Northern border patrols are operating at dangerously low levels. And Immigration and Naturalization Services keeps making the situation worse. These officers help assure illegal immigrants, drugs and criminals don't flow freely from Canada to the U.S. The officers would like to do more, but their budget has been held so tight, they don't even have enough staff to guard the border during the night. That's like Everett police only patrolling the city during the day. Gov. Locke, Sen. Patty Murray, Reps. Jack Metcalf, Doc Hastings and George Nethercutt Jr. have pled to INS to rectify this abysmal situation. [continues 301 words]
Police officers who discourage suspects from calling an attorney after they have been advised of their Miranda rights are not entitled to immunity from civil suits, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The suit filed against the Los Angeles and Santa Monica police departments alleges that California police departments are routinely training their officers to question suspects "outside Miranda." The ruling sets the stage for a district court trial. The officers argued they were immune from a lawsuit because they were acting according to training by their departments. [end]
Residents of the south Armagh village of Bessbrook who organised an anti-drugs protest are planning further demonstrations, it emerged today. Organisers of the protest have pledged to repeat last night's demonstration when residents took to the streets to voice their anger. Their pledge comes despite warnings from the RUC that the protest was an illegal assembly. The names of a number of protestors were taken by police and people were told that their details may be passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions, organisers claimed. [continues 216 words]
For the past two years Ireland has been used as a back-door route into Europe by international crime gangs trafficking in cocaine. Ireland is an ideal transit point for gangs concentrating on the highly lucrative British and mainland European markets because of its location as an island on the edge of the continent and its rugged coastline. Most of the major shipments in the past have been comprised of cannabis although there have been occasional shipments of other drugs. But since late 1997, gardai believe the country has been specifically targeted by well organised gangs with contacts in three continents. [continues 606 words]
They were accused of setting up a sexual attack on an inmate at Corcoran. HANFORD-Four guards at one of California's most dangerous prisons were acquitted Monday of setting up the rape of a prisoner by leaving him in the cell of a known sexual predator. The prosecution argued that the Corcoran State Prison guards set up the rape of Eddie Dillard over two days in March 1993 to punish him for kicking a female guard at another prison. Wayne Robertson said Dillard was hand-delivered to him after he gave one of the guards a short list of would-be victims. But defense lawyers told jurors that Robertson and Dillard were convicted felons with histories of violent behavior who weren't above lying to build a case against the guards. [continues 259 words]
CONVICTED heroin dealer and Northbridge personality John Kizon launched a scathing attack on police as he walked free from court after being acquitted on a conspiracy charge late yesterday. Mr Kizon branded the legal system a disgrace and even blamed police for depriving sick children of desperately needed funds by wasting more than $1 million watching him. It took a jury less than a day to find Mr Kizon, 36, and his friend Michael Francis Rippingale, 35, not guilty of one count each of conspiring to possess more than 19kg of cannabis in 1994. [continues 133 words]
Reports of research on drugs tend to exaggerate the drugs' benefits, making them sound better than they really are, according to an article and editorial being published on Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The exaggeration occurs for several reasons: positive results tend to be published more often than negative ones, researchers sometimes publish the same study more than once and some poorly designed studies slip through the safety net of journal editors and expert reviewers who should screen them out. [continues 1151 words]
A Fort William brother and sister were behind bars last night after being told by a sheriff that public opinion demanded severe sentences for those involved in the supply of drugs. Andrew Cairns, 24, was jailed for three years and his heroin-addicted sister, Andrea, 30, for two-and-a-half years by Sheriff Mairi Stephen at Fort William. She told them: "Those who choose to become involved in supplying drugs will be dealt with severely as public opinion demands." A jury last month found Andrew Cairns, of 47 Ross Place, and Andrea, of 44 Kennedy Road, guilty by a majority verdict of being concerned in the supply of heroin to others on the A82 Glasgow-Fort William road at Onich on March 28. [continues 398 words]
A prominent criminal lawyer facing cocaine trafficking charges who has publicly admitted a chronic addiction to the drug was released on bail yesterday on fresh charges relating to the more serious offence of importation. On Monday, federal police charged Andrew Fraser, 48, of West St Kilda, with being knowingly concerned with the importation of 5.5 kilograms of cocaine. The Melbourne Magistrates Court was told that unless Mr Fraser, who was arrested and placed in custody on Monday night, was released, his detention would interfere with the administration of justice. [continues 277 words]
To the editor: In my role as an editor for Media Awareness Project ( www.mapinc.org )I am able to watch your opinion pages from here in sunny Florida. In my job I am exposed to newspapers from around the country and also overseas with regard to coverage of the War on Drugs. It is refreshing to see a newspaper that is open to printing both sides on any topic of great debate. A favorable editorial stance is never taken for granted, but the key is an open press, wherever it is practical. [continues 226 words]
Drug dealers were being aided and abetted at one of the country’s best known nightclub’s, according to gardai, a court was told yesterday. About 30 garda drug squad members raided Sir Henry’s nightclub in Cork city centre a month after it was bought for over pounds 2 million. Shane Hennessy of Gardiner’s Hill, Cork, claimed he was unfairly dismissed as security boss at the premises which housed Sir Henry’s nightclub and Grand Parade Hotel. The owner, William Casey, said Mr Hennessy was never fired but had resigned. [continues 542 words]
