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Former NYPD Detective Testifies - Common Practice to Plant Drugs on Innocent People

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Barrett2

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A former NYPD narcotics detective snared in a corruption scandal testified it was common practice to fabricate drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas.

The bombshell testimony from Stephen Anderson is the first public account of the twisted culture behind the false arrests in the Brooklyn South and Queens narc squads, which led to the arrests of eight cops and a massive shakeup.

Anderson, testifying under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, was busted for planting cocaine, a practice known as "flaking," on four men in a Queens bar in 2008 to help out fellow cop Henry Tavarez, whose buy-and-bust activity had been low.

"Tavarez was ... was worried about getting sent back [to patrol] and, you know, the supervisors getting on his case," he recounted at the corruption trial of Brooklyn South narcotics Detective Jason Arbeeny.

"I had decided to give him [Tavarez] the drugs to help him out so that he could say he had a buy," Anderson testified last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

He made clear he wasn't about to pass off the two legit arrests he had made in the bar to Tavarez.

"As a detective, you still have a number to reach while you are in the narcotics division," he said.

NYPD officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Anderson worked in the Queens and Brooklyn South narcotics squads and was called to the stand at Arbeeny's bench trial to show the illegal conduct wasn't limited to a single squad.

"Did you observe with some frequency this ... practice which is taking someone who was seemingly not guilty of a crime and laying the drugs on them?" Justice Gustin Reichbach asked Anderson.

"Yes, multiple times," he replied.

The judge pressed Anderson on whether he ever gave a thought to the damage he was inflicting on the innocent.

"It was something I was seeing a lot of, whether it was from supervisors or undercovers and even investigators," he said.

"It's almost like you have no emotion with it, that they attach the bodies to it, they're going to be out of jail tomorrow anyway; nothing is going to happen to them anyway."

The city paid $300,000 to settle a false arrest suit by Jose Colon and his brother Maximo, who were falsely arrested by Anderson and Tavarez. A surveillance tape inside the bar showed they had been framed.

A federal judge presiding over the suit said the NYPD's plagued by "widespread falsification" by arresting officers.
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God.

Damn.
 
Angry Fork

Angry Fork

Member
Buh cops deserve respect all the time let them run red lights, break traffic rules, taze everyone, shoot people in their own home etc. their job is hard lol.

If you aren't breaking any laws you have nothing to worry about guys.
 
C

CF_Fighter

Member
I mean is it really so surprising?

It's a shame that these corrupt officers give a bad name to police officers everywhere. Plenty of my friends say "Fuck the police" because of these tactics and bad experiences. Hell, even my sister has become untrusting of them because of shit bad officers have pulled on her friends just to up their own numbers. Luckily every experience I've had with them has been good, so far.
 
D

DeaconKnowledge

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
Why the fuck would police have a quota they need to hit?

Retarded.
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Never hear of the Traffic ticket quota?

They gotta make sure they're up on busting as much "crime" as possible.

No crime to bust? Make some up!
 
F

Foliorum Viridum

Banned
DeaconKnowledge said:
Never hear of the Traffic ticket quota?

They gotta make sure they're up on busting as much "crime" as possible.

No crime to bust? Make some up!
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Nope.

Is this just a US thing? I'm from UK so maybe that's it. Although road cops here do have a rep of pulling over x people per day. Not sure if that's true.
 
N

nib95

Banned
American justice system fails again. People should be in uproar about this stuff and hitting media, heads and the streets in force. For some reason the general public seem more apathetic in the US than in some other nations.
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
That is completely fucked up. Imagine being convicted of possessing drugs and being sent to prison on the basis of planted evidence.
 
B

Blitz2o

Banned
Anyone else think we should be protesting this? or at least somehow make a big deal about it, I mean, it's blatant corruption.
 
A

Archer

Member
2937420329_3b85bfed29.jpg
 
C

Celsior

Member
DeaconKnowledge said:
Never hear of the Traffic ticket quota?

They gotta make sure they're up on busting as much "crime" as possible.

No crime to bust? Make some up!
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Narc squads have to meet quotas to get certain DEA funding, ie federal funding.

Such a bad way to do it
 
D

DeaconKnowledge

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
Nope.

Is this just a US thing? I'm from UK so maybe that's it. Although road cops here do have a rep of pulling over x people per day. Not sure if that's true.
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Walk up to a cop on the street and he'll vehemently deny it.

I have a friend who's a cop in the next city (You don't do dirt where you live, heh), and yes, it's true. This is Canada; can't speak for the States (Though i'd bet money it's the same there too.)

That says nothing of the extortion the cops routinely engage in. You think that weed they confiscated goes to the evidence locker? Ahahaha.
 
