Police Groups are pissed off to the max at Eric Holder

[kentuck]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/police-eric-holder-marijuana-_n_3846518.html

<snip>
If there had been doubt about how meaningful Holder's move was, the fury reflected in the police response eliminates it. The role of law enforcement is traditionally understood to be limited to enforcing laws, but police organizations have become increasingly powerful political actors, and lashed out at Holder for not consulting sufficiently before adopting the new policy.

"It is unacceptable that the Department of Justice did not consult our organizations -- whose members will be directly impacted -- for meaningful input ahead of this important decision," the letter reads. "Our organizations were given notice just thirty minutes before the official announcement was made public and were not given the adequate forum ahead of time to express our concerns with the Department’s conclusion on this matter. Simply 'checking the box' by alerting law enforcement officials right before a decision is announced is not enough and certainly does not show an understanding of the value the Federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partnerships bring to the Department of Justice and the public safety discussion."

<snip>
Local law enforcement agencies rely heavily on the drug war for funding. Police departments are often able to keep a large portion of the assets they seize during drug raids, even if charges are never brought. And federal grants for drug war operations make up a sizable portion of local law enforcement funding.

The letter warns that marijuana can cause suicidal thoughts, impairs driving and is a "gateway drug." The missive does not, however, address the failure of law enforcement generally to reduce drug use, even while tripling the number of people behind bars. Instead, the police warn that liberalizing pot laws will lead to an increase in crime.

....more


more at this link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014581533

[Lint Head]

1. Aaaaaaaaah! Please. Stop the madness!

[SharonAnn]

30. [Acohol] can cause suicidal thoughts, impairs driving and is a "gateway drug."

So there!

[Lint Head]

35. There are so many people taking aspirin that a case could be made that it is a gateway drug also.

[ohheckyeah]

2. Will Holder do the backstroke?

I read the letter and it sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me.

[kentuck]

4. It sounds like the police state feels threatened?

Think of looking for real criminals instead of pot heads? What will they do with all their extra time? They should be praising this policy.

[ohheckyeah]

6. As the article said....

lots of the reason they are upset is the possible loss of seizures. Seized property and money is to the cops what pot is to a pothead.

The statement that making pot legal will cause more crime is such bullshit.

[Tx4obama]

3. I think you might have meant...

More at this link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014581533

[kentuck]

5. Yes, thanks!

D'uh.

[99th_Monkey]

7. This is pathetic. Fuck these cops. Go after some REAL criminals you lazy idiots. eom

[LuvNewcastle]

26. +1000 n/t

[snort]

8. If they really felt that legalization

would cause crime to increase, why would they worry about their jobs? Sniff Sniff...

[Mariana]

32. It's about money.

Police departments make money from the confiscated assets of marijuana users (and suspected users). If marijuana use is legal, they don't get to take and keep all that cash and property anymore. If the departments are using those confiscated assets to pay salaries and benefits...

[cprise]

9. Police state doesn't want to get off the bandwagon

Doing so would be bad for business.

[riversedge]

11. They are into the entitlements as the Repugs would say.

[riversedge]

10. It all comes down to the mighty $!!

[Downwinder]

12. Going to impinge on their "stop and steal" operation.

[B Calm]

13. Local law enforcement agencies that rely heavily on the drug war for funding = Welfare

[KG]

14. LE is hooked on drugs itself, it seems

[Shampoobra]

15. "Condolences. The bums lost."

The only thing better than legal weed is knowing how badly it's pissing some people off.

[meow2u3]

16. Good. Holder revoked the cops' license to steal

by using drug forfeiture statues as an excuse to plunder the innocent as well as low-level pot users.

[bemildred]

17. So, no pony? nt

[mick063]

18. Property siezure is a gateway drug to a totalitarian state.

They can beg the wealthy for a reasonable tax rate like every other government agency does.

[otohara]

19. Fuck the Cops

assholes shoot anyone who looks at them wrong.
They sued our state so no gun laws could be passed.

Yeah Eric Holder.

[damnedifIknow]

20. "Local law enforcement agencies rely heavily on the drug war for funding"

Says it all.

[Beaverhausen]

21. I call bullshit. Many support legslization

One example

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1900974

[Mariana]

33. Do you think the joint letter to Holder is a forgery? nt

[AZ Progressive]

22. Fuck the Corrupt Police Departments, pigs feeding at the trough

[LuvNewcastle]

27. I'll bet those pigs are cleaner. n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

23. What did they think was going to happen?

Prohibition is over, boys. States are falling one by one. Go have a beer and embrace the new reality.

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. exactly

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. shut up police

[gopiscrap]

28. Fuck the pigs!

[Bennyboy]

29. interesting story from where i live about growing pot..

In compliance? Sheriff’s enforcement team finds growers still violating county cultivation ordinance

As the two Nevada County Sheriff’s deputies bounce in their truck along the rutted dirt roads so prevalent in this section of Big Oak Valley, they point to one mega-greenhouse after another dotting the hillsides. A 96-passenger school bus next to one greenhouse “looks like a Matchbox (car),” commented Deputy Esteban Salinas, out conducting compliance checks for the county’s medical marijuana cultivation ordinance. The massive structures are “all over the place down here,” Salinas said. “People will call us about 40-foot greenhouses — and they aren’t lying,” added Salinas’ partner on the team, Deputy Jason Mackey. Most of the greenhouses

http://www.theunion.com/news/7887209-113/violations-ordinance-compliance-grow (Sorry about the paywall)

the article goes on and is pretty good. here we produce A LOT OF POT. after HUMBOLDT AND MENDO, nevada co is next on the list.

lot of people do not like the ordinance, but it seems fair.

[mick063]

34. There will be difficulty in transition.

Because of the hodgepodge of laws from state to state as well as conflicts between federal and state law.

What is needed is a universal minimum standard. People are looking for guidance and it must start at the federal level.

Until then, we will see abuse. Pot should be legal for recreational consumption, regulated, and taxed. Until it is properly legislated, rampant abuse will happen. There is too much money involved for it not to happen.

Don't worry, my great state will set the gold standard. It is far from perfect at the current time, but we have started, and though trial and error, we will set the standard for others to follow.

[Old and In the Way]

31. Loss of a very important franchise that was very lucrative threatens the LE industry.

What's in the best interests of this country is not in the best interests of the War on Drugs.

[jwirr]

36. They need to grow up and start doing their real job. Chasing pot smokers only fills our jails with

people who are for the most part non-violent offenders and have not harmed anyone or their property. They need to start chasing the real criminals. Then they would not be so afraid of losing their jobs. Instead they chase pot smokers, the homeless, demonstrators and other non-threatening people. Real heroic!