TheAgitator.com
Rachel Hoffman
Sunday, July 27th, 2008On Friday night, ABC’s 20/20 did a segment on the murder of Rachel Hoffman.
It’s unfortunate that it took the death of a pretty, young, college-aged white girl for abuse of the drug informant system to attract this kind of attention.
A commenter at 20/20 said, “The police department’s sole purpose is to make sure the community and the people in it are safe.”
Then went on to say since a drug law was broken, putting Rachel in harms-way was acceptable police behavior. Yet what happened to keeping people safe?
The War on Drug is the DIRECT CAUSE of all this violence. How often do liquor stores shoot it out over street corners?
Who owns your body? Are we free or not? With freedom comes certain pains, one of which is anyone can put whatever the hell in their body they want to. They suffer, the rest learn from it, the end. Without freedom we all suffer trying, unsuccessfully, to stop him/her from putting crap in their body.
I have an uncle on a ventilator because he won’t stop drinking, (starts bleeding to death every time). And society, (you, your neighbor and me), is apparently perfectly fine with his early death because it all happened LEGALLY? You don’t think I wanted to use violence to stop him? Heck ya, but I realized it would be a waste. As humans we are built to be free. No matter how much violence we allow the state to use, or how many illegal searches take place, or how many informants get killed, or how many rights you and I give up, all attempts using violence to stop their behavior has failed. Taking away our freedom to achieve a “drug free America” is NOT SUCCESS!
Yet I know of an organization that has NEVER brought violence against anyone, has always left their doors open and has saved more folks from drug abuse than the violent War on Drugs. AA meetings, and the equivalent. I have yet to hear of them “accidentally” having a meeting at the wrong house at 2 am and shooting the home-owner who was attempting to protect his family from violent intruders.
The enormity of these cases just gets to me. Imagine Hoffman, feeling helpless, coerced into consorting with dangerous people she would normally avoid on police orders (she was thrown into an illegal gun purchase because the cops knew that would increase charges against their targets), and ultimately way out of her depth and probably scared half to death as the “operation” went further and further awry without the police calling an end to it.
What’s more, it’s inarguable that the drug war increases danger to the average citizen who never even buys a joint. Without the profit due to the drugs’ illegal status, we wouldn’t hear about innocent kids killed in drive-by shootings intended to defend someone’s sales turf.
The drug war is largely behind other legal outrages, such no knock raids, civil asset forfeiture (seizure), militarization of civilian police, invasive laws to regulate communications and banking, monetary corruption of police, and an increase in a pervasive attitude of privilege of law enforcement over civilians at all levels.
And, ultimately, in the unlikely event that the war on drugs, in all of its wrongheadedness and naivety, were even worth any (much less all) of that if it were to be won, there is no analysis reasonably leading one to conclude that it is being won. Are people more “safe” from drugs? Are they difficult to get? No. All of this loss of freedom has been for nothing. The paraphrase of Ben Franklin is right: Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
The link above showing police made Hoffman buy illegal guns in addition to just drugs is http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5450550.
I’ve asked before, commenting on this very subject on other blogs, but have yet to get a coherent answer. So I’ll ask here.
How are the people involved NOT charged as accessories to murder?!!! Their actions are directly related to this person’s death.
I’ve heard the “in performance of assignment” defense and that’s a flimsy excuse at best. I understand that officers are protected from prosecution when chasing suspects, discharging weapons, etc. But telling a person to “Go up to those paranoid, doped-up, gun-toting guys. Try to get them to commit a crime and tell us what happens” is in no shape, form, or fashion akin to running a red light with sirens wailing and lights blazing.
Jrob,
Because they’re cops and therefore above the law. They can murder, steal, perjure, plant evidence and commit any number of other crimes just because they’re cops and the entire “justice” system (a horrible misnomer) gets down on it’s knees and commences sucking anytime someone with a badge approaches.
Ktc2,
The “justice” system at the trial court level largely consists of judges who were once prosecutors, so it’s really just a function of muscle memory.
Here’s the link to the full report.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5454035
The drug war may be a lot of things, but it isn’t about protecting the public anymore than religion is about saving souls. Rachel Hoffman was used because she was labeled a criminal and was, therefore, expendable. A tool to be used, although not as valuable as, say, a screwdriver or a wrench.
By the way, anyone (especially those who are “different”) can be labeled a criminal if the government so chooses. A “law abiding citizen” is merely one who hasn’t been targeted yet. And once you’re targeted, you’re no longer an upstanding law abiding citizen, so no one cares. This case is a rarity. It got the attention of the press and the public because it just happened to be a pretty, young, white girl.
‘Yet I know of an organization that has NEVER brought violence against anyone, has always left their doors open and has saved more folks from drug abuse than the violent War on Drugs. AA meetings, and the equivalent.’
not meaning to change the subject, but AA is an odd way to argue against drug violence… when the state can FORCE people to attend these meetings vs prison time, AA is becoming part of the problem. They have dismal success rates (arguably no better than people quitting cold turkey). The organization continues to grow, thanks to government support. However, their methods aren’t effective for the vast majority.
Whatever works for the individual is great. Don’t try to force AA as a cure-all solution, though- because evidence I’ve seen shows that it is far from that.
Whether or not it provides a useful comparison here, Marty characterizes my feelings about AA perfectly. In fact, given its track record for being largely ineffective, I find it astounding how 12-step programs are now applied to almost any kind of behavior that is deemed to be self-destructive.
But that’s just me. I’ve never been too keen on invoking higher powers and self humiliation as a cure for anything. Even if it works for people who go voluntarily, forcing people into that environment doesn’t seem like it’s going to be all that therapeutic.
Thanks to Blue for the link to the 20/20 report. I agree w/ Radley’s comment about the “pretty, white girl” aspect of the case, but even without race or gender, this is simply an egregious case of law enforcement incompetence. But, when you’re under the influence of that sweet drug war kool-aid (and asset forfeiture funds), you will make some horrific mistakes. TPD didn’t see a problem with sending a 23 year old small time pot dealer out to make a narcotics/weapon from dealers who were, to put it mildly, more experienced in the ways of the street? What the hell gave the officers involved the idea that Hoffman was savvy enough to convince these guys–probably mid-level dealers–that she was legit? They used her. They treated her like a number. And the police chief’s horrible performance in the interview said it all. They got her killed, and now they want to saunter off stage left and pretend it never happened. End the drug war for Rachel Hoffman, for Kathryn Johnson and the other vicitms of this charade. With no apologies to John McCain, sometimes it it best to admit that you lost the war.
The REAL criminal here is the Chief of Police in Tallahassee.
What a creep.
its beyond me why the american people dont see what this drug war has done to our society marijuana has never hurt no one unlike alcohol,tobacco,prescription drugs why do the police insist on saying rachel was this dangerous drug dealer she was just a young girl who smoked weed and sold some to her friends she wasn’t a drug dealer the ones that killed her were the dangerous drug dealers and she never associated with people like that another lie by the police this girl life was taken just cause she got caught with some weed and the fuckin cops put her in a whole other world a world she did not have no part in everyone of those cops including the police chief should be doing life in prison why are police aloud to put people at risk just cause they catch them with some damn weed she agreed to cooperate to get her charges dropped and she trusted the police where the fuck were they when she was being shot to death it took them two days to find her and yet they say they were there for her they didn’t even know where she was if this dont show that marijuana laws need to be changed in this country i dont know what will cause if weed was legal rachel would be alive today