COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of October 16, 2009
Posted October 17th, 2009 by hiwayhowieHoward on the Hill
Stories from the week of October 16, 2009
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know:
Case #1: I wrote a Letter to the Editor to the Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest newspaper. I sent a copy of it to a reporter that interviewed me in 2005, as I rode thru Cleveland. Here was her response:
“Nice to hear from you again, and good to know you’re still at it.
I’ll take a look at the LTE choices and see if I can’t put a bug in someone’s ear.
Be well, and rub Misty’s nose for me.”
BTW, I have had at least 181 LTEs published, a value of some $180,000 according to the Media Awareness Project.
Case #2: At a House Foreign Affairs sub-committee hearing on Thursday, a Mexican network, TV reporter I met last year saw me in the hall. He brought over a reporter for a Colombian network & introduced us. Tres minutos màs tarde we finished an in-camera interview, exchanged cards and she promised to call for a longer interview. ¡Qué bueno!
Imitation is the best form of flattery:* This week the ACLU sponsored a briefing in both the House and the Senate. C-Span covered it & you can view it at:
I ask my question at the 47 minute mark which you can go to directly (see COP at work). My question dealt with the law being ineffective.
Two hours later the same panel spoke to over a 100 in the House. One of the panel members changed two of his five minute presentation to reflect my question and the answer I received earlier in the Senate briefing. It was as effective, as if I had been on the panel.
Police Mis-conduct: I thought you would find this as interesting as I did. The evidence is over-whelming that police corruption in enforcing prohibition is not so much we take money to look the other way. Rather, we lie under oath to win a ‘victory’ at the cost of our honor. Experts state that at least 50% of all police corruption cases touch prohibition enforcement. NOTE: The US Dept of Justice stopped keeping the stats in 1984.
The most common lie that police officers tell is “I can’t recall,” according to Karen Kruger, a Maryland prosecutor who spoke Monday at the International Association of Chiefs of Police convention in Denver. Kruger was on a panel concerning police deception, reports PoliceOne.com. As she put it, “Why should I even go to a session entitled ‘Police Officer Lying: Is Any Deception Acceptable’? Isn’t the short answer to that ‘No’?”
She continued, “Deception during interrogations to coerce a confession – that’s just good police work – and the entire enterprise of undercover work is a complex, multi-layered deception. There are also lies justified by investigative necessity, and conduct intended to deceive that is not malicious in nature.” About the “I don’t recall” tack, she said, “Oftentimes during internal affairs investigations an officer will remember every last detail about that day – what he had for breakfast, what uniform he was wearing, and everything else – except for that critical moment during an incident.”
*Flattery – Schmeicheln
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 per year. Add your voice to those who agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow.
Thank you,
Howard
Make checks payable to:
Citizens Opposing Prohibition Inc
PO Box 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717-0772
Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired)
Drug Policy Specialist, COP – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org
Washington, DC
817-975-1110 Cell
howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral domestic policy since slavery and Jim Crow.
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