I was a racial profiler: Ex-cop says he used skin color to make arrests

[Willie99]

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/08/02/2009-08-02_i_was_a_racial_profiler.html



......................I spent a lot of time in Washington Heights during those years, working narcotics in the confines of the 30th Precinct. It was a busy place with loads of illegal drug activity - dealing on the street and in residential buildings outfitted and barricaded as drug spots. We made arrests, thousands of arrests, and here is one of the ways the white cops and Hispanic cops and black cops did it.
We looked for white people.
That's all you really had to do. Cruise Broadway or Amsterdam Ave. or Riverside Drive in an unmarked car, spot the white guy driving the vehicle with the Jersey plate slow and deliberate, watch him park and shuffle to the sale location, watch him walk back to the vehicle with the pep in his step shortly thereafter and bingo. Most times you had a collar.
That's what you were paying us for, wasn't it? The good people of Washington Heights have a right to live in a neighborhood free of cretins driving over the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan for the sole purpose of buying drugs, don't they?
Is that not good police work? Of course it is....................

​

 

[barman]

Nothing better than reading a retired NYPD just confirm the blatant departmental abuse of the 4th Amendment, which was a policy staple of the Giuliani administration and for the most part perpetuated under Bloomberg

 

[Willie99]

The crime rate decreased, tourism and businesses flourished and NYC is one of the safest big cities to this day

great story

I've seen the before and after, its' all true

 

[barman]

You're certainly not the only person I've heard applaud the shameful destruction of lives for literally tens of thousands of NYC residents when Giuliani gave the NYPD license to ignore the 4th Amendment.

But the crime rate drops to which you refer are not those associated with drug law enforcement (where the 4thAm was by policy illegally ignored). The levels of both use and distribution for illicit drugs in NYC remains as high or higher today as it was when Giuliani took office.

 

[Willie99]

what are you arguing now?

arresting people for using illegal drugs is a violation of their rights?

or police using common sense when observing people breaking the law is illegal? should police simply act more "stupidly".

Observation saves lives and money, it's a science of it's own.

I might suggest that if you don't want to get arrested, don't break the law. If you choose to break the law and get caught, better luck next time.

Everyone takes some chance at some point in time, just don't blame others if you get caught.

 

[Presto]

In the name of "fairness" the left would have us adopt affirmative action for arrests. Can't bother with the facts, just make the police politically correct so we can all feel better.

 

[gtc08]

i dunno. i think its a bad precedent pulling people over just because you dont see many of a certain race in a certain area.

if they have similar patterns described in the article yea, but just pulling over any white guy in the area is bad news.

 

[roadreeler57]

what are you arguing now?

Arresting people for using illegal drugs is a violation of their rights?

Or police using common sense when observing people breaking the law is illegal? Should police simply act more "stupidly".

Observation saves lives and money, it's a science of it's own.

I might suggest that if you don't want to get arrested, don't break the law. If you choose to break the law and get caught, better luck next time.

Everyone takes some chance at some point in time, just don't blame others if you get caught.

 

[barman]

what are you arguing now?

arresting people for using illegal drugs is a violation of their rights?

or police using common sense when observing people breaking the law is illegal?

Likely 98 to 99% of drug law arrests in NYC do not involve police "observing someone breaking the law".

As noted in the short anecdotal account in your original post, the officers would only see someone ("white guy") park near a place suspected to be an illegal drug outlet, go inside out of view and then come back out and get into their vehicle.

The violation of the 4th Amendment occurs when the officers then pull the vehicle over (or maybe even acost the guy on the street before he enters his vehicle) and conduct a search without consent.

That's a real problem for police IF the target of their illegal search has the means to mount a lawsuit. That takes us to another "99%"...ie, it's a rare arrestee in this scenario who could even dream of being able to finance such a suit.

