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| NEWS > 16 September 2007 |
Other related articles:
Australia: A real review would
An independent body to monitor integrity would be good for Victoria.
FOR the past five years, successive Labor Governments have stubbornly refused to entertain the idea that Victoria would benefit from an anti-corruption agency and a more comprehensive suite of integrity institutions.
In response to repeated calls for a broad ranging anti-corruption commission by many Victorians (and by former Labor premiers in other states), the Government has refused to budge. Instead, the Premier and his ministers have reiterated the same unconvincing message: that the current systems are ... Read more
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New Haven Register - New Haven
16 September 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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New Haven Police Department, C
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Restoring disgraced narcotics
WHILE most of the recommendations of the Police Executive Research Forum, which evaluated the New Haven Police Department are sound, I disagree with its suggestion that the narcotics unit be set up again. That would replicate a public policy failure.
When Lt. William White and Det. Justin Kasperzyk were arrested int March by federal authorities and charged with various acts of corrupt behavior, it was an all too familiar tragedy. They're among the most recent casualties in the so-called war on drugs. If found guilty, they deserve serious jail time, but nonetheless, the sad devastation to their lives and those around them, is pointless and predictable.
This incident of alleged police corruption is repeated every year in communities across the country.
To be effective, narcotics investigators often shave the corners of the Constitution, state laws, and their own departmental procedures.
This is either winked at by higher-ups in the justice system, or they choose to bury their heads in the sand.
Unlawful searches and seizures or fudged testimony might seem like less egregious acts than thefts of drugs or money, or planting of evidence; however, narcotics detectives often find themselves on a slippery slope and can quickly slide into a "Prince of the City" syndrome, where they operate independently of supervisory controls.
Even with improved management controls, bringing the New Haven narcotics unit back would be ignoring history.
It's important to say that the work of officers involved in narcotics enforcement is often done with integrity and is replete with self-sacrifice.
The problem lays with political leadership and bureaucracies that refuse to face the truth: we are wed to a method of controlling drug use and distribution in this country that doesn't work.
The police flood the criminal justice system with drug arrests poured into the top of the funnel and the narrow opening at the other end where justice is supposed to be meted out is quickly clogged. Many of these arrests result in little if any jail time.
This doesn't do anything to increase public safety.
In fact, the police, albeit unintentionally, at times contribute to escalating violence. Most suspects who are interviewed as potential sources of information choose not to cooperate, but they leave the interview room with greater familiarity of police methods and become more suspicious of everyone they deal with.
It's a dangerous formula to mix rising paranoia into the cauldron of drug commerce. Though use of confidential sources is the life-blood of investigators, the wholesale recruitment and use of informants without tangible and meaningful public safety benefits is folly.
The resources of the police, courts and prosecutors should be devoted to violent drug offenders and groups or gangs that show a proclivity towards violence.
Others involved or caught in the web of drug abuse and caught in possession of drugs should be offered more treatment and education. We'll never arrest our way out of drug use and abuse despite the unrelenting efforts of law enforcement. There never will be a dearth of illicit drugs.
According to Police Chief Francisco Ortiz, in the six months since the narcotics unit was disbanded, there has been no diminution of public safety and, in fact, crime numbers are trending downward.
However, gun violence continues to plague New Haven.
Ortiz should stay the course by increasing the strength of the firearms unit, establishing a robust gang unit, and by continuing to support state and federal narcotics task forces.
Simultaneously, he should let his district managers and their officers handle local street dealers. Fortunately for the citizens of New Haven, the chief understands a laser focus on violence is the department's top priority.
Without it being intended, the New Haven experience in the last six months has been an experiment that could be a model for change.
Ortiz has not allowed a terrible event to dampen his or his department's efforts to keep New Haven's citizens safe. Instead, he has seized the opportunity to re-build New Haven's police department into a more effective crime-fighting agency. Hopefully, the community, mayor and the aldermen will continue to support his vision and leadership.
Andrew Rosenzweig was one of the members of the Police Executive Research Forum that analyzed the New Haven Police Department. He has worked as a narcotics investigator and supervisor with the New York City Police Department and was chief investigator for the Manhattan district attorney's office, deputy police chief in Providence and assistant police chief in Hartford.
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