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[Sou Da]

This honest to god sounds like it could be an episode of Miami Vice.

 

[Foxy Fox 39]

It was a statement on the "war on drugs". But OK.

Didn't you realize that it was never actually about police hypocrisy but always about Ferguson. Police Brutality? Ferguson. Police entrapment? Ferguson. Planting false evidence? Ferguson. Police abusing their power to sexually assault women? Ferguson. The War on Drugs? Ferguson.

Everything was about Ferguson even before there was a Ferguson.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Didn't you realize that it was never actually about police hypocrisy but always about Ferguson. Police Brutality? Ferguson. Police entrapment? Ferguson. Planting false evidence? Ferguson. Police abusing their power to sexually assault women? Ferguson. The War on Drugs? Ferguson.

Everything was about Ferguson even before there was a Ferguson.

 

[TheShocker]

More disturbing to me is the fact that a police department is literally selling cocaine and keeping the money and the cocaine. I don't even care about the entrapment. It's disturbing. Circular.

It's not like they're selling it to any willy nilly on the street. They're targeting high end drug rings that are buying drugs with often times laundered drug money. This leads to furtherance of other investigations that can help solve other crimes. IE human trafficking, robbery, murder, and so on. There isn't a Baggie of cocaine just laying around the department for any guy to just grab and set up a deal.

And not to mention you guys scream and yell for police body cameras. That shit along with other equipment and training and so on costs a lot of money. Not every agency has money coming out their ass. Once this goes through the proper channels of forfeiture, the department and invest back into things like this. The money can also be donated back into city improvement.

These guys obviously got a crooked cop off the streets. And they still can't win. Mind bottling.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

. Mind bottling.

Who are these yellers and screamers you speak of? GAF got voicemail? I need to get in on the Gold Membership..

 

[TheShocker]

Who are these yellers and screamers you speak of? GAF got voicemail? I need to get in on the Gold Membership..

Every single thread about police someone is advocating body cameras. If you follow current events, the president just allotted 50,000 cameras for law enforcement across the country. Obviously there is a loud and clear voice in this country for this type of equipment.

 

[CrazyDogg77]

It's not like they're selling it to any willy nilly on the street. They're targeting high end drug rings that are buying drugs with often times laundered drug money. This leads to furtherance of other investigations that can help solve other crimes. IE human trafficking, robbery, murder, and so on. There isn't a Baggie of cocaine just laying around the department for any guy to just grab and set up a deal.

[And not to mention you guys scream and yell for police body cameras. That shit along with other equipment and training and so on costs a lot of money. Not every agency has money coming out their ass. Once this goes through the proper channels of forfeiture, the department and invest back into things like this. The money can also be donated back into city improvement.

These guys obviously got a crooked cop off the streets. And they still can't win. Mind bottling.

So police departments strapped for cash should just sell coke to make up the difference

 

[TheShocker]

So police departments strapped for cash should just sell coke to make up the difference

No not at all. I'm just saying the money from these operations get invested back into the department/community.

 

[DragonSworne]

Nah. People are just more aware of it because the media smells blood in the water after Ferguson.



The other side of that is that it will rightly suck ass if someone accuses you of something you didn't do and you lose your income while they investigate. I'd prefer a new kind of leave where you are paid while they investigate, but if you're found culpable for something that would result in your firing, you are required to pay back the wages you earned while under investigation.

How about we withhold pay and then give them back pay when they are found innocent?

 

[Delta Assault]

I think I saw this episode of the Shield.

 

[Stinkles]

It's not like they're selling it to any willy nilly on the street. They're targeting high end drug rings that are buying drugs with often times laundered drug money. This leads to furtherance of other investigations that can help solve other crimes. IE human trafficking, robbery, murder, and so on. There isn't a Baggie of cocaine just laying around the department for any guy to just grab and set up a deal.

And not to mention you guys scream and yell for police body cameras. That shit along with other equipment and training and so on costs a lot of money. Not every agency has money coming out their ass. Once this goes through the proper channels of forfeiture, the department and invest back into things like this. The money can also be donated back into city improvement.

These guys obviously got a crooked cop off the streets. And they still can't win. Mind bottling.

