Pubdate: Tue, 30 Nov 1999
Date: 11/30/1999
Source: Auburn Journal (CA)
Author: Carol Colburn

Forget Bill of Rights. Regarding Cmdr. Dennis Freelove's response
(Journal letters, Nov. 24) to my letter about shocking police
corruption arising from the war on drugs, I can only say his
Clintonesque response of changing the subject and attacking the
messenger avoids a solution.

Yes, I did observe drug-running and crooked cops firsthand when I was
married to the father of my children, a stage and film director and
producer in Las Vegas. We viewed the parade from a front row seat.
Remember that this was in the '50s when the mob ruled, and yes they
maintained an iron-handed order.

It was woe to the petty thief or mugger that might discourage the
public from bringing their money to tinsel town.

The topic I addressed was retired police Chief Joseph McNamara's
forthcoming book, "Gangster Cops: The Hidden Cost of America's War on
Drugs." A Research Fellow at Stanford, his expose details decay that can
only be described as cancerous, fed first by the obscene profits made
possible by drug prohibition and second by the police "code of silence"
that keeps the rot under wraps.

I have mailed a summary published in the Los Angeles Times to
Commander Freelove (of the Placer Special Investigations Unit) so that
he may be better informed, as well as to the Auburn Journal should
they opt to publish it.

As to local corruption? How about the search, seizure and forfeiture
laws that are nothing more than legalized theft?

Is it any wonder that the public has lost respect for the drug police
as well as the judiciary?

This should give us all, including Commander Freelove, pause to review
our Bill of Rights, in particular the portion on unreasonable search
and seizures and defining the boundaries of federal and state
authority beyond which it is in the right of the people to do as they
please.

Assuming the commander has sworn to protect and defend our
Constitution, 30 years of busting down doors "just following orders"
just doesn't wash.

Carol Colburn,
Meadow Vista