If there’s anything that cops should not be, it’s robbers.
By “cops” I mean anyone, including prosecutors, charged with protecting us against criminals. The guardians should not become predators themselves.
Thankfully, these two presumptively opposite categories of men have not become wholly indistinguishable — yet. But every day brings more evidence that we’re skating closer to that abyss.
Consider the police raid on the Michigan home of Ginnifer Hency, whose alleged crime was possession of marijuana with “intent to deliver,” i.e., to use it to assuage her own disease-caused pain, as well as that of others for whom she is a registered caregiver. Hency is fully compliant with all state law. A judge has therefore dismissed the charges wrongly brought against her.
At least one official involved in the case, then, has exhibited the respect for rights and justice that all should be exhibiting.
Good.
But questions remain.
Why was her home raided to begin with? Why was she charged? Why did police use the raid to grab loot, everything from TV sets to her kids’ cell phones and iPads?
And why, after the charges were dismissed, did a prosecutor gloat that he didn’t have to return Hency’s belongings, that “I can still beat you in civil court”?
Actually, we don’t need to know the motives of such thugs to know that they must be stopped.
The Michigan House is considering bills that would make this type of legalized robbery harder.
It should also be punishable.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
4 replies on “Cops as Robbers”
This is the final stages before a police state. The protectorate class becomes indistinguishable from the “criminal” class, Now I will go out on a limb to refute the oft heard mantra that it is just a few rotten apples in the barrel. NO! If even the most well meaning cop has served a few months he has already been a witness to unethical and egregious behavior by his Law Enforcement fellows.. If he continues to wear the costumes, colors and accouterments (badges and “jewelry”) of that Gang then he has made a choice to remain a part of the problem.
i, too, was a victim of civil asset forfeiture, but at least was actually breaking the law selling marijuana. My wife’s jewelry (only worth a few hundred dollars, but the last thing her father gave her before he died) was also taken, yet somehow never made it into any report.
You might want to do a column about the Fully Informed Jury Association. Ultimately, what brings drug prohibition down will be jury nullification. FIJA.org
State theft is bad. Let’s look at what enables it: https://zeroaggressionproject.org/poll/drug-prohibition/1