tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post3547418293788631268..comments2024-03-15T05:45:01.402-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Revisionism begins in effort to restore drug task force pork: PR blitz another good reason why Congress should slash Byrne grant fundingGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-90898047475085839582008-04-01T22:59:00.000-05:002008-04-01T22:59:00.000-05:00Didn't know that you had any street experience, Gr...Didn't know that you had any street experience, Grits.<BR/>I'll bet that most all of the kilos seized by DPS were from traffic stops performed by troopers on Highway 59, using time honored profiling techniques, not high level source of supply investigations by the narco bubbas.<BR/>Most local agencies go after low level street dealers because that is who the low level residents of the streets complaint to their local politicians about.<BR/>Nobody complains to city council about the Cali cartel causing crime in their neighborhood. <BR/>If you were out on the streets every day, you'd know this already.<BR/>Texas Rangers? pleeeasseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-81155151314709505232008-03-31T08:39:00.000-05:002008-03-31T08:39:00.000-05:00And of course, you have to ask just how much of th...And of course, you have to ask just how much of that grant money is being used for <I>politicking</I>...as in <I>lobbying</I>...as in <I>violating the Hatch Act.</I> <I>Ostensible</I> 'civil servants' engaged in 'featherbedding' their agencies at the public expense; an old, old game, but one with much higher stakes, thanks to the DrugWar having become so lucrative to law enforcement courtesy of (not so civil) civil forfeiture. They'll never be able to stop the drugs, so they may as well get what goodies they can buy with the money they get, as they wouldn't be able to in ordinary circumstances (being controlled by municipal, county and State budgets). All because of the DrugWar. What a racket...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-84012343230259057042008-03-30T19:35:00.000-05:002008-03-30T19:35:00.000-05:00Perhaps, Lt. Daniels, though with 300 officers DPS...Perhaps, Lt. Daniels, though with 300 officers DPS Narcotics is by far the state's largest and most important anti-drug unit now that the task forces are gone, and they seize a lot of dope. Most US agencies seizures <A HREF="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2008/01/us-made-fewer-cocaine-seizures-in-2007.html" REL="nofollow">declined last year</A>; DPS' doubled in their first full year <A HREF="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2007/07/dps-commander-oburke-changing-outcome.html" REL="nofollow">under the new rules</A> de-prioritizing user busts. (Don't have their last year's number offhand for apples to apples.)<BR/><BR/>I've heard similar comments about DPS from ex-TF officers since their demise. But even if what you say is true - and I'm unwilling to grant that the agency over the Texas Rangers knows nothing about police investigations outside traffic enforcement - it's fair to say the task forces were also a joke to "real" law enforcement. Departments tended to send their dregs there, their problem officers who it was easier to transfer than fire. That's still true in many states where they operate.<BR/><BR/>Also, the task forces didn't work the "urban inner cities" in Texas, either - none of the PDs in the larger cities participated in the program. Nor were they well known for going after "Mr. Big." They were mostly a rural phenomenon focused largely on arresting addicts and the lowest level user/dealers, especially in the last decade of their existence.<BR/><BR/>We're doing fine without them. There are a lot more important things on which to spend federal grant money.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-61571099286820978482008-03-30T14:53:00.000-05:002008-03-30T14:53:00.000-05:00Most real law enforcement agencies didn't want to ...Most real law enforcement agencies didn't want to be controlled by DPS, because DPS Narcotics was pretty much a joke in the narcotics investigation community. DPS knows how to do traffic enforcement <BR/>(ie write speeding tickets) out in the rural county areas but rarely patrols the urban inner cities.<BR/>They don't know how to do street-level narcotics investigations(or general law enforcement), much less going after Mr Big.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com