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60 Minutes Reports Lafayette Metro Narcotics’ Controversial Use of Ole Miss Students as Drug Informants

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Oxford Community Officials Respond

In a CBS 60 Minutes segment on Sunday, December 6, correspondent Lesley Stahl brought national attention to narcotics units’ controversial use of college-aged students as confidential informants (CI). The Lafayette County Metro Narcotics unit was mentioned in the 60 Minutes‘ coverage as seen on CBSNews.com.

Whether or not University and Lafayette County law enforcement officials actually use entrapment as a means of arresting and convicting drug offenders is debatable, but is now most certainly on the national conscience.

In an effort the keep the lines of communication open between law enforcement officials, the press and the public; and so that a total understanding of Lafayette County’s involvement in the C.I. program is understood, Oxford Mayor Pat Patterson has scheduled a discussion for Tuesday, Dec. 8, between himself, several press outlets including HottyToddy.com, Ward II Alderman Robyn Tannehill and Oxford Chief of Police Joey East.

Mayor Pat Patterson said, “There are things in the CBS report that concern us but there are two sides to every story. We will be meeting with representative of the press, including HottyToddy.com, tomorrow at 2 p.m. to more fully discuss the 60 Minutes report.”

According to Oxford Chief of Police Joey East, there are two sides to every story and the public received only one in yesterday’s broadcast.

“The 60 Minutes broadcast last night didn’t depict what we do in this county at all,” East said. “I believe they were false in some of their statements and the way they led viewers to believe that we recruit individuals for the program. I can’t speak for every single incident and arrest, but I’m confident that that’s not the way we conduct our business.”

“They seemed to try to lead the viewers to believe that this is a college campus crusade, one where we are targeting only college students. That’s not accurate,” East said. “We’re here to enforce drug laws in this city and we don’t distinguish between a college-age student or an older adult who can’t afford college.”

“That’s not how we do business at all, and it never has been,” he added.

“The best way to avoid this situation, is to keep clean and don’t break the drug laws,” East said. “It’s that simple.”


60 Minutes Looks Into the Practice of Using College-Aged Confidential Informants

Recruitment into the program to avoid jail time is voluntary, but according to the 60 Minutes feature, the C.I. option is one that many students find impossible to refuse when given the alternative choice – jail time.

In an effort to produce greater numbers of drug charges and offenders – thereby generating more money via grants for the department – C.I. programs are abundant across the country. Students who find themselves unfortunate enough to be on the negative end of a drug charge are sometimes given a choice; become an informant for the task force or go to jail – for a long time.

According to 60 Minutes, there could be as many as 100,000 confidential informants working with police across the country and many of these informants’ families have no idea that they are involved. In fact, in the case of Metro Narcotics, students were prohibited from telling their parents of their involvement. The price for breaking this rule; jail.

Legally, law enforcement officials cannot notify the students’ parents if he or she is over the age of 18. Offenders younger than 18 are simply sentenced to a drug court program where, after successful completion, likely have the charges reduced or totally expunged from their record.

A former UM official who asked not to be identified told HottyToddy.com this morning that the practice is one that has been maintained at the University of Mississippi and Lafayette County for many years.

Florida attorney Lance Block opposes the use of CIs in drug enforcement

Florida attorney Lance Block opposes the use of CIs in drug enforcement

Lance Block, a Tallahassee, Florida attorney who opposes using young people caught for relatively minor offenses as confidential informants, said during the 60 Minute segment; “They’re being told they’re looking at prison time unless they agree to do deals for the police department. These kids are being recruited to do the most dangerous type of police work. They’re going undercover, with no background, training or experience,” he said.

When Stahl and 60 Minutes asked one unidentified college student whether he was pressured into becoming a C.I., he stated, “I felt like I had a gun to my head.”


‘We’re Not Catching Criminals, We’re Creating Criminals’

Enter Lafayette County and the University of Mississippi.

Individual police departments across the country set and use their own recruitment standards and, ultimately, the policies on how to use its informants.

According to 60 Minutes, “critics say this has resulted in overly-aggressive recruitment tactics that has traumatized and even caused suicide in some situations.”

These aggressive tactics were clearly on display Sunday night as 60 Minutes disclosed video they had obtained of Metro Narcotics’ former head identified as Keith Davis, arguably threatening the life of a C.I. participant. Additionally, the video showed a narcotics officer threatening to “beat the ‘f***’” out of the same C.I.