Giuliani and his legal advisers realized this (as have police in cities nationwide) and adopted the attitude that even if they had to respond to a few lawsuits per month, they would still be knocking back 4-5000 drug possession cases in that same month (that's an actual stat, not a euphemistic one).

And federal money rolls in by the tens of millions for NYPD and the city based on number of arrests.

I'll conclude by emphasizing that Giuliani was (and is) by no means the only city leader/police brass to employ such illegal tactics in the ill-fated "War on Drugs".

When it comes to those particular crimes, there is absolutely no concern or even any expectation that there will be a reduction in the cited activity. All that matters is arrest numbers.

And circling back to my first Reply in this thread, it's simply my rueful observation that it's just a bit of a drag to read yet another ex-NYPD officer openly acknowledge the illegal tactics employed with regard to obtaining drug law arrests.

 

[barman]

The ancillary complaint is that the NYPD and other LE agencies which use upwards of 25-33% of their resources to aggressively play the DrugWar game are lying to the taxpayers who fund their work.

Unlike crimes against persons/property where when police make a proper arrest, they take a robber, thief, rapist, killer etc off the street - when police make a drug arrest, they do nothing to reduce the level of illegal activity.

Every drug seller that is arrested is instantly replaced within a couple days, or even a shorter time in bigger population centers.

Any police officer or higher brass with more than a year in the Job knows this to be a fact.

So when any of them tell a reporter, or an elected official or a citizen at large, "We made xxx number of drug law arrests this month and now your community will be safer" they're being painfully dishonest.

Thankfully, during the past 10 to 15 years, there's been a steadily increasing awareness among journalists, mainstream media, elected officials and most certainly citizens at large that on this particular topic, police are now and have been steadily lying their ass off. And as we continue to increase that awareness, police and elected officials will be forced to adopt policies which more honestly serve the best interests of the community at large.

 

[Willie99]

you're made one giant assumption there barfriend, arrests were being made without just cause.

Can't argue with a strawman, but I would argue that maybe the police were smart enough to find a way to make a legal bust, lest the ACLU would be all over them.

I'm just guessing that if 250,000 people say they were arrested without just cause over the years, the city would have some pretty significant legal problems.

You know we're talking about mega -numbers, and although my 250,000 number was pulled out my ass and may be high, it's suffice to say my point still stands.





PS: I'm not trying to address your favorite topic, but you keep going down that path. I would remind you that the officer telling the story did not implement any laws.

 

[Mistermj]

Likely 98 to 99% of drug law arrests in NYC do not involve police "observing someone breaking the law".

As noted in the short anecdotal account in your original post, the officers would only see someone ("white guy") park near a place suspected to be an illegal drug outlet, go inside out of view and then come back out and get into their vehicle.

The violation of the 4th Amendment occurs when the officers then pull the vehicle over (or maybe even acost the guy on the street before he enters his vehicle) and conduct a search without consent.

That's a real problem for police IF the target of their illegal search has the means to mount a lawsuit. That takes us to another "99%"...ie, it's a rare arrestee in this scenario who could even dream of being able to finance such a suit.

Giuliani and his legal advisers realized this (as have police in cities nationwide) and adopted the attitude that even if they had to respond to a few lawsuits per month, they would still be knocking back 4-5000 drug possession cases in that same month (that's an actual stat, not a euphemistic one).

And federal money rolls in by the tens of millions for NYPD and the city based on number of arrests.

I'll conclude by emphasizing that Giuliani was (and is) by no means the only city leader/police brass to employ such illegal tactics in the ill-fated "War on Drugs".

When it comes to those particular crimes, there is absolutely no concern or even any expectation that there will be a reduction in the cited activity. All that matters is arrest numbers.

And circling back to my first Reply in this thread, it's simply my rueful observation that it's just a bit of a drag to read yet another ex-NYPD officer openly acknowledge the illegal tactics employed with regard to obtaining drug law arrests.

Nearly as Kooky as your wrongful smearing of U.S. soldiers as murderers...

