Why Are Cops Losing Their Jobs for Questioning the Drug War?

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Rania Khalek

Why Are Cops Losing Their Jobs for Questioning the Drug War?
Police and Border Patrol officers around the country are being punished for criticizing the devastating war on drugs and supporting drug decriminalization.

December 6, 2011 |


With so much bloodshed, hundreds of thousands incarcerated, and millions of families torn apart, one would have to be blind not to question the failed war on drugs. Given their close proximity to the devastation it has wrought, it’s only natural that the police and Border Patrol officers tasked with executing the drug war for the last four decades would have the strongest views. Yet, around the country, some have been fired for criticizing the drug war as well as supporting drug decriminalization.

On April 13, 2009, 26-year-old Bryan Gonzalez was patrolling the U.S.–Mexican border near Deming, New Mexico, when he pulled up next to fellow agent Shawn Montoya for a break. The two began a casual discussion about the drug-related violence in Mexico, at which point Gonzalez shared his belief that drug legalization would end both the drug war and the cartel violence. When Montoya asked why Mexicans cross the border and steal jobs, Gonzalez responded that Mexicans came to the United States due to a lack of available jobs in Mexico.

Although he was born in the United States, Gonzalez informed Montoya that he had dual U.S.–Mexican citizenship until the age of 18, which gave him a unique understanding and sympathy for the migrants who cross the border. Gonzalez also mentioned Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP, an organization of mostly retired law enforcement officials opposed to the drug war.

Little did Gonzalez know that know that voicing his beliefs would cost him his job. According to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, he was reported to his supervisor, who sent word of the exchange to the Joint Intake Command in Washington, D.C., which launched an investigation into the matter. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/153337/why_are_cops_losing_their_jobs_for_questioning_the_drug_war_/

[Scuba]

1. Absolute, unquestioning loyalty is apparently a job requirement. n/t

[Uben]

2. The police think they are military......

....they are run like the military where you are expected to follow orders without question, even if the brass is blatantly wrong.
BEfore you know it, they will be training their officers to kill citizens like the military trains to kill the enemy.

Police depts are charged to serve and protect citizens. Instead, their leaders want them to serve and protect the ideologies of whoever is running the dept, whether it be a mayor or a police chief. This is the "republicanization" of our municipalities.

Corruption is rife in many depts throughout the nation. Police brass think they are in charge of an army to do their bidding whether it be legal or not. We need to start cleansing our police departments and mayors by sending corrupt individuals to prison for a very long time.

Officers need to be given the right to refuse orders if they feel they are unconstitutional, and the ones giving those orders need to be prosecuted and imprisoned.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Even the military allows you to have political thought so long as you follow orders and

don't publicly criticize the Commander in Chief.

This first officer in the column was prepared to follow orders, he just voiced his political opinion in private re: the issue of the "War on Drugs", no police officer should be fired for having critical thought or be forced to give up their First Amendment Rights as was the case with the second officer in the column Joe Miller.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Got fascism?

More importantly, by muzzling officers, authorities are building a system that discourages cops from thinking critically. Considering that police are vested with the power to detain, arrest, and kill, the prospect that agencies are creating an environment that chokes off complex thought is troubling, to say the least.

Bryan Gonzalez, who has gone back to school since being fired and may even pursue a law degree, expressed this dynamic best when he declared, “I don’t want to work at a place that says I can’t think.”

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[patrice]

5. "Pie, anyone?" nt

[Blue Owl]

6. Because the 1% needs a new pair of shoes

or a third yacht... or fourth vacation home...