According to 60 Minutes, the C.I. program seems to create situations where C.I. students are given incentives to entrap other kids.

As an example of UM’s involvement in the C.I program, “Greg” (the unidentified UM student) was, according to him, falsely arrested by Lafayette County’s Metro Narcotics and then given the choice of going to prison for more than 20 years or participating in the C.I. program by wearing a wire and buying drugs from 10 dealers – all of whom he had to find and set up himself. The random number of 10 set by Metro Narcotics was felt to be a “virtually impossible” number to reach.

Asked by Stahl if he knew 10 people from whom he could buy drugs, Greg said, “Absolutely not. But you don’t care at the time, when you sign it (the Metro Narcotic’s offer). It just made me sick, but what made me more sick was the thought of spending 20 years in prison.”

With the additional pressure of buying drugs from 10 dealers (as in this example), students find that they have little choice but to set up roommates, frat brothers … anyone. “It creates a perverse incentive for kids to entice other kids to break the law,” local attorney Ken Coghlan said in the 60 Minutes segment.

Coghlan is a defense attorney in Oxford who has represented several UM students who became confidential informants. According to him, if a student approaches another student to buy weed from his personal stash, for example, and tapes the interaction – “That’s entrapment and that’s not allowed under the law.”

In other words, the student who is asked to sell weed from his personal stash, initially “is only guilty of possession – a misdemeanor under Mississippi law; but if he says yes and sells a little to his buddy, he’s now become a dealer – a felon, facing possible prison time,” according to Coghlan.

It was pointed out in the segment that drug enforcement officers do not necessarily suggest that the kids go out and set up their friends and acquaintances but rather it’s simply what most of them do to meet the “virtually impossible” standards set by Metro Narcotics.

“They (police agencies) want to drive up their arrest numbers,” Block said. “And it doesn’t matter whether they’re going after a college kid with a couple of joints in his pocket, or whether they’re going after a drug kingpin.”

“The university does not have a statement in response to the ’60 Minutes’ report,” a representative from University Communications at UM said.


The more arrests, the more money

Funding and grant money for drug task forces are directly related to the number of drug arrests made by individual police departments. Metro Narcotics received nearly $55,000 in federal grants last year, according to 60 Minutes. This amount along with the university’s, the city police and the county sheriff department’s assistance of $100,00 each keeps the task force in operation.

As for its part, the University feels as if it is “caught in the middle,” according to the unnamed university official. Although they support the program with its $100,000 annual donation, UM has very little to do with day-to-day activities or the indoctrination of the task force.

The University of Mississippi cooperated with 60 Minutes during its initial investigation for the feature by offering a note of thanks to the news program. It read: “Thank you for your part in encouraging a deeper look at the Metro Narcotics Unit. Because of ‘increased attention’ – attention from 60 Minutes and the news organization BuzzFeed – changes are being made, including; more direct oversight of the program, an audit of the program by a third-party organization, policies to ensure suspects fully understand they have a choice in whether to become a confidential informant and a change in its leadership.”

Davis resigned from the task force in September and is now working in the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department.

HottyToddy.com will update its readers regarding Lafayette County’s C.I. program after that meeting.


Jeff McVay is a staff writer and graphic designer for Hottytoddy.com. He can be reached at jeff.mcvay@hottytoddy.com

Follow HottyToddy.com on Instagram and Twitter @hottytoddynews. Like its Facebook page: If You Love Oxford and Ole Miss…

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0 Comments

  1. Rhonda

    December 7, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    The third paragraph says that the Lafayette County Sheriff is Joey East. I thought Buddy East was sheriff. When did the change occur?

  2. Anonymous

    December 7, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    Joey East is the Chief of Police; Buddy East is the Lafayette Counth Sheriff.

  3. Anonymous

    December 7, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    *County

  4. Anonymou

    December 7, 2015 at 7:51 pm

    How about looking into Sgt. Applewhite(DUI officer) for not allowing people to blow & saying their time ran out & slaps them with a DUI first.it seems Oxford is very guilty of “color of law”.its time ALL police Depts in Oxford get checked out for their unethical & unjust arrest.they are playing with people’s lives & futures.

  5. Anonymous

    December 7, 2015 at 8:02 pm

    Success against the drug i
    dealers is hard to achieve so use every tool in the toolbox God bless Law enforcement

  6. Karen LaBach

    December 7, 2015 at 8:16 pm

    Unfair to students.

