of officers, historically over a thousand.
However, at this point, our sources and the documents confirm the investigation was shut down, and the files ordered buried by Police Chief, John White, and District Attorney, Doug Valeska.
The original group of officers were dismayed that the investigation was covered up. Even more disturbing, the officers responsible were then promoted in the department. They allege the practice of planting drugs continued for years on black men by those who were part of the group.
On November 9th an unsigned letter by the officers was put on Dothan City Commissioner Don Clements desk. In the letter, officers detail how the investigation was covered up and they used officer Magrino as an example, referencing stolen guns and drugs in his patrol car.
They refer to the issue that Magrino, like the other dozen officers had, executed hundreds of arrests that should be questioned in light of the results of the internal affairs investigation.
The letter indicates that federal law enforcement authorities were not notified as required by the departments and states policies.
The letter directly implicates the top management of the Dothan Police Department as being complicit in a cover up of hundreds of felonies. Chief John White responded two weeks later in a letter to Dothan City Manager Jerry Gwaltney copied below.
Can't post any of the documents from the article on my phone but there were quite a few officers who complained and attempted to expose everything over the years and they were threatened and smothered by the corrupt.The original group of police officers responsible for the written complaints were in disbelief and for years afterward attempted to get federal assistance to help those wrongly convicted and continued to warn of the practice of the narcotics team of planting drugs on young black men. The officers who were responsible for the narcotics team, Steve Parrish and Andy Hughes, continued to be advanced in rank and were richly rewarded for their complicity in hiding the truth.
For two decades District Attorney, Doug Valeska, having full knowledge of the situation, proceeded to earn a reputation across the Wiregrass as a tough prosecutor while knowingly prosecuting black men whom he knew the evidence was planted on them in their cases. The district attorneys office took in millions of dollars in court fees and their pre-trial diversion program.
The group of police officers who chose to notify federal authorities and the US Attorney in a series of constructed letters to protect their own safety documented is below as many had their lives threatened by fellow officers.
This is what happens when you make prison a private business. Insanity
Maybe not as many as there are in the GOP Congress.
Guys it's OK if they didn't fit these guys up they would have probably I don't know done some other bad stuff
Of all of the stories I'd like to see make large scale national headlines, this is definitely one of them.
They probably already killed some innocent (white) person with their rap cars, these intrepid heroes saved lives by removing this filth from the streets.Guys it's OK if they didn't fit these guys up they would have probably I don't know done some other bad stuff
Don't bring that shit up it only serves to pollute the thread.I'll preface by saying Christopher Dorner was a scumbag but I guarantee this is what he was trying to articulate in his madness where the message was lost.
Only since the mid 90s? I would have assumed decades earlier.
I'll preface by saying Christopher Dorner was a scumbag but I guarantee this is what he was trying to articulate in his madness where the message was lost.
I really wish he would've wrote a tell all book and went the sane route instead. His message was wasted as soon as he murdered someone and deservedly so.
How would they go about overturning convictions?
Beginning in early 1996, the Dothan Police Department received complaints from black victims that drugs and weapons were being planted. Specifically young black men who had clean records were targeted.
*Insert the names of all 50 States* cops systematically framed blacks by planting drugs and guns and other made up violations since the 18th century.
Fixed version
Have we heard much of this from Alaska or Hawaii?
Just thinking I haven't really heard stories like that from the more remote regions of the US.
Not that targeting men with criminal records is "better" from a moral standpoint, but going after law abiding citizens just because they were young, male and black is beyond fucked up. Literally any black dude who had the poor fortune to live in that area was a candidate to get his life destroyed.Specifically young black men who had clean records were targeted. Police Chief, John White, allegedly instructed senior officers to ignore the complaints and they willingly complied.
Arresting them is a slap on the wrist. Strip them of their financial assets and give them to their victims for a start. And then book them for life in prison.These people should all be arrested wtf.
Just switch black to indigenous, and it fits both states.
*Insert the names of all 50 States* cops systematically framed *minorities* by planting drugs and guns and other made up violations since the 18th century.
This is hilarious because black people have talking about shit like this for decades. It reminds me of this (relevant part starts at 1:25): http://youtu.be/C7F50Cd8LMEI am overwhelmed with disbelief at this, I could have never imagined such a thing could occur in these glorious united states.
Have we heard much of this from Alaska or Hawaii?
Just thinking I haven't really heard stories like that from the more remote regions of the US.
There aren't enough African Americans to discriminate against in those states.
It probably wouldn't have mattered as we've seen first hand the filth the police bring on our culture. And that seems to be where he went off the deep-end by resorting to violence to fix a system he felt was too broken to even attempt to fix in the correct way. It's too bad because he could've been a subversive in the uniform affecting change from the inside.
It's like a heat map for racial discrimination
Good luck with that, they'd either hound him out of his job or try and paint him as a paranoid loon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Schoolcraft
Good luck with that, they'd either hound him out of his job or try and paint him as a paranoid loon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Schoolcraft
You joke but that's generally how it works in America. Wherever there is a sizable black population, racism (institutional and otherwise) follows in proportion without fail.
Lol. That only works for those who already benefit from the legal framework as it stands. America's legal system is beyond screwed up, especially if you're on the defense and aren't white.I used to struggle with the idea of "by any means necessary". I wanted to believe that change could be fought for and won in the existing legal framework. Seeing how many times America has been given proof and chosen to double down on it's inhumane treatment of black people it's starting to become more clear. Malcolm X was right in so many ways.