 

[barman]

you're made one giant assumption there barfriend, arrests were being made without just cause.

Can't argue with a strawman, but I would argue that maybe the police were smart enough to find a way to make a legal bust, lest the ACLU would be all over them.

I'm just guessing that if 250,000 people say they were arrested without just cause over the years, the city would have some pretty significant legal problems.

In response to your first point, the NYPD officer in your lead post is just one of many who over the past 15 years has openly described agency tactics which do not have overt concern for having PC to make a search of people or vehicles within the city.

As to the second part, it's asked and answered in my own admittedly windy post above.

The "ACLU" and other such orgs can only handle a few cases each year and though they work close to probono in many, they still need funding. And as I mentioned, the folks being arrested in NYC are not those who have the resources to bring suits.

Last, it's helpful to understand the virtual chokehold a prosecutor has on someone who has been arrested on drug law charges - especially if the substance is other than marijuana.

The defendant can be facing sentences of three to five or even 10+ years in state prison if the prosecutor wishes to pile on the extraneous charges which are available. These include but are not limited to: previous conviction(s), arrest within 1500' of a school or church (ie....virtually anywhere within NYC).

So again, unlike other crimes (property/person) the state is in position to strangle out any attempt to resist via a constitutional complaint.

The cops conduct an illegal search and the defendant tells his public defender, "I want to challenge the search on 4th Amendment grounds"

The prosecutor responds, "No problem. Here's how it's going to go. The police report of the arrest already includes false information about their having had PC to make the legal search. Additionally, the police will testify (testi-lie....a standard, daily practice among drug law cops per the personal histories of my several hundred police officer colleagues at LEAP) that the search had probable cause.

The judge will then rule against your motion and here's what I will then do because I am irritated and don't like to waste resources of my office responding to 4th Amendment complaints.

I will prosecute you on the possession charge, a second charge for being within 1500' of a school or church, a third charge for resisting arrest without violence (likely already in play by the cops at the scene). Combined, we will then be able to have the judge give you five years in the NY state pen.

OR...you can drop this silly talk of a 4th Amendment complaint, plead guilty to the possession charge and we will see that you're sentenced to 90-180 days at Rikers."

Remember...the city of NY is only interested in the Arrest stats and the Conviction stats. That's where they get paid BILLIONS per year by the feds.

They don't care about "punishing" with long prison sentences (only use those as leverage threats).

They don't care about "reducing drug use" or "reducing illegal drug trafficking" in the community.

And they don't care that they may have to contend with a handful of 4th Amendment challenges when it is very easy for the police to manufacture PC.

It's pure-D money game.


And I'll conclude by noting that the NYPD is Absolutely NOT the only public agency in our fine country that exerts huge amounts of their time and resources to chase easy government money.

To that end, most of us could ruefully agree that they're almost "normal".

 

[Willie99]

Foghorn, I assure you plenty of the whities being arrested in NYC would have the money to bring legal action. The fact that it didn't happen to any significant degree speaks for itself, IMHO.

I'm a bottom line guy, serves me well. Helps to cut through the gibberish.

 

[barman]

Foghorn, I assure you plenty of the whities being arrested in NYC would have the money to bring legal action. The fact that it didn't happen to any significant degree speaks for itself, IMHO.

I'm a bottom line guy, serves me well. Helps to cut through the gibberish.

The few that might have resources to bring a 4th Amendment complaint are dealt with in the manner I described in my last post.

My first post in this thread was not to reignite this particular complaint as it's pretty old hat at this point and most anyone living in larger cities understands that's how things are done and imho they should respond accordingly. That is, if you know the cops in your city routinely accost citizens without having PC and that they routinely conduct illegal searches and are prepared to lie about any of the above if challenged in court, it would behoove you to take that strongly into consideration with regard to how you might - or might not - choose to be involved with the illicit drug market.

My initial post was intended simply to be a one line quip ruefully noting the cited cop publicly acknowledging how this works in NYC