  7. Anonymou

    December 7, 2015 at 8:16 pm

    Law enforcement is meant to serve & protect.i do not feel protected by law enforcement in Oxford, instead I feel harassed & threatened…..

  8. Anonymous

    December 7, 2015 at 8:22 pm

    Two dates are given for the meeting: “Tuesday, January 7” and “tomorrow.” January 7 is not a Tuesday. Is the meeting on Tuesday, December 8?

  9. Anonymous

    December 7, 2015 at 9:25 pm

    The Oxford Police Department has taken a very unfriendly turn under Joey East. The police cruisers are a good example. They are intentionally designed to be hard to identify. Police cruisers used to be intentionally noticeable. Now in Oxford, they are intentionally stealthy. They exemplify the change in the focus of the Oxford Police Department from “Protect and Serve” to “Sneak and Catch”.

    BTW, I am not a student. I am in my 60s and have never been arrested and haven’t even had a traffic citation in well over ten years.

    Nonetheless, the Oxford Police Department scares me.

  10. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 7:57 am

    The University of Mississippi is home to a very fine School of Law and includes The Mississippi Innocence Project, which is reportedly supported by Mr. John Grisham. From his writings, we can conclude that Mr. Grisham obviously knows the difference between right and wrong. By funding Lafayette County Metro Narcotics and their reign of terror, it is not so obvious that the University knows this distinction. Perhaps the University should consult their own Law School on the legality, ethics and morality of supporting these “secret police”.

  11. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 7:59 am

    Pat Patterson, Mayor of Oxford, when asked if he knew how Metro Narcotics operated, ” I have no idea what they do! I just fund them!”

  12. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 7:59 am

    The tapes speak for themselves. The personal testimonies speak for themselves. The truth comes out of the dark into the light, finally. These filthy truths cannot be spun, rationalized, sugar-coated or whitewashed. How many witnesses do you want? Hundreds? Thousands? The victims of this major industry exist. They are real. The damage done is real. It cannot be argued with. They are speaking out. The dirty little secrets are coming out. The fear of these power-drunk thugs is gone. The stigmas are falling. The lies, exaggerations, and superstitions related to “reefer madness” mentality are jokes. Unfortunately Chris Poole and others cannot speak for themselves, for they are dead. Stop this insane, sadistic, criminal, indefensible, sick madness

  13. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 8:00 am

    Drugs are bad. This is worse.

  14. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 8:08 am

    As a parent of a current student, the police department is into hasseling students for things such as noise violations with no reason other than an an anonymous report. Each resident is given a large ticket around $300. Apparently there are no ordinances in the town. The police will randomly show up around student housing and line up students against the wall and check ID’s. Boys and girls! This may be 7 or 8 at night not the middle of the night. The students have learned to never walk home alone because you are fair game to be arrested for public intoxication. The school needs to be aware of this abuse of power or they will start losing out of state students when word gets around in their home state……

  15. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 8:10 am

    No distinction is made between students with real addiction problems and recreational experimentation. The half million dollars a year budget would be better spent at University Counseling Services or Haven House. This would be a positive thing. We have a medical problem, not a legal problem. The “Drug War” is a proven failure.

  16. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 8:15 am

    With Metro Narcotics “protect and serve” turned into terrorize and intimidate, bully and blackmail, set-up and entrap, ruin and destroy, recklessly endanger and indirectly murder all in the name of morality and profit.

  17. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 8:22 am

    Pipelines from out-of-state, private schools are being shut down because of these tactics. Word spreads. Rational minds weigh out the proportions and make informed decisions.

  18. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 8:41 am

    “For the first few minutes of the meeting, Metro Narcotics agents made a series of threats against the boyfriend.

    “If you ever in your fucking life say something about my family or where I stay again, I’m coming to see your ass,” said one agent, identified by Coghlan, as Tommy Knight. “If a piece of grass grows in my fucking yard, I’m coming and find your ass. Do you understand that?”

    And a minute or so later: “I don’t give a fuck where you at — I’ll turn this shit in and I’ll come beat the fuck out of you.”

    A bit later, a man identified by Coghlan as Keith Davis told the boyfriend, “Find me and it will the last fucking place you ever go in your life…. It took all I had not to come see you last night. To hunt you down.”

