Housekeeping: Another Bad Apple

It is no secret that a lot of what I do and what I'm interested in is closely related to work that Radley Balko has done for years. Indeed, it's almost creepy in a Single Bi-racial Male sort of way how much we have in common:

Roughly same age
Hoosiers by birth and alma mater
Ex-Conservatives
Wrote conservative/libertarian columns for our college paper (STOP GOOGLING!)
Worked at Cato and Reason
Big fans of bourbon
Concentrate on Criminal Justice/Civil liberties issues

I'm writing a paper about police corruption and the drug war and it is roughly based on the style of his Overkill paper--which if you haven't read, you should. If he'll allow, I'm taking one more idea: the "Another Isolated Incident" post of police wrongdoing. I'll call it "Another Bad Apple" as I'll try to keep up with the rather numerous incidents of police malfeasance as they relate to the drug war.

All this kinda makes me feel like Mr. McDowell in 'Coming to America' when he's trying to explain he's not ripping off McDonald's trademark: "They have the 'golden arches,' we have the 'golden arcs'!" Riiiight.

Anyway, while most of the stuff above is entirely coincidental, he set a pretty great example so I don't feel too bad for doing a lot of what he did in my professional life. I will never be the incredible journalist he is--nor do I have even the slightest inkling to move to Memphis. (Nothing personal, Memphis) Oh, and I'm a cat person. (Nothing personal, dogs.)

If you don't already, make sure you follow Radley at the Huffington Post.

bellum medicamenti delenda est

Cato's Botched-Raid Map

One of the most meaningful and inspiring works I've read since coming to DC was Radley Balko's Cato white paper, Overkill. It is an eye-opening work that helped inspire me to do the work and research on which I plan to make my career.

Subsequently, Radley and Cato developed an online map that chronicled the "isolated incidents" of raids-gone-wrong. While I and others have contributed to the project since Radley's move to reason (and happy subsequent return to Cato as an adjunct scholar), it is most certainly his baby--along with Cato web guru Lee Laslo--and all praise goes to them.

It is now embeddable on various websites. Please pass around.


View Original Map and Database

TalkLeft Linked to Me!(Sort of)

NFL superstar Plaxico Burress was indicted today on gun charges stemming from his accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound last November.

I learned this by reading TalkLeft, a criminal justice blog that I have been assigned to read for work purposes. (If you're interested in thoughtful criminal justice blogging, I highly recommend it.) Well, I was happy to see that they linked to my piece in reason back in December on Plax's situation today...though they assumed Radley wrote it.

Anytime I can get mistaken for a former colleague whose work I admire so much, I'll take it.

UPDATE: Jeralyn fixed it. Thanks!

One of the Most Disturbing Stories I've Read, Ever.

It is rather difficult to surprise me when it comes to corruption in the criminal justice system. I grew up acutely aware of its power over people, particularly poor people/people of color, and while I'm no Hobbesian, I'm not one to always assume the best in people. And specifically given how long Radley has been chronicling (and thus I have been following) the Stephen Hayne debacle in Mississippi, I didn't think it could get much worse.

I was wrong.

As Radley stated when reason published the story today, a description of it doesn't really fit well into a soundbite. Suffice it to say, the article describes a tragic miscarriage of justice, gross incompetence by nearly everyone involved, and a criminal act by charlatans that should throw into question every word of testimony ever given in court by the perpetrators--and that includes potentially thousands of cases. I can't recommend strongly enough that you read it.

Amen!

Radley, as usual, hits the nail on the head.

While I'm not thrilled at the prospect of an Obama administration (especially with a friendly Congress), the Republicans still need to get their clocks cleaned in two weeks, for a couple of reasons.

First, they had their shot at holding power, and they failed. They've failed in staying true to their principals of limited government and free markets. They've failed in preventing elected leaders of their party from becoming corrupted by the trappings of power, and they've failed to hold those leaders accountable after the fact. Congressional Republicans failed to rein in the Bush administration's naked bid to vastly expand the power of the presidency (a failure they're going to come to regret should Obama take office in January). They failed to apply due scrutiny and skepticism to the administration's claims before undertaking Congress' most solemn task — sending the nation to war. I could go on.

