Oct 09 2015
Retired Officer Denounces Police Focus on Drug Arrests
GUEST: Jack Cole is retired state police lieutenant with the New Jersey state police. He is also the founding member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
*This segment was broadcast online only on Sept. 25, 2015.
The first point of interaction that ordinary Americans have that lead them into the prison system is with law enforcement. Police have been trained to behave as soldiers in a war in which drug dealers are enemy combatants and the public is collateral damage. The policing is often racially motivated, and departments have grown increasingly reliant on the extra funding to target drug sales. As a result, a huge proportion of inmates are imprisoned for drug-related offenses today. But one former officer has taken a very different view.
One Response to “Retired Officer Denounces Police Focus on Drug Arrests”
Incredible segment. Quite an eye opener. Also, I just read in Trudigg about your editorial regarding KPFK fund drives. This was incredibly brave of you. The only other person I have ever heard comment was Ian Smith also complaining about the board and why should it be a paid board at that, and they shut him up fast. I am concerned, about a paid board rather than volunteer board when there is not enough money and the fund drives come faster and faster. I stopped listening to KPFK during fund drives when I became disillusioned with the problems with the gifts. They would not arrive, or the DVDs were badly done too dark, not clear, or they took so long that the material was actually not relevant to me any longer. Instead I just sent a yearly donation, because it was frustrating to want a gift because of the content, but remembering all the problems it entailed and deciding it was not worth it. Prior to this realization, I actually found that the fund drives were educational, to those of us new to KPFK, and I enjoyed them and looked forward to listening to all the new material presented and choosing a gift to add to my knowledge.