Headlines
Lafayette County’s Confidential Informant Debate Rages On
Lafayette County citizens and government officials alike have firmly established their stances – either pro or con – regarding the 60 Minutes production of Confidential Informants (CIs) and the fact that Lafayette County’s law enforcement agencies via the Metro Narcotics Unit are active participants in the controversial practice.
Last Sunday night (December 6), a 60 Minutes’ broadcast presented an arguably harsh and dark side to the way in which Metro Narcotics – the drug unit associated with Oxford police department, University police department and the Lafayette County Sheriff’s office – conducts its business in regard to detaining drug offenders and recruiting them as CIs – or “snitches” as many have labeled them.
Although entrance into the program is voluntary, a majority of participants feel as if they have no other choice except to cooperate; consequently vaulting them into dangerous situations where they are forced to solicit others to either buy or sell drugs.
In exchange for meeting an arrest quota set by the district attorney’s office, lighter sentences or even a clean slate is promised. Sadly, over the years, this pressure and practice has led to the death and suicide of a number of CI participants in the US as reported by 60 Minutes.
To many, the foremost issue is that the offenders – Ole Miss students in many cases – are thrust into policing situations where they receive no training or authority. Common conception (or perhaps, misconception) is that the program and some of its policies exponentially increase the risk to the CI and even to his/her potential “target.”
Oxford Police Chief Joey East
However, Oxford Chief of Police Joey East believes that procedures they have put in place greatly reduce that risk; and that Metro Narcotics does not randomly assign the number of setups the CIs must reach but rather that value was determined by the district attorneys office.
“The ‘10 Program’ was put in place by the DA’s office because we used to not have a quota,” East said. “That was put in place by the DAs office at the request – mind you – of defense attorneys. Metro has nothing to do with that part of the program.”
According to Chief East, “CIs are not asked to go purchase any type of drug from someone they don’t know. It’s what we call a debrief or an interview process. During the interview, we talk to them about their normal activities and people they know that have bought or that they know are selling. The CIs dictate to us what they will do – not us dictating to them what they’ll do.”
Oxford government officials believe that although mistakes have been made since the program’s inception in 1988; not only is it a fair and valuable deal for felony drug offenders, it is essential in keeping nickel and dime drug dealers off of the streets of Oxford thereby keeping drugs out of the kids’ hands.
Chief East, Mayor Pat Patterson and other government officials have shown joint determination in their re-organization efforts of the Metro Narcotics Unit. It is anticipated that these passionate efforts will steer the program in a positive direction.
Mayor Pat Patterson
Mayor Patterson’s position at a meeting on Tuesday where the CI issue was discussed extensively is worth a re-visit here: We’re going to “take a hard look at what we’re doing from top to bottom and make sure it is legal, ethical and – beyond that – the right thing to do,” he said.
So, where do the two contradicting views lead us? With a much needed intelligent discussion that, hopefully, can help guide government officials as they move into a new era for the program.
HottyToddy.com has reached out to several citizens – ones who first contacted us – who are or have been directly involved with the CI program or who have proven to possess strong, educated opinions – either pro or con.
After an extensive review of online responses and from talking with these contacts and others; HottyToddy.com has discovered that the following are prevalent issues between the two schools of thought:
• Should minor drug offenses be treated differently; focusing on counseling and rehabilitation rather than criminal charges that could affect the offender for many years?
• The questionable interrogation and follow-up methods of the task force when recruiting CIs after their arrest
• The placement of CIs in dangerous situations without training or backup
• The Lafayette County Metro Narcotics’ (LCMN) policy in which a seemingly random number of drug deals are set for the CIs (addressed above)
The prevailing theme of responses HottyToddy.com has received is well illustrated by the following from Ole Miss alum who wished to remain anonymous: “A relative of mine saw the 60 Minutes special and alerted me to it. 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 attendance there at this time. All parents of UM students need to be aware of this process. I am against drugs but this seems very scary.”
Bill Beckwith in front of his Taylor studio. (Photo by Callie Daniels Bryant, 2014)
Like the example above, many of the responders that were contacted asked to remain anonymous for various reasons; the most prevalent being that of fear of potential repercussions from the very entity of which they speak.
William Beckwith, a retired UM professor, had no problem with anonymity and offered this as his main concern: “As a retired university professor, I believe that LCMN (Lafayette County Metro Narcotics) takes relatively minor offenses and turns them into major life and death situations. They do much more harm than good. The interviews of ruined students and C.I.s speak for themselves. The facts of the matter are that small amounts of marijuana are not ruining lives, educations, futures, careers and families – LCMN is. They are delusional if they think ‘Just Say No’ is going to stop college kids from smoking pot. The one trillion dollar failed drug war has proven that for over 50 years. Let’s stop the lies, the superstitions and the exaggerations. Let’s identify the United States citizens with addiction problems and get them medical help and quit treating them like the enemy. Give the half-million dollar a year budget to University Counseling Services and to Haven House. Let’s get the profiteers and the racketeers completely out of this problem; they are only making it worse. Let the police concentrate on protecting and serving.”