As for the Bush administration, the only consistent principle we've seen from the White House over the last eight years is that of elevating the American president (and, I guess, the vice president) to that of an elected dictator. That isn't hyperbole. This administration believes that on any issue that can remotely be tied to foreign policy or national security (and on quite a few other issues as well), the president has boundless, limitless, unchecked power to do anything he wants. They believe that on these matters, neither Congress nor the courts can restrain him.

That's the second reason the GOP needs to lose. American voters need to send a clear, convincing repudiation of these dangerous ideas.

The Agitator Returns To Cato

For those of you in the D.C. area who would like to hear more about the absurd and disturbing tactics of SWAT teams and the militarization of our police forces, you should attend this event on Thursday:

Should No-Knock Police Raids be Rare-or Routine?

POLICY FORUM
Thursday, September 11, 2008
4:00 PM (Reception To Follow)

Featuring Cheye Calvo, Mayor, Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Radley Balko, Senior Writer, Reason and author of Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, Peter Christ, Co-founder, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Moderated by Tim Lynch, Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute.

The Prince George’s County police department is under fire for a recent drug raid on the home of Berwyn Heights mayor Cheye Calvo. Unbeknownst to Calvo, a box containing marijuana was delivered to his home. Shortly thereafter, police officers kicked in the front door and shot both of Calvo’s pet Labrador retrievers. The police have subsequently cleared Calvo of any wrongdoing but are unapologetic about their raid tactics. Are no-knock, paramilitary raids an appropriate tactic for drug investigations? Or do sudden, unannounced entries bring unnecessary violence to police investigations? Join us for a discussion of the Prince George’s incident and, more broadly, the militarization of police work in America.

It seems odd to me that the people who live by the motto "to protect and serve" use tactics more useful to "seek and destroy."

Oh yeah, and FREE BEER.

You can register at the hot link above. Hope to see you there.

Indiana: BLUE state?

Here's something I never thought I would see (unless Evan Bayh won the nomination):


Thanks to fellow Hoosier native and IU alum Radley for the map.

I Missed This When I Saw Them in '96

Hat tip: Radley

Radley on Race

A thoughtful libertarian perspective on modern race relations in the U.S. here.

Excerpt:

This isn't ancient history. My dad grew up through all of this.

It seems to me that it's a bit premature, then, for us to insist — as one conservative pundit suggested to me last month over dinner — that black Americans "just get over the whole racism thing." That pundit was referring to the controversy over Sen. Barack Obama, and the intemperate and ugly statements made by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

I have no interest in defending the substance of what Wright has said over the last week, or of the passages that have been pulled from his sermons and played over the Internet and cable television. There are a few things he has said that I would defend. There are many, many things he has said that I find objectionable, abhorrent, and twelve kinds of crazy.

But it's worth keeping in mind that for 200 years, hundreds of thousands of black people were imprisoned in this country as slaves. For another 100 years, in most of the country, they were second-class citizens, subject to rapes, lynchings and beatings; denied the right to vote; forced into segregated buses, schools, parks, and public facilities; and denied due process in the criminal justice system.

Bizarre as some of Rev. Wright's conspiracy theories may sound, there actually have been some pretty bizarre conspiracies against black Americans over the years.

I can't begrudge black Americans if for three hours on Sunday they want to indulge in a bit of righteous indignation within the walls of their places of worship. Even if that indignation sometimes expresses itself in hateful or nutty ways, or in ways I'll never quite understand.

America has come a long way with respect to race, but it would be foolish to say that the remnants of racism aren't still with us, or that — as I've heard some commenters suggest — that the only discrimination that matters any more is the kind of elitist reverse discrimination we sometimes see in affirmative action programs (for the record, I'm opposed to state-sanctioned affirmative action).