    (Davis declined recent interview requests because he said he was unhappy with BuzzFeed News’s previous article about Metro Narcotics, in which he was quoted.)”

  19. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 8:44 am

    I have a friend that was arrested earlier this year and he was told you can either rot in jail or be a “snitch” on at least ten of his friends.
    I am a student at Ole Miss and whenever I am soberly walking to and from dinner I feel afraid that the police and are going to find some stupid reason to get me in trouble. The police here in no way are here to protect, they are here to get you in trouble.

  20. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 10:00 am

    I don’t understand why Mayor Patterson needs to call a meeting to get to the bottom of it and hear both sides of the story? 60 Minutes gave everyone in Oxford a chance to comment and every single agency, including the University declined. I think that with the 60 Minutes says enough about whats really going at Ole Miss.

  21. A Mom

    December 8, 2015 at 10:34 am

    This happened to my son at Ole Miss–he was part of somebody’s “quota” and in the end this has cost us over $50,000, two years of his life, delayed graduation and inability to secure a good job, lost federal financial aid, immediate eviction from his apartment with responsibility of paying out the 10 months remaining on the lease after the drug task force knocked down the door and threw everyone in the house on the floor, into cuffs and took them to jail. The police in Oxford have serious issues, from giving $50 tickets because you parallel parked too far away from the curb, to public intoxication arrests for walking down a street in a group of “too many people” late at night. Ball bondsmen and attorneys will never lack for business in Oxford. The happiest day of my life was when he finally got that very, very expensive Ole Miss diploma and now we never have to step foot in that town again. Hotty Toddy.

  22. Bill Beckwith

    December 8, 2015 at 10:45 am

    Something like 42,000 people a year are arrested in Mississippi a year for Cannabis offenses. The prisons are full and breaking the bank. Mississippi is second only to Louisiana in incarceration rates. Our incarceration rates are unprecedented in the history of man. Make no mistake, this is BIG Business! Can we really afford this Draconian nightmare? Is this where you want your law enforcement dollars to go? We are smarter than this.

  23. Anonymous Ole Miss Parent

    December 8, 2015 at 10:49 am

    The Oxford Police Department needs to be publicly exposed to their less than legal ways of running their department. Obviously many of the officers has not been properly trained taught what are a US citizen’s constitutional rights. On numerous occasions my son & his friends have been harassed, brutalized and unlawfully had their property and home searched- including home invasions /intrusions in the middle of the night when they were sleeping (under the guise of a welfare check). Officer Applewhite specifically has been involved in the situations. The police chief seems to turn its head to this and other practices. The court system & lawyers have a money making racket in this town of arresting & fining students just to make money off the parents. The kids are not fully aware of their rights as citizens are forced to appear in court accused of various crimes even when the evidence and methods of obtaining evidence was not through legal means. It is ridiculous they are permitted to run a department like this without being exposed. I’ have told my kids to video tape every time they are approached by a police officer. We will sue and publicly expose them to the press the next time with evidence of them overstepping their rights and duties.
    It’s is so bad that I would not recommend attending this university just because of the police it this town. A student has to miss valuable class time making numerous court appearances just to clear up frequent allegations or tickets thereby compromising their grades and their purpose of living in Oxford. This does not help the university’s reputation nor retention rate of students.

  24. taxpayer

    December 8, 2015 at 10:51 am

    If and when, these kids ever get out from under the boot of Metro Narcotics, they leave Mississippi as fast as they can. Many times to hide in another state to save their lives if they have been a C.I. According to their parents, they are not “saved”, they just smoke pot in another state, far away, and their family is destroyed.

  25. Jeff Padgett

    December 8, 2015 at 10:51 am

    I have represented students that were charged with simple possession of marijuana which is a misdemeanor that carries a fine and rarely any jail time. The Task Force told one client that she had to find 3 crack dealers and they’d “help” her situation out on the weed.

  26. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    This is a University that has the only Federal marijuana program, yet this state still arrests people for possession. I view that as hypocritical and corruption at its best.

    It is time for Mississippi to declare cannabis legalization in this state. This industry will provide additional jobs for people, tourism, even a growth in population and making room for much needed criminals, not for cannabis smokers. End the drug war now!