But there are serious questions about the ecosystem this creates or at least enables and it feeds into other less noble forms of forfeiture. I'm glad the guy is off the streets but they're a local PD not the FBI. They attracted an out of state dumbass, but what's the rest of the department's solve rate?

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Every single thread about police someone is advocating body cameras. If you follow current events, the president just allotted 50,000 cameras for law enforcement across the country. Obviously there is a loud and clear voice in this country for this type of equipment.

Oh, I'm aware. I'm one that would like to see officers with cameras for our/their benefit. It's the wording/tone that kind of threw me off..seemed hostile. I don't do much screaming and yelling. Neither do most of the GAFfers that frequent those threads. Perhaps we just see that differently.

I found this to be a positive, as others did. Not sure what triggered the "they can't win" attitude, but I'm a fan of getting bad guys off the street..

 

[TheShocker]

But there are serious questions about the ecosystem this creates or at least enables and it feeds into other less noble forms of forfeiture. I'm glad the guy is off the streets but they're a local PD not the FBI. They attracted an out of state dumbass, but what's the rest of the department's solve rate?

This one is odd, because it is out of state. But that doesn't stop it from being passed on to a federal agency with more jurisdiction for investigation back into the source state, in this case New York. I'd like to know if this guy is involved with other NYPD officers in some type ring. It wouldn't be the first time that has happened. If these cops are selling cocaine, then I would be willing to bet they're committing other crimes while acting under the guise of the NYPD badge.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Catching out of state criminals isn't the goal. Just happened that the idiot took the bait. I'm sure the purpose is to catch locals, it's just the dumbass drove all the way to Florida to buy cheap coke.

No.. apparently they specifically target long distance criminals.

SUNRISE — Police in this suburban town best known for its sprawling outlet mall have hit upon a surefire way to make millions. They sell cocaine.

Undercover detectives and their army of informants lure big-money drug buyers into the city from across the United States, and from as far north as Canada and as far south as Peru. They negotiate the sale of kilos of cocaine in popular family restaurants, then bust the buyers and seize their cash and cars.

...

The newspaper looked at cocaine trafficking arrests by all law enforcement agencies in Broward County over the past five years, and found that Sunrise made three-quarters of the busts involving suspects from other states or countries.

Since 2009, Sunrise has arrested at least 190 people on cocaine trafficking charges: more than any other municipality in the county and nearly twice the number of the only police agency that comes close, Fort Lauderdale. Only seven of those arrested by Sunrise lived in the city.

Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/interactive/sfl-cops-cash-cocaine-htmlstory.html

It's not like they're selling it to any willy nilly on the street. They're targeting high end drug rings that are buying drugs with often times laundered drug money. This leads to furtherance of other investigations that can help solve other crimes. IE human trafficking, robbery, murder, and so on. There isn't a Baggie of cocaine just laying around the department for any guy to just grab and set up a deal.

And not to mention you guys scream and yell for police body cameras. That shit along with other equipment and training and so on costs a lot of money. Not every agency has money coming out their ass. Once this goes through the proper channels of forfeiture, the department and invest back into things like this. The money can also be donated back into city improvement.

These guys obviously got a crooked cop off the streets. And they still can't win. Mind bottling.

They make an insane amount of cash from this. From the same article I linked above:

Police confiscate millions from these deals, money that fuels huge overtime payments for the undercover officers who conduct the drug stings and cash rewards for the confidential informants who help detectives entice faraway buyers, a six-month Sun Sentinel investigation found.

Police have paid one femme fatale informant more than $800,000 over the past five years for her success in drawing drug dealers into the city, records obtained by the newspaper show.

...

Sunrise is hauling in three times as much forfeited cash as any other city in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the Sun Sentinel found. Last year, the city raked in $2 million in state and federal forfeiture funds. The year before, in 2011, the figure was twice that — nearly $4 million.

...

The forfeited money is poured into the Police Department for new guns, radios, protective gear, computers, training and other crime-fighting expenses.

It also has covered huge overtime payments for the officers who work the undercover stings. The Sun Sentinel obtained city payroll data and found a dozen undercover narcotics officers since 2010 have collectively earned $1.2 million in overtime. A sergeant who has run the stings collected more than $240,000 in overtime during that three-and-a-half year period.