Meus Renaissance

Meus Renaissance

Member
John Dunbar said:
i'd love to hear the logic behind having arrest quotas.
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I agree. It was inevitable this system would lead to this so I'd like to hear the reason that forced the decision to adopt it irrespective of the risks
 
S

Shanadeus

Banned
Sounds like the police system is at fault here.
Officers should never have "quotas" to fulfill to start with, no point whatsoever to it and it can incentivize police abuse.
 
L

Leunam

Member
John Dunbar said:
i'd love to hear the logic behind having arrest quotas.
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The way I understand it, quotas are allowed and are common practice, but you're not allowed to punish officers for not meeting them. Still happens anyway.
 
J

JoeBoy101

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
Nope.

Is this just a US thing? I'm from UK so maybe that's it. Although road cops here do have a rep of pulling over x people per day. Not sure if that's true.
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Maybe. I know its true for State Police. They have a certain number of tickets that have to write every month to make quota. That government revenue doesn't collect itself.
 
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Dyno

Member
One of those cases where the cure is worse than the disease. That kind of activity is so corrosive to society. If you were a victim of that you would never forgive and be sure to spread that story around where ever appropriate, to say nothing of the jail or prison time.

Police have earned most of the disrespect they receive.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
The NYPD and its implicit quotas were also the subject of the episode "Right To Remain Silent" on This American Life. (Don't listen if you don't want to get angry.)
 
D

demosthenes

Member
John Dunbar said:
i'd love to hear the logic behind having arrest quotas.
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It goes up the chain.

You need to show the reason why you need more police officers, justify it.

"Look at our streets, look at all the arrests we're making! We have to protect the public!"

Therefore they get more money, hours, etc.
 
A

AbsoluteZero

Banned
A shameful tactic.

Its terrible that the public views the Police dept. as some sort of evil force that's just out to "getcha" these days, but the reputation isn't undeserved.

I just feel the worse for the police officers that uphold the law properly without any underhanded tactics, as they're the good suffering for the bad.
 
F

Foliorum Viridum

Banned
Speak of quotas does kinda remind me of season 3 of The Wire and the meetings they had about the crime figures etc.

I bet that attitude is scarily accurate.
 
S

shadyspace

Banned
Hitokage said:
The NYPD and its implicit quotas were also the subject of the episode "Right To Remain Silent" on This American Life. (Don't listen if you don't want to get angry.)
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You said it. I was shaking in anger listening to that episode. The point is also brought up that the quota system was instrumental in bringing down NYC crime rates when implemented in the the early/mid 90s. But the problem is now that these cops can't meet quotas because the crime rate is too low. It's insane.
 
B

Barrett2

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
Expect the writer of this article to be found dead soon, his body sprinkled with crack.
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Well then, if he was a crack user, he was not to be trusted in the first place.

We should promote the police officer that found his body, put him in Internal Affairs.
 
P

Price Dalton

Member
AbsoluteZero said:
A shameful tactic.

Its terrible that the public views the Police dept. as some sort of evil force that's just out to "getcha" these days, but the reputation isn't undeserved.

I just feel the worse for the police officers that uphold the law properly without any underhanded tactics, as they're the good suffering for the bad.
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I feel the worst for the innocent people who had drugs planted on them.
 
L

Leunam

Member
Foliorum Viridum said:
Speak of quotas does kinda remind me of season 3 of The Wire and the meetings they had about the crime figures etc.

I bet that attitude is scarily accurate.
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COMPSTAT is a very real thing. It's partly to blame for the numbers game that's played by major city police forces.
 
S

SonnyBoy

Member
Price Dalton said:
I feel the worst for the innocent people who had drugs planted on them.
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Innocent people who will have a damn near impossible time hired for a job. In my line of work, I'd never get hired. That would essentially ruin my career and ability to provide for my family.
 
B

Barrett2

Member
SonnyBoy said:
Innocent people who will have a damn near impossible time hired for a job. In my line of work, I'd never get hired. That would essentially ruin my career and ability to provide for my family.
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In many states drug convictions can also disqualify you for various gov benefits. People's lives are completely and irreparably fucked by this kind of thing.
 
I

I H8 Memes

Member
AbsoluteZero said:
A shameful tactic.

Its terrible that the public views the Police dept. as some sort of evil force that's just out to "getcha" these days, but the reputation isn't undeserved.

I just feel the worse for the police officers that uphold the law properly without any underhanded tactics, as they're the good suffering for the bad.
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I don't. They know what is going on and they keep their mouth shut about it. That makes them complicit and just as guilty.
 
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