Call Off the Global Drug War

[Conan71]

Pepsi, no Coke.

Chee burger chee burger....

[patric]

The Frontier investigates phony drug dog "hits"

A positive alert by a certified law enforcement agency's narcotics-detection dog in most cases gives police probable cause to perform a search of a vehicle without a search warrant, whether the vehicle's driver consents to the search or not, and "K-9" units are often used in law enforcement highway drug interdiction operations.

However, some defense attorneys and civil libertarians say — and at least one scientific study has found — that handlers can trigger a positive alert by their canine partner, either purposefully or through body language stemming from the handler's own unconscious biases about whether drugs will be found.

https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/sunshine-week-many-law-enforcement-agencies-withhold-drug-detecting-dog-records/

[TeeDub]

that handlers can trigger a positive alert by their canine partner, either purposefully or through body language stemming from the handler's own unconscious biases about whether drugs will be found.

Seriously?

[rebound]

Seriously?

It's a badly-written sentence, in that anything done "purposefully" isn't due to unconscious bias.  However, having trained multiple dogs over the years for  hunting and general obedience, dogs definitely respond to everything you do, even small slight changes in behavior that the person may not be aware of.  There's no doubt this type of thing happens all the time, due to both the conscious and unconscious actions of the handler.

[rebound]

Explosive- and drug-sniffing dogs' performance is affected by their handlers' beliefs
UC Davis study finds detection dogs may exhibit the "Clever Hans" effect
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/2010-2011/02/20110223_drug_dogs.html

That is interesting, and is exactly what I have suspected.

When I was in grad school, a housemate of mine owned the smartest Doberman I've ever seen.   That dog was so attuned to human nuances that it was, seriously, like interacting with a person. (He actually beat us in poker one night.  No joke. I assume it was just luck, but I'm not so sure...)   One "trick" in particular was his ability to add two numbers together.   The guy would ask for a combination of two numbers, 1-5, and would hold up those numbers on each hand, and ask Harley (the dog) to add them together.  Harley would bark the appropriate number of times, and he was right every time.   

I knew it had to be a trick, but I watched the guy do this a dozen times or more, and could not figure it out.   He held up the numbers, and asked the dog to answer, and the dog barked the correct number of times.   It was amazing.   Finally, he told me to watch his left elbow.   When he would hold up the numbers on on each hand, both his elbows were relatively tight against to his body.  When the dog got the correct number of barks, he let his elbow move slightly away from his body.  The dog saw this and stopped barking.  It was ridiculously subtle.  Harley and I learned how to do the trick together, and we impressed everyone (mostly girls, harley loved attention from girls...) at parties for the next year or so.  No one could ever figure it out, and some people honestly thought the dog could add numbers.

 

[patric]

That is interesting, and is exactly what I have suspected.

When I was in grad school, a housemate of mine owned the smartest Doberman I've ever seen.   That dog was so attuned to human nuances that it was, seriously, like interacting with a person. (He actually beat us in poker one night.  No joke. I assume it was just luck, but I'm not so sure...)   One "trick" in particular was his ability to add two numbers together.   The guy would ask for a combination of two numbers, 1-5, and would hold up those numbers on each hand, and ask Harley (the dog) to add them together.  Harley would bark the appropriate number of times, and he was right every time.   

I knew it had to be a trick, but I watched the guy do this a dozen times or more, and could not figure it out.   He held up the numbers, and asked the dog to answer, and the dog barked the correct number of times.   It was amazing.   Finally, he told me to watch his left elbow.   When he would hold up the numbers on on each hand, both his elbows were relatively tight against to his body.  When the dog got the correct number of barks, he let his elbow move slightly away from his body.  The dog saw this and stopped barking.  It was ridiculously subtle.  Harley and I learned how to do the trick together, and we impressed everyone (mostly girls, harley loved attention from girls...) at parties for the next year or so.  No one could ever figure it out, and some people honestly thought the dog could add numbers.

I guess the big question is why the charade using dogs as probable cause generators when merely uttering the phrase "I smell marijuana" acomplishes the same?

[Conan71]

I guess the big question is why the charade using dogs as probable cause generators when merely uttering the phrase "I smell marijuana" acomplishes the same?

The guy/gal might have a coil of burning rope in their trunk.  It happens.

[Townsend]

Two white, undercover Louisiana narcotics police officers – armed with chopped-up chalk as a crack cocaine stand-in – covered their faces in black makeup and hit the streets of a predominantly black neighborhood in Baton Rouge hoping to fool drug buyers.

Considering Soul Man came out in 1986, these guys knew better.




Rae Dawn Chong out front shoulda told ya

[patric]

Entire Police Narcotics Division Under Investigation After Officer's Alleged Lies About Drug Dealing Got Two People Killed
https://lawandcrime.com/police/entire-houston-police-narcotics-division-under-investigation-after-officers-alleged-lies-left-two-people-dead/


HOUSTON – A lead investigator lied in an affidavit justifying a drug raid on a Houston home in which two innocent residents were killed and four undercover officers were shot and wounded, the city's police chief said Friday.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/chief-officer-lied-in-affidavit-before-deadly-houston-raid

[Conan71]

Entire Police Narcotics Division Under Investigation After Officer's Alleged Lies About Drug Dealing Got Two People Killed
https://lawandcrime.com/police/entire-houston-police-narcotics-division-under-investigation-after-officers-alleged-lies-left-two-people-dead/


HOUSTON – A lead investigator lied in an affidavit justifying a drug raid on a Houston home in which two innocent residents were killed and four undercover officers were shot and wounded, the city's police chief said Friday.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/chief-officer-lied-in-affidavit-before-deadly-houston-raid

Bad warrant, I get that and the smile is going to come down as it should.