  27. Citizen

    December 8, 2015 at 12:47 pm

    The University of Mississippi sells $69 million dollars worth of marijuana a year to the Federal Government and finances a drug task force to ruin it’s students lives, education, futures and families. The Mississippi Delta is slowly dying while the Mississippi Legislature remains adamant about not allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp which has no psychoactive effects, but has to be imported by the ton for the thousands of uses it is perfect for. It is time to get real. Tennessee, Kentucky and a multitude of other states are moving ahead with this important crop which cleanses the soil of herbicides and pesticides polluting or streams, lakes, rivers and soil from generations of cotton farming. it is a win / win. and so we remain… on the bottom.

  28. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    To the parent of the ole miss student-we need to get in touch about Sgt applewhite-myself & 2 others I know were slapped w/DUI first (failure to blow)in which ALL of us said we would & he “claims” time ran out.Something really has to be done about this.its a lot of money in their pockets & ABUSE of power.im trying to get as many people as I can specifically @ Sgt Applewhite.It has left me broke & I am not a college student/single mom just trying to make ends meet!

  29. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 1:05 pm

    Applewhite & Narcotics Dept. Couldn’t have said it better “SNEAK & CATCH”. Never protect & serve.

  30. annonymous out of fear

    December 8, 2015 at 2:00 pm

    As a retired University of MS professor, i cannot count the number of students who left Ole Miss with a deep hatred and distrust for law officers, the criminal “justice” system, Mississippi and politics in general.

  31. Concerned Citizen

    December 8, 2015 at 2:14 pm

    My cousin who lives in Austin, TX saw this 60 minute special and alerted it to me. I just watched it online for the first time and it deeply concerns me. I am an Ole Miss alum and fortunately have no children in school at this time. All parents of UM students need to be aware of this process. I am against drugs but this seems very scary.

  32. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 2:19 pm

    I hope people will look elsewhere for their education. #BoycottOleMiss

  33. voter

    December 8, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    Keith Davis appears to be highly unbalanced and without sound judgement. Why would he be hired as an armed deputy? If a citizen had made a direct threat to kill a law officer, he would be in prison or dead. Where is the Attorney General?

  34. broke

    December 8, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    Yes, $50,000.00 goes down the toilet fast!!!!!

  35. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 7:30 pm

    I have lived in Oxford 12 years and graduated from Ole Miss. I wanted to report that I have never felt that police were out to get me. I have not gotten any tickets, and life is grand…Go to class, do right, obey the law….no hiccups! Js

  36. James Harwell

    December 8, 2015 at 7:44 pm

    60 Minutes could spend 10 years in our state and barely scratch the surface of stories like this. And when reminded that the place we consider to be the best of Mississippi is corrupted to this degree, it sickens me to the bone.

  37. Anonymous

    December 8, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    Thankful and disgusted at the same time. Thankful we arent alone.. I’m a parent of an Ole Miss student who’s repeatedly shared occurrences with me about the sneaky tactics and wrong doings of local law enforcement – as he watched it playout from afar. For years. My family has suffered the downstream financial impacts of hiring lawyers etc for my him folliwing an arrest for simply standing outside an establishment calling for a safe ride/cab at 1am – making that call unaccompanied by friends because he wanted to go home early. The name Applewhite is all too familiar unfortunately. All of the money invested in education and this is the stuff that truly keeps you up at night – will my kid be arrested for walking home instead of driving drunk? Isnt walking or calling a cab THE PREFERRED choice? And I should add my son isn’t an underage minor damaging property or selling drugs. Seriously some pretty antiquated laws on the books strictly to keep the coffers funded. Graduation can’t come soon enough!

  38. Anonymous

    December 9, 2015 at 12:27 am

    Sgt. Applewhite was asked to resign last Friday.all you unjust DUI victims/call your lawyers.
    1down 4 more to go…..Hotty Toddy

  39. Anon

    December 9, 2015 at 10:50 am

    I wonder why a bunch of guys that barely graduated high school bully college kids.

