preferential treatment
A NPR story this morning relates to my comments Monday about selective enforcement of laws - preferential treatment, or mistreatment. [Hmmm, some of what I heard on the air is not in the transcript on the website.]
As a narcotics officer in West Texas, [Barry] Cooper was a law enforcement star. That was partly due to his work ethic: Stopping 30 cars a day on the highways was routine for Cooper and his K-9 companion.
"We would pull over cars that had college bumper stickers, because we knew college kids often partied with marijuana," Cooper says. "We would pull over 'Vietnam Vet' plates, because a lot of our vets developed a habit over there. I feel bad about it," he admits. "I would look for Mexicans. I would look for black people. It works."
But when Cooper left West Texas and moved to Upshur County in East Texas, things began to turn. First, Cooper arrested the mayor's son for possession of methamphetamines. He then arrested a city councilman for driving with a bag of pot and a gun. ... the aggressive narcotics officer was not endearing himself to important people in East Texas. After four years, Cooper left law enforcement behind. He then discovered a little of what life is like on the other side of the police baton.
"I used to break into houses at three o'clock in the morning with 10 other men, after throwing a flash grenade through the window," Cooper says. "I would drag Mom and Dad away and send the kids to the department of human services - over a bag of pot - and totally ruin that entire family. I started reaping what I had sown."
Without the cloak of being a police officer and in the middle of a contentious divorce, Cooper was on the wrong side of small-town politics. He was arrested [for theft] for returning rental movies late and for unlawfully carrying a gun. His ex-brother-in-law, a constable, showed up with an order to remove his two girls [when they missed school].
All of the charges against Cooper were eventually reduced or dismissed entirely, but he was angry. So he figured out a way to hit back - and make money doing it.
[The] former top narcotics officer, credited with over 800 arrests in eight years, is now selling a DVD that shows marijuana users how to avoid arrest when traveling with a stash. Law enforcement officials are outraged. .... The DVD is called Never Get Busted Again. .... Cooper plans to make a second DVD called Never Get Raided Again.
The main focus of the NPR story was the DVD and some of the techniques to avoid getting busted, but the experiences that led Cooper to make the DVD related directly to abuses of power over individuals, and his eventual self-awareness of his own injudicious use of such power.
As a narcotics officer in West Texas, [Barry] Cooper was a law enforcement star. That was partly due to his work ethic: Stopping 30 cars a day on the highways was routine for Cooper and his K-9 companion.
"We would pull over cars that had college bumper stickers, because we knew college kids often partied with marijuana," Cooper says. "We would pull over 'Vietnam Vet' plates, because a lot of our vets developed a habit over there. I feel bad about it," he admits. "I would look for Mexicans. I would look for black people. It works."
But when Cooper left West Texas and moved to Upshur County in East Texas, things began to turn. First, Cooper arrested the mayor's son for possession of methamphetamines. He then arrested a city councilman for driving with a bag of pot and a gun. ... the aggressive narcotics officer was not endearing himself to important people in East Texas. After four years, Cooper left law enforcement behind. He then discovered a little of what life is like on the other side of the police baton.
"I used to break into houses at three o'clock in the morning with 10 other men, after throwing a flash grenade through the window," Cooper says. "I would drag Mom and Dad away and send the kids to the department of human services - over a bag of pot - and totally ruin that entire family. I started reaping what I had sown."
Without the cloak of being a police officer and in the middle of a contentious divorce, Cooper was on the wrong side of small-town politics. He was arrested [for theft] for returning rental movies late and for unlawfully carrying a gun. His ex-brother-in-law, a constable, showed up with an order to remove his two girls [when they missed school].
All of the charges against Cooper were eventually reduced or dismissed entirely, but he was angry. So he figured out a way to hit back - and make money doing it.
[The] former top narcotics officer, credited with over 800 arrests in eight years, is now selling a DVD that shows marijuana users how to avoid arrest when traveling with a stash. Law enforcement officials are outraged. .... The DVD is called Never Get Busted Again. .... Cooper plans to make a second DVD called Never Get Raided Again.
The main focus of the NPR story was the DVD and some of the techniques to avoid getting busted, but the experiences that led Cooper to make the DVD related directly to abuses of power over individuals, and his eventual self-awareness of his own injudicious use of such power.