However, if this couple were law-abiding and had nothing to hide, they typically aren't going to be on the radar screen of the narcs in a huge metro like Houston.  Have there been any reliable accounts of who instigated the shooting?

[patric]

Bad warrant, I get that and the smile is going to come down as it should.

However, if this couple were law-abiding and had nothing to hide, they typically aren't going to be on the radar screen of the narcs in a huge metro like Houston.  Have there been any reliable accounts of who instigated the shooting?

"Immediately upon breaching the door," Acevedo said on Monday, "the officers came under fire from one or two suspects inside the house." But as he revealed during a press conference the next day, it was actually the police who fired first, killing what he described as "a very large pit bull that charged at that officer."  https://reason.com/blog/2019/01/30/the-cops-were-the-aggressors-in-this-wee




A law traditionally used to get cops off the hook could end up putting a narcotics officer who lied about deadly drug raid behind bars

"If you commit one felony, in this case, aggravated perjury, or tampering with a government document, and in the course of, or in furtherance of the commission of that first felony, you engage in conduct that is clearly dangerous to human life, and somebody dies, that's felony murder."

"If he knew that that warrant had the force and effect of last week's losing lotto ticket, and he's at the front door getting ready to achieve entry, he's no longer a cop. He's a home invader with a badge and a gun."
https://www.click2houston.com/news/kprc-2-legal-analyst-brian-wice-breaks-down-possible-charges-for-officers-in-drug-raid

[patric]

Houston police to end use of no-knock warrants, chief says
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-police-to-end-use-of-no-knock-warrants-13626158.php

The officer accused of falsifying the no-knock warrant for the home invasion that killed Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas retired last Friday, will be collecting pension.
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Gerald-Goines-the-Houston-police-narcotics-13709866.php

Too many similarities to an Oklahoma case:
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1753295.html


https://abc13.com/man-says-2-officers-at-center-of-raid-terrorized-neighborhood/5169437/
https://newsmaven.io/pinacnews/police-brutality/houston-s-botched-police-raid-is-case-study-on-how-cops-spin-and-twist-the-truth-9XPOgXSi90GwaxPBIUfEFw/
https://reason.com/blog/2019/03/21/after-deadly-drug-raid-on-his-watch-hous
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Aftermath-of-deadly-Harding-Street-drug-raid-13733254.php


The Houston police officer who allegedly lied in order to obtain a search warrant for a city residence has been charged with murder after a raid on that home resulted in the deaths of a couple inside.

"If, during the commission of one felony, in this case tampering with a government record, a person commits an act clearly dangerous to human life, execution of a no-knock warrant by an armed squad of police officers into a private residence that causes the death of another, in this case two deaths, it's first-degree murder," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said at a press conference Friday. "We call that felony murder."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/houston-police-officer-gerald-goines-charged-counts-murder/story?id=65165276

[patric]

119 Dismissed Cases Later, a Crooked Cop Was Arrested for Planting Drugs During Routine Traffic Stops

There did not appear to be any rhyme or reason to the drivers deputy Zachary Wester singled out for false arrests on drug possession. Some were parents with a diaper bag in the back seat. Others were young men and women, some crying as they insisted they had never touched drugs, let alone meth, in their lives.

Wester, who was fired last September, was arrested Wednesday and charged with 52 counts of racketeering, false imprisonment, official misconduct, fabricating evidence and possession of controlled substances, among other charges. He's accused of indiscriminately targeting innocent drivers and hauling them off to jail after planting meth or marijuana in their vehicles while feigning a "search."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/11/florida-cop-meth-drugs-arrests-scandal

Wester arrest a righting of scales of justice for victims
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2019/07/13/drug-planting-probe-florida-zach-wester-arrest-victims-justice-drugs-meth-jackson-county-arrest/1703423001/

"Wester circumvented JCSO's body camera policy and tailored his recordings to conceal his criminal activity."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR4qdEQ4PFI

[patric]

Tulsa private investigator gives away years of his time on wrongful incarcerations: 'Rewards come another way'

"I'm looking at 1988 to 1995 specifically in Tulsa County, and I have been for 12 years. Over and over and over, there are facts — and all my investigations are led by facts — there are facts that point toward a knee-jerk reaction to the crack epidemic," Cullen said, referencing the demographics of those wrongly convicted.

"Mind you, the quote-unquote 'War on Drugs,' which gave law enforcement and the Department of Justice et al. keys to the kingdom to perpetrate that war, was 16 years in the making."

Norwood agreed, saying he believed "there were practices" employed in each case that prioritized obtaining a conviction over finding who was actually responsible.

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/tulsa-private-investigator-gives-away-years-of-his-time-on/article_a7974854-7e1e-5e27-9aff-2d986b1856c5.html

[patric]

Bad warrant, I get that and the smile is going to come down as it should.

However, if this couple were law-abiding and had nothing to hide, they typically aren't going to be on the radar screen of the narcs in a huge metro like Houston.  Have there been any reliable accounts of who instigated the shooting?

Two former Houston police officers who allegedly provide false information that led to a deadly drug raid earlier this year have been arrested, authorities said Wednesday.

Gerald Goines and his partner, Steven Bryant, along with civilian Patricia Garcia, were taken into custody in connection with the Jan. 28 raid on a home that left two people dead and several officers wounded, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and Dennis Tuttle, 59, were killed in the raid on their home. Goines was shot during the chaos.

Goines, 55, is charged with seven counts, including making up an informant who he said purchased drugs from the home and lying in a search warrant affidavit. He later admitted to buying the drugs himself, authorities said.

Bryant, 46, is charged with falsifying records, including claiming he'd identified as heroin a substance that was bought at the home before the raid.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/two-former-houston-police-officers-arrested-in-connection-with-deadly-drug-raid