Comments on: Tennessee Tales: A Review Of Misappropriations, Missing Funds, Improper Accounting, & Stolen Drugs

By: Boyd Durkin

Boyd Durkin — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:57:24 +0000

Isolated incidences?

You don’t seem to be buying it.

By: Tennessee Tales: A Review Of Misappropriations, Missing Funds, Improper Accounting, & Stolen Drugs « When Tennessee Pigs Fly

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:30:11 +0000

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By: Marty

Marty — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:59:21 +0000

the second to the last guy- Wilson County Lt.- he’s quite the over-achiever…

By: Marty

Marty — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 23:56:28 +0000

pirates!

By: Personanongrata

Personanongrata — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:01:26 +0000

Sickening.

By: MingoV

MingoV — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 21:34:00 +0000

The police in Tennessee (and many other states) act like the privateers of the 18th century: They have “letters of marque” (government authority) allowing them to stop any vehicle and take whatever they wish, including the vehicle itself. Privateers were little better than pirates. Police in the USA are little better than armed robbers.

By: Yizmo Gizmo

Yizmo Gizmo — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:48:17 +0000

“Recent tales of asset forfeiture abuse in Tennessee sparked my curiosity as to how Tennessee law enforcement departments are handling (or mishandling) seized property.”

Not very well, by the looks of it…

By: Yeah, that guy...

Yeah, that guy... — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:31:04 +0000

You’ll always have corruption where you have unchecked power but asset forfeiture gives new incentive for those that had integrity. Some want to serve/protect, some want to bully and NOW you have those that want in on the cash cow.

By: MikeV

MikeV — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:16:09 +0000

How much of the corruption is specifically related to asset forfeiture, and how much is just routine, pervasive corruption?

By: el coronado

el coronado — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:14:55 +0000

New State mottoes for nearby, less-than-stellar reputation neighbors:
“Arkansas: Not as bad as Tennessee!”
“Mississippi: home of slightly less crooked cops than Tennessee!”

By: Burgers Allday

Burgers Allday — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:13:53 +0000

The bulk of this entry suggests that TN actually investigates when LEO’s skim the seizure money. That is not entirely bad news at all.

I did think that one actually-intereting tiddle-bit was buried in this tl;dr post, so I will quote that one here:

17th Judicial District Drug Task Force: At a motion to suppress hearing, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger notes: ”Essentially, all of [17th Judicial District Interdiction Agent] Daugherty’s traffic stops are pretextual attempts to find illegal drugs.” [Incidentally, Daugherty was the 2008 national runnerup for interdiction officer of the year-based on numerical measure of of productivity.] Under oath, Daugherty admits that DTF funding is reliant on seizure revenues. When asked by defense counsel: ‘”Is it a fair statement that part of the reason that you were up by the Kentucky border at least 100 miles away from your four counties was the fact that it’s better hunting grounds up there?” Daugherty agrees that the drug-related activity in that area is “better.”” Judge suppresses Daugherty’s testimony after noting that she finds his testimony unconvincing and speculates why Daugherty does not employ available equipment to document cause for stops.

By: derfel cadarn

derfel cadarn — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:06:48 +0000

I make note of the phrase a few bad apples made in your article. Allow me to point out after reading this it would be exponentially more time/labor efficient to search for the few good apples.