However, not all comments fall in the loosely defined “con” category.
“There seems to be a mass amount of people who are bashing the cops (LCMN) for their own wrongdoings,” one responder said. “I am in no way kin or affiliated with any policeman or department; however, I have managed to live in Oxford for 12 years without the first incident; speeding ticket, expired tag, DUI, et cetera. If you do what you are supposed to do, it doesn’t happen,” she wrote.
Chief East agrees that counseling is important and necessary. He also assures that offenders who have misdemeanor charges are never associated with LCMN. Those cases are solely handled by the court system and it alone levies punishment against the offender. OPD has no say in the matter after the arrest has been made.
“There’s a misconception out there that minor offenders are funneled through drug court,” he said. “That’s not the case. CIs are not picked from a pool of minor offenders. It has to be a felony charge, someone who possessed a felony amount of something.”
“No one … no one can be placed in drug court without having an evaluation by a medical physician to determine that they have an addiction,” Chief East said. “So, if someone gets placed in drug court and they think they got messed over (by OPD), well that’s out of our hands. Any police officer, any federal agency, any state agency; we have no control, we have no say of what happens in the court.”
Concerning the disturbing tape that 60 Minutes broadcast showing ex-Metro Narcotics Commander Keith Davis allegedly threatening a CI; Chief East re-emphasizes that important pieces of the interview were omitted.
“First of all, those 20 seconds shown on 60 Minutes is not our typical interviewing process,” East said. “This man had made threats against his (Davis’) family and you can’t take that out of context and say that’s how we talk to every person because that would be completely wrong. That’s not how they talk to people. It was an isolated event and they (the officers) overreacted.”
“The interviewing process that they do is not like that and will not be like that; so, the new commander (Rob Waller) coming in who worked for the DEA and MBN is not going to allow that kind of behavior,” East added.
“They (60 Minutes) took the worst 20 seconds of that tape and broadcast it,” East said. “The next 15-18 minutes was textbook interviewing like they’re taught – and they didn’t show that. 60 Minutes seems to let people believe only one side of the story.”
The decades-old decision to participate in the CI program and recognition that it is essential and that it will continue to operate in the L-O-U community; local law enforcement agencies hope to repair trust issues that have surfaced. Their decision to scrutinize and reorganize the program is a provocative step in the right direction.
Ward II Alderman Robyn Tannehill
Ward II Alderman Robyn Tannehill summed up Oxford government’s position on Tuesday by saying: “We as a city, a county, a university, have decided that our community is worth fighting for. The safety of our citizens and children is worth fighting for.”
The contrasting schools of thought about this issue have been dissected and laid out by many news outlets since the 60 Minutes broadcast last Sunday. HottyToddy.com encourages open, rational discussion as the community and law enforcement officials move forward.
Jeff McVay is a staff writer and graphic designer for Hottytoddy.com. He can be reached at jeff.mcvay@hottytoddy.com.
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Anonymous
December 10, 2015 at 4:14 pm
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. This has occurred on Chief East’s watch and it seems we need new leadership. The officers at Metro should have been terminated. Instead they are moved to other divisions. They should not be allowed to ever wear a police or Sheriff Deputy uniform. How tragic that the kids at Ole Miss fear, instead of respect, the OPD.
voting taxpayer
December 10, 2015 at 7:35 pm
I do not understand why the admission of convicted killer, Chris Bland, in prison for the shotgun murder of 18 year old Chris Poole, (who attended Lafayette High School), “I killed him because he was snitching.”, is not part of this conversation. It has been swept under the rug as an uncomfortable, inconvenient truth, straight from the killer’s mouth. Whether or not Chris Poole was forced to work undercover for Metro Narcotics is irrelevant, the point nobody wants to own, is that the mere suspicion of being a “rat” or a “snitch” will get you killed. Unfortunately we will never know the truth, Chris cannot tell us because he is dead and Metro Narcotics will never tell us because they operate in total secrecy with impunity. We would never have know of the thuggish death threats against an Ole Miss student by Metro if not for the student’s courage and forethought to secretly tape the conversation and go to an attorney.
confused
December 10, 2015 at 7:53 pm
So…it is ok for Metro Narcotics to put multitudes of individual lives and their families’ in jeopardy from their extremely dangerous, Nazi tactics, but if you mention their families, you die?
history student
December 10, 2015 at 7:58 pm
“Secret police (sometimes called political police) are intelligence services or police and law enforcement agencies which operate in secrecy, and therefore have little to no transparency, accountability or oversight. An alternative name is secret service. A secret police organization is often used beyond the law by totalitarian states to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian (autocratic) political regime.”
history student
December 10, 2015 at 8:03 pm
“The institution of a secret police has existed in most societies where a minority has exercised an uneasy rule over a majority. In ancient Sparta, a well-organized secret police controlled the helots and ruthlessly suppressed any sign of rebellion. In Rome, particularly under the Julian emperors, a professional class of informers who received a share of their victims’ confiscated fortunes, was employed by the state. Among the earliest secret police forces organized along modern lines were the Venetian Inquisition (see Ten, Council of) and the Oprichina of Czar Ivan IV of Russia. The institution has reached its most menacing aspect in the modern state—largely because of the improved technology at its disposal. Two 20th-century examples, that of Russia and later the Soviet Union and that of Nazi Germany, illustrate the workings of modern secret police forces.”
truth please
December 10, 2015 at 8:13 pm
Nobody “voluntarily” becomes a confidential informant! Get real!
