- Front page headlines scream out across America each time
a cop gets busted for corruption. The rest proves a tragedy for the officer,
the family and The Thin Blue Line. How many? The United States Department
of Justice stopped keeping statistics in 1988, but experts agree that the
drug trade ensnares half of police officers. Prison guards smuggle in drugs,
customs officers waive truckloads of narcotics into the country while money
corrupts too many. Even as citizens learn how much the officer took, the
reader rarely hears of the most pervasive form of corruption; namely how
often officers lie under oath.
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- In this fourth part of a continuing series, I interviewed
my brother, 18 year veteran police officer and detective, Howard Wooldridge
(retired), with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, www.leap.cc , now
stationed in Washington, DC.
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- "The United States has been at war with its citizens
in earnest since President Nixon declared a war on drugs/war on people
in 1971," Officer Wooldridge said. "Since then my profession
has spent one trillion tax dollars to arrest 38 million Americans for drug
offenses. Corruption has become pandemic across the US, as drug dealers
offer huge amounts of money to conceal their valuable cargo. An ounce of
cocaine is worth about 20 ounces of pure gold. Although police officers
always start out with a ton of integrity that can go to zero all too quickly."
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- The bribe becomes the most dramatic form of corruption
to protect a dealer from being arrested, his stash or his shipment of drugs.
We read of officers paid $10,000 to protect the dealer and his dope. Often
these officers go years before being caught. Cops do not want to even suspect
that one of their own 'brothers' has gone bad.
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- "Another type of corruption is caused by the large
amounts of cash narcotic officers use for their buy/busts," Officer
Wooldridge said. "A sergeant in Clinton County, Michigan (where I
worked) had access to the money and 'borrowed' about $2,000. After an audit
showed the loss, he ended up confessing and leaving in disgrace. South
of Fort Worth, Texas a lieutenant in charge of a narcotics squad took $9,000
a few years ago. The morning the audit was being conducted, he blew his
brains out. Death before living in dishonor! He left a wife and children.
Two narcotics officers in Dallas paid an illegal alien to hire other illegal
aliens to drive vans loaded with cocaine. After the bust was made, the
narcs field tested the 20-30 kilos of coke and reported it positive for
cocaine. After 80 such busts defense attorneys finally had it tested by
the DPS Lab. It was ground up sheet-rock. The two officers had skimmed
six figure money off the top of the buy money. They were convicted. The
assistant district attorney, who prosecuted the cases and knew that the
arrests were bogus, was scheduled to testify before a grand jury. He blew
his brains out that morning. In his early 40s, he left a wife and kids."
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- In 2006, a case in Atlanta demonstrated the most pervasive
form of corruption; lying under oath and falsifying a police report. Three
narcs swore to a judge they had positive information about a dope house
and obtained a 'no knock' warrant. As they pounded on the door, the 92
year old grandmother fired a shot in the air to warn the intruders she
was armed. Upon entry, they shot her full of holes. Realizing their mistake,
they planted marijuana in the house. Their house of cards came apart. Two
have already pled guilty to murder and home invasion. They lied on the
search warrant and then used their police report to justify the completely
bogus operation.
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- "Less dramatic but nonetheless common, a sergeant
in DeWitt City, Michigan appeared in court to testify on a drug bust,"
Officer Wooldridge said. "He was there to establish venue. After providing
that information, he went on to testify as to seizing drugs, scales, etc.
The narcotics officer told the district attorney that the testimony was
false. The district attorney dropped the charges on the spot. The judge
ordered everyone into his chambers and learned the truth. The sergeant
was forced to resign for lying under oath. NOTE: the officer had worked
20 years in Detroit where officers routinely testify to things they did
not do or see on drug cases. This officer did not realize that the rest
of the states' cops took the oath to 'tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth' seriously."
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- The most common form of corruption finds the officer
lying in order to search a person or car. If a driver does not give permission
to search, the officer sniffs the air, declares he smells marijuana and
orders the occupants out of the vehicle. If he finds the dope, he lies
on his report that he smelled the marijuana which justifies the warrant
less search. If he does not find anything, well, no harm done right? Wrong!
That officer had no more right to enter the car than he does a person's
home and it is a violation of trespassing. Almost never is an officer caught,
let alone prosecuted for such a crime. And they know it.
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- "As long as the United States continues this New
Prohibition, my profession will continue to suffer massive corruption,"
Officer Wooldridge said. "Between the glory of the drug bust, the
need to lie to search vehicles, the vast sums of money paid to protect
the movement of drugs, law enforcement is being torn apart. I am sure many
officers fell to their knees in 1933 and thanked God that the nation had
ended its Alcohol Prohibition. Many will do the same when this nation becomes
as wise as our grandparents by ending the New Prohibition."
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- Today, my brother Howard Wooldridge heads up a task force
in Washington, DC to educate and enlighten congressmen at the highest levels.
He works for a better future for all Americans. He can be reached at: Education
Specialist, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, www.leap.cc , Washington,
DC. He speaks at colleges, political clubs, Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions Clubs
across America. He presents at political conferences in Washington. wooldridge@leap.cc
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- The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude of unintended
harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen
the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ultimately ending
drug prohibition.
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- "Envision a world where crime is cut in half, terrorists
don't make money selling drugs and kids are not employed in the drug trade,"
Wooldridge said. "Envision a world where the police focus on DUI,
child predators and terrorists. Imagine a world where if you have a drug
problem, you see a doctor not a judge. All are possible, when we find the
courage to end our Prohibition."
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- Take action: www.capsweb.org ;
- www.thesocialcontract.com ;
- www.vdare.com
- www.numbersusa.com ;
- www.fairus.org ;
- www.firecoalition.com ;
- www.alipac.us
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- Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents
from the Arctic to the South Pole as well as six times across
the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from
the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. He presents "The Coming
Population Crisis in America: and what you can do about it" to civic
clubs, church groups, high schools and colleges. He works to bring
about sensible world population balance at his website
- www.frostywooldridge.com
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