TheAgitator.com
Columbia, Missouri Police Chief on Board With Legalizing Marijuana?
Monday, May 24th, 2010I’ve been fairly hard on Columbia, Missouri Police Chief Ken Burton since video emerged of his department’s SWAT raid on a marijuana offender. But to be fair, though the reforms he proposed missed the most important point—the misapplication of force in using SWAT raids on people suspected of nonviolent crimes—he has at least shown more concern than other police officials in similar situations. And I suspect even the reforms he did propose weren’t popular within his department.
The video below, courtesy of the Marijuana Policy Project blog, shows Burton may be coming around on the foolishness of marijuana prohibition in general.
Money quote:
“I applaud your efforts,” he told a reporter who asked about campaigns to change marijuana laws. “If we could get out of the business [of going after marijuana offenders], I think there would be a lot of police officers that would be happy to do that.”
Last week, Burton announced that all of his officers involved in the now-infamously YouTubed marijuana raid have been cleared of any wrongdoing. As I wrote a couple weeks ago, that’s to be expected. The raid was routine, and consistent with the law, not just in Columbia but in much of the country. It’s the law that’s the problem.
The MPP blog also points to an interesting quote by D.C. Metro PD Assistant Chief Peter Newsham that’s not quite as explicit, but seems to acknowledge that the only dangerous elements to marijuana are due to it being illegal.
Nice to hear him say publicly what we are so often told is the “real” opinion police have of marijuana — somewhere between completely harmless and not worthy of their time. But I hope that if he applauds these efforts, he’s making sure that his department isn’t contributing to those nebulous “officer’s associations” that make their living demonizing marijuana in the media.
You mean the same officer’s associations that realize continued criminalization is their bread, butter, and paycheck all rolled into one?
“If we could get out of the business [of going after marijuana offenders],
I think there would be a lot of police officers that would be happy to do that.”
Great. Then they need to lead the charge for legalization! Fuck job security. Marijuana/vice enforcement is the shitty part of the job, officers. It is the kind of paternalistic law enforcement that has lead to mistrust and resentment towards police officers, particularly amongst minorities and young people. Lead the charge!
The pro-legalization officers can start by defying the police and correctional officer unions that keep promoting these “dig a hole, fill it up” criminal justice policies. They can also use their “officer discretion” by ignoring marijuana offenses, and by refusing to use pushy tactics to initiate searches, solely for the purspose of finding drugs. Then they can actively promote an alternative system for marijuana (basically like the system we have for alcohol and tobacco). After that, they can move on to advocating a complete and total end to drug prohibition in the U.S.
Lead the charge, officers! Salvage the reputation of American policing before it’s too late. And please consider joining LEAP to get the ball rolling.
I imagine a lot of cops get jaded with the war on drugs rather quickly, but probably feel relatively powerless to do anything about it. It really is a domestic version of the Vietnam War, becoming very unpopular with the troops and the general public.
I really believe that the diehards just don’t want to give up because they’ll see it as another American defeat, even if it is against an enemy that never really wanted to fight in the first place. Like America wasn’t strong enough to beat the drug dealers even though the drug dealers didn’t start the fight in the first place.
So I think marijauna should be legal, the couple raided in Columbia MO thought it should be legal, the state of MO thinks possession is only a misdemeanor offense, and now even the f’ing chief of police thinks it should be legal.
So, can someone explain WTF the SWAT team was doing raiding the house that night?
I don’t think I’m buying this crap.
The City already told him not to make misdemeanor pot charges a priority, so his detective had to trump up a huge distribution operation to justify the raid.
If the Chief were sincere, he’d rein in his thugs more.
Fact: No evidence for anything above a misdemeanor pot charge (For the videoed raid) existed outside of what the informants said.
Fact: The city of Columbia made it clear that misdemeanor arrests were not to be a priority.
Matt,
Keynes, never my favourite economist but easily the most quotable, said it best: “when someone convinces me that i am wrong, i change my mind. what do you do?”
Because its fucking cool to shoot a gun, especially at a poor dog that poses little or no threat.
With so much truth distortion, lies, liberty destruction, etc. coming at the hands of police, why would anyone believe them when they say stuff such as Chief Wiggum says? It’s actions/deeds that matter; talk is cheap.
#6 is dead on with the facts.
…”crimes of violence do occur because of marijuana.”
Yes they do. At the hands of overzealous LEO goon squads.
This fat piece of shit is a liar. He knows where his bread is buttered and he will not lead the charge and do the right thing because his paycheck depends on perpetuating this bullshit.
If he were sincere he would not be hiding behind the it is the law and we are hired to enforce the law rhetoric. Instead he would be mandating that his department would not being using SWAT teams to do raids for pot charges. He would be telling his crew that it is not something we are going top enforce. He would be setting an example that there are real crimes worthy of prosecuting and doing so.
I’m in agreement with Bob (#6) here.
