A Snitch’s Dilemma
June 29, 2012 9:07 PM   Subscribe

"Alex White, Professional Snitch: What do you do when the cops you work for are dirtier than you are?" Metafilter previously on Kathryn Johnston.
posted by andoatnp (13 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Brought to you by The Drug War™
posted by Navelgazer at 9:45 PM on June 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


With major funding from Careers For Former Bullies Foundation, The Military Surplus Hardware Company, and with support from Citizens Proud to be Tough On Crime.
posted by maxwelton at 10:59 PM on June 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


Snark aside, this is what happens when you try to strong-arm information out of people, whether it's criminals in a city or combatants in a war. There is no incentive to tell the truth and every incentive to say something, anything, to get some breathing space.
posted by maxwelton at 11:04 PM on June 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Man:
A civil rights leader, the Rev. James Butler, told me it was the first time that white police officers had ever been sent to prison in connection with the death of a black person in Georgia. Though I could not confirm that statement, Atlanta’s new police chief, George N. Turner, told me, “I’ve been here all my life, been policing almost 31 years, and I cannot recall another case where a white law-enforcement officer has gone to jail for violating any rights of a citizen.”
posted by hattifattener at 11:14 PM on June 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


Brought to you by The Drug War™
posted by Navelgazer at 6:45 PM on June 29 [1 favorite +] [!]


It'll be over by Christmas!
posted by Sebmojo at 11:34 PM on June 29, 2012


Burglars, Johnston probably thought, or worse — an elderly neighbor had recently been raped. No doubt she was terrified. That is why, as the cops got closer and closer, she found her gun. And why, as the door was opening, she fired one shot. It didn’t hit anyone. But it provoked a hail of return fire — 39 shots, 5 or 6 of which hit her (and some of which struck other policemen). By the time the officers burst inside, Kathryn Johnston lay in a pool of blood.

I'm not quoting this to make a point. I just kind of want her to be remembered.
posted by JHarris at 1:01 AM on June 30, 2012 [9 favorites]


Vic Mackey made for a compelling TV character, but to read about a real life Vic Mackey and crew is quite chilling. On the one hand I'm surprised they did actual time, but the sentences of 6, 10, and 5 years seem like wrist slaps.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:46 AM on June 30, 2012


"What do you do when the cops you work for are dirtier than you are?"

Omar's coming, Yo!
posted by Fizz at 5:26 AM on June 30, 2012


Toronto just wrapped up a Vic Mackey'esque trial of a corrupt special drug squad. Convictions for the coverups but nothing for the crimes because the victims and witnesses were all criminals and thus not credible witnesses.
posted by srboisvert at 5:55 AM on June 30, 2012


Waiting outside, in the back of a police van, was the small-time dealer who told the police there were drugs in the house. He did so under pressure: earlier in the day, three members of the narcotics team, working on their monthly quota of busts, rousted him from his spot in front of a store.

As far as I can tell, instituting a monthly quota of busts is practically the same as requiring institutional corruption.

See also, No Child Left Behind which IMHO fails for the same reason and with the same result.
posted by tychotesla at 6:06 AM on June 30, 2012 [3 favorites]


As far as I can tell, instituting a monthly quota of busts is practically the same as requiring institutional corruption.

See also, No Child Left Behind which IMHO fails for the same reason and with the same result.

As is not uncommon, The Wire covered this:

Juking the Stats
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:35 AM on June 30, 2012


I got through the first couple paragraphs. Can't do it. It's too early in the morning to lose more of my already diminished faith in humanity.
posted by bpm140 at 7:24 AM on June 30, 2012


What a great article. About 3/4 of the way down there's this gem:
A civil rights leader, the Rev. James Butler, told me it was the first time that white police officers had ever been sent to prison in connection with the death of a black person in Georgia. Though I could not confirm that statement, Atlanta’s new police chief, George N. Turner, told me, “I’ve been here all my life, been policing almost 31 years, and I cannot recall another case where a white law-enforcement officer has gone to jail for violating any rights of a citizen.”
posted by Catblack at 8:08 AM on June 30, 2012


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