Another Victim of the Drug War

I'm tempted to start a body count on how many lives the "War on Drugs" takes excepting --if only because they are less sympathetic -- the 1000s who have died on the streets as a result of gang warfare which is fueled by illicit drug sales. There have easily--EASILY--been more fatal casualties in the "Drug War" than the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. This is just the latest I've heard about...and perhaps one of the more tragic:

A musician who was denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana with medical approval under Washington state law to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C died Thursday.

The death of Timothy Garon, 56, at Bailey-Boushay House, an intensive care nursing center was confirmed to The Associated Press by his lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, and Alisha Mark, a spokeswoman for Virginia Mason Medical Center, which operates Bailey-Boushay.

Dr. Brad Roter, the physician who authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate for nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant.

Yes. If you smoke weed, for medical purposes no less, you will be denied a life-saving organ transplant. Yet, and as a Yankees fan it pains me to say this, as a life-long alcoholic baseball legend you can get a liver transplant...in spite of the fact that your habitual and grossly irresponsible drinking to excess over a span of decades killed your liver.

As incidents like these pile up, the already dubious "moral" cause for the "War on Drugs" erodes rapidly.

Hat tip to Radley for following this story.

R.I.P. Timothy Garon

Whistlin' Dixie

Radley was in South Carolina recently and posted this picture from a gift shop at the airport:



And Southerners wonder why some of us find their "Suhthun Hehatige" contemptible.

Happy "Blogaversary" Radley!

My friend (and fellow IU alum) Radley Balko is celebrating 6 years of writing the Agitator -- one of my favorite blogs and certainly the best I've seen on police abuse and legal corruption issues. If you haven't checked the site out, please do so here.

A Rebuttal

Dear GOP,

It's not us, it's you.

Sincerely,

The Reagan-Goldwaterites

As penned by Radley Balko.

Another Victim in the Steroid Witchhunt

Now, NFL stars are catching hell (surprising, I know. It's only a league of giants.):

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Former NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield was charged Friday with perjury, becoming the first football player accused in the BALCO federal steroids investigation. Stubblefield, a three-time Pro Bowl player who testified before the BALCO grand jury in 2003, is charged with lying to federal agents about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. The charges unsealed in federal court in San Francisco contend Stubblefield made false statements to an IRS agent when he allegedly said he had not used steroids linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co- Operative and denied receiving performance-enhancing drugs from BALCO founder Victor Conte. The 37-year-old Stubblefield pleaded not guilty and was released on bail.

A great post with a link to Dan LeBatard's piece at Agitator here.

Denver to Pay $900K to SWAT Victim's Family

In one of the rare cases a city holds itself accountable for the reckless actions of its police officers, the City of Denver is paying nearly a million dollars to settle a claim against them for killing an innocent man in his bed:

The Denver City Council approved a $900,000 settlement to the family of Frank Lobato.

July 11th, 2004, Denver police went into a home searching for a suspect, but ended up shooting and killing the 64-year-old man while he lay in his bed unarmed.

This is not one of those moments you can celebrate as a victory, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

A related note: a nice write-up in Minnesota about Radley's work on SWAT raids here.

Teen Intimidates Family...Via SWAT

While Justice Kennedy may not see botched SWAT raids as fitting a pattern of abuse, a kid in California tried to use SWAT to intimidate -- and possibly kill -- an innocent couple:

MUKILTEO — A teen is accused of using a computer in his Mukilteo home to report a fake homicide in California, which sent a SWAT team to the house of an innocent couple and their two sleeping toddlers.

Money quote from the Orange County DA's office:

“And the SWAT team saw a man armed with a weapon at the house where they believed a murder had occurred. We’re thankful no one was killed. It easily could have escalated to that point.”

If the D.A. knows that SWAT can go into a situation and "easily" kill innocent people, you would think the tactic would be used only sparingly.

Cato's 'botched raid map' here. Radley Balko's must-read white paper on paramilitary police tactics and abuse here.