Rachel Hoffman is yet another casualty in the War on Drugs, but her case sheds light on the way that many drug enforcement officers are not only corrupt cops, but are just all around dirty individuals who will use anyone and anything to get their job done. Cases like the infamous "House of Death," where American federal employees tolerated acts of murder by an informant are not just isolated incidents, but rather are part and parcel of the ends-justify-the-means culture in the War on Drugs.
As if turning her into the equivalent of human shark chum isn't reason enough to, at the very least, dismiss the officers involved from the police force. Anyone with a room temperature IQ could look at the lines fed to this girl by her police handlers and know that she was making a terribly bad attempt at a set up of the drug dealers--which is why she was killed by them. At the very least, the officers involved are so unprofessional and incompetent that they are a useless burden to the rest of their peers, if one overlooks the obvious threat that they pose to their community.
Rachel Hoffman is dead, and because of that some drug dealers might be on the run, and not selling drugs. The local price of marijuana probably went up a whole $0.01-0.03/ounce. Good job. That's the way you keep your community safe.
"Do we feel responsible? We're responsible for the safety of this community," Jones said, labeling Hoffman a "criminal" because she was caught twice with a baggie of marijuana.So much for the so-called "new professionalism" that has taken root, according to Scalia. Any professional in their position would have known, as Garrett points out, that this operation was doomed from the start. Not only was she ordered by her police handlers to buy a quantity of marijuana that was well above anything she had ever asked for--enough to make her a drug dealer herself--she was told to have them bring a gun for her, which would tip off most drug dealers to the possibility of the arrangement being a set up because such a request would uniquely exacerbate their drug crime sentences.
"People we use as confidential informants are people that are familiar with the drug trade," the police chief said.
Instead, say the friends, police pushed Hoffman to work undercover against two men considered much bigger in the drug scene, and to try to buy a gun. A transaction involving a gun can bring much more serious charges.
Former FBI agent Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant, says it made no sense to use an inexperienced person like Rachel for a gun deal.
"You have her make the phone call, you have the bad guys come into the picture and you never have her go to them," said Garrett, a veteran of scores of such undercover deals.
"You arrest them in the park and she's never exposed to the gun or the dope," said Garrett.
Jones says his department is continuing its own internal investigation, but at this point he sees no reason to take any disciplinary action against any of his officers.
As if turning her into the equivalent of human shark chum isn't reason enough to, at the very least, dismiss the officers involved from the police force. Anyone with a room temperature IQ could look at the lines fed to this girl by her police handlers and know that she was making a terribly bad attempt at a set up of the drug dealers--which is why she was killed by them. At the very least, the officers involved are so unprofessional and incompetent that they are a useless burden to the rest of their peers, if one overlooks the obvious threat that they pose to their community.
Rachel Hoffman is dead, and because of that some drug dealers might be on the run, and not selling drugs. The local price of marijuana probably went up a whole $0.01-0.03/ounce. Good job. That's the way you keep your community safe.
Having spent 15 very proud and productive years in aiding police and federal officers to get drugs, guns and any other illigal issues off the streets, I a proud of what I have accomplished. I am a highly paid. perfectly clean background C.I. and have been for 15 years. I testify without fear when asked. I work with the best and brightest young officers and agents in the country and have even done a very serious homeland security job that changed a law in the way that our agents are identified. I resent that this blog only has the negative side of what I consider my lifes passion. I have lost many family members to addictions and I am proud to be able to get as many of these low lifes off the street as I can. I have over 500 drug buys to my credit and none has been less than 15 year prison terms and some are in for life. I am a woman so my presence is less threatening to those who are in illegal activities and in most of the smaller cities, I am considered an invaluable resource as the local cops are too well known. I get calls from previous places that I have worked and they all want me back working with them as I know what I am doing mostly better than themselvesI ask that your members explore the drug trade and gun trades in depth nd see how young our children and grandchildren are offered drugs and gang memberships and see if they do not agree that what I do is necessary and vital, even if it is only a drop in the ocean of this enormous problem. I hope no one has to go through losing 6 family members, 2 in their middle teens, to the poison of drugs and the lack of morals and common sense that these criminals have. They have no concern for human life..only the almighty dollar. And I guarantee you, I will be looking for every one I can find to put them away for life.
Congratulations. What you are has no bearing on the fact that police forces often rely on people with serious criminal records. Like this example.
I resent that you participate in an effort that has lead to serious loss of liberty that my forebears paid in blood to build for this country. King George never wanted anywhere near the control of our lives as many drug warriors want in order to keep people from getting high.
Great. So you're part of the reason why the prisons are swelling with the low-hanging fruit like drug users and small time drug dealers while child rapists, armed robbers and murderers are being given reduced sentences because there isn't enough room to give them the long-term imprisonment they deserve. We now have a higher percentage of our population in prison than China, thanks to people like you.
I come from a family with severe problems with alcoholism, and I have known drug addicts. I know from personal experience that the underlying personality problems are functionally the same. Growing up with my own experience with substance abuse damaging our home life, I know that the state is impotent to help kids in so many of these situations. While your experience is tragic, it is sadly a fact of living in a sinful world and drug addicts/alcoholics, like the poor, will always be with us in this age.
And what of these police officers who used a young girl as the moral equivalent of shark chum? What of the police departments that conduct militarized raids based on marginal amounts of intelligence gathering, and often hit the wrong house, victimizing an innocent family in the name of keeping the demon weed off the street? No, they don't merit equal fury in your opinion, I'd wager. Their ostensible motives are enough to vindicate them.