Profiting From Criminal Justice

OK Politechs ^ | 9/24/13 | Charles M. Phipps

[OKCharles]

Being a far right-wing person I have always been very pro law & order and believe that those who violate our laws should pay the consequences. More often than not I have found myself thinking that our criminal justice system is not harsh enough. But, it is the system we have and I would not trade it for any other in the world. One of the cornerstones of our system is supposed to be the impartiality of the justice that is dispensed. Without impartiality, can the punishments meted out still be considered just? Sometimes, no.

The impartiality of the justice system is supposed to begin on the street with law enforcement personnel. When their motives for enforcing the law become tainted by profit, anything that happens to the accused after that should be immediately suspect. Case in point. Here in Oklahoma, Caddo County District Attorney Jason Hicks signed a contract with Desert Snow LLC, a Guthrie Oklahoma based company, to do training with the DA's task force. The task force did roadside stops on a 21 mile stretch of Interstate 40 and seized drugs and also money, even seizing cash when no drugs were found and no arrest was made, simply because a canine alerted on the cash. Highway robbery. Desert Snow, the company doing the training, was given 25 percent of funds seized on training days and 10 percent of funds seized on days when no trainer was present. The task force drew the attention of a Caddo County judge after the owner of Desert Snow conducted a traffic stop of a pregnant woman all on his own, with no state-certified law enforcement officer present.

[humblegunner]

(Excerpt) Read more at charlesmphipps.net ...

What seems to have caused you to excerpt your own blog?

[OKCharles]

A noob trying to get the hang of it here. Apologies if I did something wrong.