Posted on 12/09/2005 4:24:09 PM PST by elkfersupper
A dramatic drug bust at two Aspen restaurants busy with the après ski crowd has created a rift between the two major law enforcement agencies at one of Colorado's premier ski resort towns. Fifty-three officers from a number of law enforcement agencies, some with guns drawn, stormed into two Aspen restaurants during the busy after-ski time last Friday.
The raids happened shortly after 4 p.m. and netted about 2 ounces of cocaine, $3,000 in cash, nine arrests for drug involvement and 11 for immigration law violations.
Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, an opponent of the "war on drugs" who believes education and treatment are better answers to drug abuse, didn't know about the raid until after the fact, even though his jail was packed to overflowing.
"The sheriff should have been informed and the police chief has rightly apologized,'' Aspen Mayor Helen Klanderud said Wednesday. "It's extremely important that the agencies cooperate and have a positive relationship.''
Late Wednesday afternoon, Braudis remained in a closed-door meeting with Police Chief Loren Ryerson and City Manager Steve Barwick. None returned phone calls for comment.
The city manager scheduled a special work session Jan. 17 for the City Council to discuss the raid and the town's police policy regarding drugs.
"Our paramount concern is the safety and well-being of visitors and citizens of Aspen," Klanderud said. "Our police are not to do undercover investigations or use paid informants. We need to get all the facts of what happened here."
On the other hand, Klanderud said, the city policy requires police to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in drug investigations.
Ryerson told the Aspen Daily News that the sheriff's views on drug enforcement played a factor in Ryerson's decision not to tell the sheriff about the raids. But he repeated Tuesday that he made a mistake by not informing Braudis in advance.
The newspaper also quoted Ryerson as saying guns were drawn by some officers during the raid.
The raid was carried out by officers from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Colorado Department of Revenue and police from Aspen and Snowmass Village, according to law enforcement news releases.
It was DEA agents who did the undercover work, Ryerson told the Aspen Times.
Braudis has long called for the legalization of drugs, calling the war on drugs a failure and saying addicts should see doctors, not go to prison.
Councilman Torre, who goes by only one name, said it was good that the sheriff and police chief "are trying to mend fences."
"But the city doesn't support undercover work, and our police department doesn't," Torre said. "It's a matter of community trust and public safety, and we believe in education and treatment as more effective with drugs. It's not necessarily done with a bust, but to intervene."
The controversy is the talk of the town, said Councilwoman Rachael Richards.
"The city does not turn a blind eye to drug activity," she said. "And we as a council certainly aren't told of these things in advance. But there seemed to be a risk factor with these tactics and so many innocent bystanders."
Aspen will be looking for a new police chief soon.
If you had read further down, you would know I knew about the "American political system". What I said was called sarcasm. I should have made it abundantly clear by including the sarcasm tag.
"The employee said guns were in plain sight but not drawn as the officers came in"
I believe those items are called holsters. Did the employee think the cops would carry their weapons in paper sacks?
Even bigger mistake - screwing with the wealthy in Aspen. Everybody knows the Drug War is for the little guy.
"Maybe the police should have served caviar while they conducted the sting? I don't see how the rich should be treated like cream puffs just because they can afford coke over crack."
Can you say "limousine liberals"?
Apparently 'screw the Constitution, there are people getting buzzes on' is now a 'conservative' position.
They keep arresting them but there never seem to be any fewer of them. We can't repeal the law of supply and dmenad; the only way to win this war is the way we won the war on rumrunning ... legalization.
They couldn't clean up the Mob during Prohibition despite photo-ops like this. The most effective move we made against the mob then was legalization ... and that's the most effective move we could make today.
In New Mexico they can. Not sure about Colorado, but I suspect so.
Copy that. Only the worker bees and the nouveau-riche suffer incarceration and asset forfeiture.
As far as I can tell, Republicans are more likely to question the War on Drugs than Democrats. For example, William F. Buckley.
They keep arresting them but there never seem to be any fewer of them.
Bingo. The War on Drugs is a game of Sorceror's Apprentice in which everytime you knock one of these guys down, two more pop up to take his place.
And what about the immigration violators? What happened to them?
"in street $$$'s 2 oz would be more like 56K"
Crunch your numbers again. That would be about a thousand dollars a gram. I don't know what cocaine costs in Aspen, but my guess is it is probably a good bit under a $100 a gram. The per ounce price could easily be less than a grand. A grand is the going rate where I live and there isn't nearly as much cocaine here as there is in Aspen. Two grand for two ounces would work out to a little less than $36 per gram. It's probably worth more than that on a per gram basis but not too terribly much. Cocaine has gotten relatively cheap over the years. I saw a 2003 Colorado Drug Threat Assessment that said that in 2002 "powdered cocaine sold for $650 to $1,200 per ounce in Denver and $600 to $700 per ounce in Colorado Springs." http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs4/4300/cocaine.htm Everyone knows there are a lot of coke users and a lot of money in Aspen, odds are there are plenty of people competing for the business and per gram prices are low. A lot of these guys are probably buying larger than single gram amounts anyway to bring out to their little ski condos and have their little coke parties.
A braindead Democrat.
The great majority of freepers oppose the war on drugs. Does this make FR a "braindead Democrat" forum?
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