He’s the police CHIEF. Meaning, more or less, he is in charge of the types of offenses that his officers investigate. His hands are not tied in the matter. There are thousands upon thousands of laws on the books. Not all of them are enforced, not even close. He decides how to allocate his law enforcement resources. He (or possibly a subordinate who reports to him) decided to aggresively pursue a lead based on scant evidence (really no evidence of anything more than a misdemeanor), rather than use the resources for investigating real crimes with real victims.
He’s like the mirror image of a degenerate street thug who, after getting caught, uses his drug habit as an excuse for his actions.
The police don’t make the laws but they sure do decide how to best enforce them. Fireworks are illegal in Ohio (the good ones anyway) but every fourth of July, there are thousands of them set off in the city where I live. The police do not break down peoples doors to enforce that law. They won’t even issue a citation unless someone complains and even then the policy in the past was to issue a warning. Maybe there is no money in going after illegal fireworks.
Can they not make pot legal, and not have raids on peoples homes? As long as there is a SWAT team they will finds a reason to kick the door down. If it’s not for Marijuana, it will be for parking tickets or moonshine stills. Seems like they could make marijuana a $10 fine and be done with it.
Doesn’t Columbia have a local ordinance making MJ enforcement the lowest law enforcement priority? Were there NO other crimes happening at the time of the raid? Nobody parked illegally in a handicapped space? Nobody speeding on I-70?
If his employers (the city) have directed him as to his priorities, and he says he agrees, why sent the goon squad to kill dogs over some pipes and a little shake?
“The raid was routine, and consistent with the law, not just in Columbia but in much of the country. It’s the law that’s the problem.”
As if the LEOs were automata! No way they get off that easy. There’s literally millions of laws on the books with which to prosecute just about every citizen. Obviously LEOs can’t enforce every law and confront every infraction — there must be some discretion, however poorly and indiscriminately applied.
No no no!!! LEOs have a choice as to whom they confront. The onus is completely on them. Just because there’s a “law” against something, that does not justify the existence of the law or demand that action be taken. That is the essence of jury nullification, and it damn well extends to law enforcement as well.
The problem, always and forever, is people — not “laws.”
Radley, almost as interesting as this comment from Chief Burton (and an admission here, I’m probably the only commenter on this story that actually lives in vicinity of Columbia) is that Chief Burton is airing the 10 Rules for Dealing with Police video from Flex Your Rights to the local NAACP group right about now. I’ve only heard about it tangentially, but it sounds like something he took to the NAACP, not them coming to him. I think Burton is a lot better chief than some people give him credit for, it will certainly be interesting to see how much further this goes.
Two comments:
1. All police chiefs have to make pragmatic decisions about which laws to aggressively enforce, either because of manpower and resource considerations, or (more problematically) because of revenue considerations. The town of Wilmer, near where I live, has way more police cars than needed for the size of the town, because a number of the cars are used to catch speeding drivers, which makes money for the city.
While police chiefs might like to perpetuate the fiction that they enforce all laws equally, that is almost never the case.
2. Chief Burton may wish that he did not have to enforce some of the drug laws, but he has engaged in two classic defensive behaviours following the SWAT team incident:
- Total unwillingness to admit to even a whiff of over-reaction by the SWAT team
- Shoot The Messenger whining (“I hate the Internet”)
The first behaviour probably falls into the category of “stuff the lawyers made me say”, the second one does tend to undercut his other apparently more conciliatory statements. Like I said at the time, he would be better advised to quit the whining and start working to undo the damage to the image of Columbia MO done by his SWAT team’s borderline psycho behaviour. Right now I am boycotting Columbia MO (where I have landed my plane in the past). I see no signs of real accountability being implemented, and that starts with the Chief Of Police.
We’re waiting, Chief…
I thought the most interesting comment from the chief was “I don’t have anything against it except that it’s against the law.”
Therefore the “Law” is apparently this man’s god, and he will blindly and ruthlessly enforce it, no matter what that law says, how immoral it is, or how immoral the tactics used to enforce it.
I thought that “just following orders” was not an adequate moral defense. In addition, the reality is that he’s in charge of the police department and if he chose not to act on any particular tip, such as this one, on the grounds that it’s not worth the trouble and not proportional to the offense, no citizen would bat an eye over it (or probably even know period.)
When you take an oath to enforce the laws…that is it.. that what you do. How well? How well do any of us do our jobs? Can we rationalize and justify things to ourselves? Sure..yes but…when you are a police officer (Chief or not), and you are asked in public should you enforce a law…then common sense says you respond that your job is to enforce, your sworn to enforce, and if people want things different its not your job it the Legislator’s job to change things. Its not for police to play with justifying, and rationalizing, and maybe “sensing the mood of the people”, blah, blah, blah…its just so simple.
Leave the police alone if they do their jobs. Don’t ridicule them for doing just that and don’t pretend they don’t have any brains, for responding in public that they have to do their jobs. Focus your opinions to the legislators who have stayed out of this …(notice)?