  40. harrassed by these liars while at ole miss

    December 9, 2015 at 1:09 pm

    i will call this out .. i will testify under oath… all his quotes are LIES… these agents, lied, harassed, manipulated, threatened, and stalked .. people they wanted to work for them.. goes back to Vick Estock, when joey first started on the force.. and ugh, and can’t remember the other 2 off hand, a black officer and i want to say Scott , not sure of his last name, Wilson … he was the officer in charge of they’re “dept”… i was harassed by them , except for joey.. he was still new… these guys would call me, follow me, pop up where ever i was… not that i was doing anything wrong.. going to work, grocery store, visit my parents.. etc. just because i knew people they wanted to bust….not all of us were criminals and probably were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.. which brought HELL’S demons upon them until they just got the hell out of town… i hope these terrible individuals burn for the injustices they have caused on kids … it was so dramatizing , i remember names, times, incidents, etc… clearly, thanks to Victor Estock.. which had a “wonderful” track record of harassing kids and being the epitome of a bad cop… anyways…

  41. Concerned Parent

    December 9, 2015 at 4:25 pm

    Our son is a student a Ole Miss. I worry about him and his friends. Several of them have experienced the OPD harassment leaving bars trying to get into a taxi or to walk home. They are so much better than we were – they do not drive. I believe the increase in Public Intoxication arrests is a revenue generation tactic for the city. Shameful.

    I was unaware of the Confidential Informant issue before I saw the 60 Minutes episode. Young people’s lives are being ruined, and I do not believe more than a small minority of taxpayers support these methods.

  42. Oldschool

    December 9, 2015 at 7:40 pm

    This dirty game has been played a long long time. A few of the old ones from 25 going on 30 years ago are still closer than you might think. Scott Mills and Victor Estock who headed this in the early 90’s to name a couple of bad memories. Scott Mills is a captain in the sheriff’s department but Victor Estock died in a car crash and for all the lives that guy helped ruin I hope it was a fiery crash.

  43. Anonymous

    December 10, 2015 at 10:15 am

    Another black eye of Oxford and Ole Miss, having our dirty laundry aired on national television. I have two kids at OM and for our four years I have heard the stories of OPD and Metro and their practices. When protect and serve gets twisted into harass and entrap, something needs to change. I hope our Mayor and Aldermen review thoroughly and clean house at OPD starting at the top where this is allowed take place. However, I am sure the “good ol boy” network will take place and nothing will happen. Davis should never be allowed to law enforcement uniform again.

  44. Mark

    December 10, 2015 at 2:36 pm

    How about Officers Major Pain and Big Beaver??
    Apparently Public Drunk is an opinion- no blowing or anything. And then each grabs an arm and starts pulling against each other and claims you were resisting. No respect for Oxford cops !!!!!

  45. JW

    December 10, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    I am a 65 year old Ole Miss Grad that has never been in any trouble with the law. I agree that the Oxford Police are there to harrass more than protect. Two of my sons went to Ole Miss and are fine professional men now. While they were students there they were both arrested for stupid minor offenses that were blown up out of all proportion. One was thrown to the ground by an overly aggressive cop with a knee in his back and roughed up. You are afraid to complain because of retaliation. This CI business needs to stop. I am glad someone is shining a light on this.

  46. Anonymous

    December 11, 2015 at 11:18 pm

    So excited Applewhite is gone……just make sure he is not hired by the Sheriff’s department!

  47. Former Student

    December 13, 2015 at 11:32 pm

    As a former Ole Miss student (1990’s) who was arrested twice by the Narcotics agents in Oxford, I can testify to the accuracy of the 60 minutes piece at least while I was in Oxford. Vic Estock and his two buddies used the exact techniques described by 60 Minutes on me and multiple friends. However, my offenses were both very minor so I took the charges and told Vic and his boys to go to hell. My friends were not so lucky and were harassed and threatened mercilessly. I understand that a few years after I left Oxford Vic died in a car crash and, in my opinion, he probably did go to hell…We reap what we sow, Vic.

  48. Peyton

    December 17, 2015 at 5:52 pm

    We are from New Hampshire and ole Miss was on my son’s college list. After reading this – and the segment on 60 minutes, he won’t be applying.

  49. Wil

    December 19, 2015 at 9:51 pm

    A frightening chapter in American history. Time will judge these law enforcement techniques…my bet is that the advocates will soon be seen as criminals themselves.
    Good Luck to the University of Mississippi…you have earned your big black eye…and the leaders of the University should be held responsible for their support of these programs.
    Protect and serve?
    More like provoke and enslave.
    God help Mississippi, because the rest of us will stay far far away.

  50. LC

    December 27, 2015 at 8:56 pm

    This is not new in Oxford, I saw them do this to someone in 1985.

  51. Anonymous

    October 7, 2017 at 7:33 am

    We feel the same way. It’s quiet scary!

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