“We’re not talking about a few hours overtime,” said Miami attorney Alan Ross, who has dissected Sunrise’s practices in his defense of clients. “We’re talking about police officers who are now making hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So.. while the money does indeed go back into the department, a lot of it goes to the officers and even the informants. And apparently the area is typically a fairly quiet suburb. They conduct a lot of the meetings for these busts in high traffic public places too. Shopping centers and restaurants.

It's not illegal but it's definitely not a straight forward way to fund a department. Especially one that wouldn't seem to necessarily need all that funding to begin with.

 

[SimleuqiR]

He was buying cocaine because he was a police officer?

Because they get special treatment when they pull/flash that badge.
For example:
Could have been speeding with drugs in the car, gets stopped...pulls badge (even if he's not in his state/city) and the patrol officer most likely will give him a pass without investigating further.

You don't assume cops would be dealing drugs. Or if you catch a detective with drugs in his car, they can always tell the local police it's part of a case...yada yada yada.

 

[AlphaSnake]

No.. apparently they specifically target long distance criminals.



Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/interactive/sfl-cops-cash-cocaine-htmlstory.html



They make an insane amount of cash from this. From the same article I linked above:



So.. while the money does indeed go back into the department, a lot of it goes to the officers and even the informants. And apparently the area is typically a fairly quiet suburb. They conduct a lot of the meetings for these busts in high traffic public places too. Shopping centers and restaurants.

It's not illegal but it's definitely not a straight forward way to fund a department. Especially one that wouldn't seem to necessarily need all that funding to begin with.

It seems like the goal isn't specifically to out of state criminals, though. The priority seems to be catch any one in Florida first (which I'd still consider a 'local'), and anything extra is a bonus. I'm not too opposed to this, btw. They're taking these assholes off the street and using the money for a pretty good cause, instead of taking it out of the taxes. South Florida was literally built on cocaine and drug money for decades and over the past 15 years Florida has virtually tried to destroy that image and put an end to drug trafficking, gang violence, and so forth by reinvesting seized money into technologies, resources, and paying informants. I think it's a great use of seized funds.

 

[Barbacoatl]

Guys, I will PM a mod if you don't pass the key.

 

[Jest Chillin]

It seems like the goal isn't specifically to out of state criminals, though. The priority seems to be catch any one in Florida first (which I'd still consider a 'local'), and anything extra is a bonus. I'm not too opposed to this, btw. They're taking these assholes off the street and using the money for a pretty good cause, instead of taking it out of the taxes. South Florida was literally built on cocaine and drug money for decades and over the past 15 years Florida has virtually tried to destroy that image and put an end to drug trafficking, gang violence, and so forth by reinvesting seized money into technologies, resources, and paying informants. I think it's a great use of seized funds.

When their bust numbers a 3 times as high as bigger cities where nightlife is a major draw, you have to wonder how that actully works. It's also worth reading the full articles as it illustrates that the informants often target people in dire financial situations and approach them with these too good to be true offers of quick one time deals. Since the informants profit from these setups, they have incentive to go after people who have no idead ehat they're really doing. I have doubts that any established dealers would ever trust these offers.

Then when you add in where the police are meeting these suspects for the deals... It starts to get really weird. How safe would you feel eating at TGIF when there could be armed drug dealers conducting business two booths over?

I don't know if it effectively combats major trafficking though it does seem to fund the department quite well. I just can't help but to wonder if there's a better, safer way to do it.

 

[Kettch]

It's nice to see cops turning in corrupt cops. All you have to do is get them to drive to another state and participate in a different department's undercover drug bust!

 

[fader]

Kill a kid? You're still good. Buy some coke? FUCK YOU.

ftfy

 

[hipbabboom]

More disturbing to me is the fact that a police department is literally selling cocaine and keeping the money and the cocaine. I don't even care about the entrapment. It's disturbing. Circular.

It doesn't really seem too abnormal cast against the backdrop on the whole Regan administration drug scandals involving the inner cities. The dark entities in the bureaucracy have probably never went away.