Karma
December 10, 2015 at 8:31 pm
We are creating a generation of kids who have a deep hatred, disrespect and distrust of law enforcement, the courts and the politicians. They won’t always be powerless.
Anonymous
December 10, 2015 at 8:36 pm
To many Oxonians, the image of the OPD has turned sinister in recent years. This secretive police program is but one reason why the department is losing the community’s faith.
Justice?
December 10, 2015 at 8:44 pm
One young Ole Miss student, sent to Parchman on a small time marijuana charge cannot enter the conversation. He was raped in prison, and is now dead. Another got his teeth knocked out and doesn’t talk so good. this shi* is barbaric!
success!
December 10, 2015 at 8:47 pm
Dead kids don’t smoke pot!
TK
December 11, 2015 at 2:04 am
Thank you Congressman Steve Cohen! What about our Mississippi politicians? #GreggHarper #TrentKelly #StevenPalazzo #BennieThompson
https://reason.com/blog/2015/12/09/steve-cohen-confidential-informant-sadek
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 4:07 am
My son was offered a plea deal by the public defender who had never met his client; never heard his side of the story. When pressed the young lawyer replied, “LOOK. I have over a hundred more cases just like this!”
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 4:19 am
Not all Oxford attorneys are the same. Some take your money and never lift a finger. Do your research. A case is being built on at least one who is in collusion with the DA’s office. Hopefully he will be disbarred.
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 4:29 am
These kids are over-policed and over-prosecuted. They are forced to sign extreme plea deals. The whole thing is way out of proportion!
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 4:37 am
“For years, suspects arrested on drug offenses had the option to pay a fine — sometimes as high as $25,000 — directly to Metro Narcotics and plead guilty to a lesser charge, according to court documents. The practice had ended by 2009, after Ken Coghlan, the public defender, threatened to sue District Attorney Ben Creekmore and his office for discriminating against poor defendants.” – from : http://www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/mississippi-cops-are-using-college-kids-as-drug-informants#.qwbxVXDyM
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 4:39 am
” the unit collected money from property seized through civil forfeiture laws. In 2014, for instance, the unit collected $130,701.50 worth of seized assets.” – the bottom line!
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 4:58 am
“by the grace of God no one’s been hurt doing this. Drugs is a bad life…it ruins lives on every end of it.” -OPD Chief Joey East – When one CI was caught a block off of the Square and beaten, he reported it to Metro Narcotics who laughed at his swollen head and responded with, “What do you want US to do about it?” This was “Intimidation of a witness” and is a crime. The young man did not lose his eye, “by the grace of God.”
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 5:01 am
There are large groups of (normal) Mississippi kids living “out west” in exile in undisclosed locations, because of these Draconian practices. One promising young student is now selling used cars to survive “in another state”. The families have to save up, to fly out to see them. These families are pretty much destroyed by Metro Narcotics. The parents report that they still smoke pot, it was all for nothing. Mississippi cannot afford this “brain drain” and we do not need moral crusaders without morals
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 5:02 am
“”It’s all about the money. Drug agencies want more money, more confiscations, more toys to justify their existence,” Cohen explains. “They’ve spent so many years drinking the Kool-Aid, thinking they’re saving the world by stopping people from smoking marijuana. They need to understand their priorities, there are more harmful drugs than marijuana.” “
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 5:06 am
The Drug War is over, all that remains is to free the P.O.W.’s and let the war trials for war crimes committed begin, and, as in Nuremberg, “Just following orders” will not be an acceptable defense.
movie buff
December 11, 2015 at 5:23 am
“Marijuana! Heavens, oh yeah. It’s just the stupidest law possible, given history. You don’t stop people from doing what they want to do, so forget about making it unlawful. You’re just making criminals out of people who aren’t engaged in criminal activity. And we’re spending zillions of dollars trying to fight a war we can’t win! We could make zillions, just legalize it and tax it like we do liquor. It’s stupid. ” – Morgan Freeman
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 5:33 am
““Marijuana smokers are not going to attack and kill a cop. They just want to get a bag of chips and relax. Alcohol is a much bigger problem. It is not healthy, but I’m not policing the city as a mom, I’m policing it as the police chief—and 70 percent of the public supported this,”
“All those arrests do is make people hate us,” she added.” – Washington D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 5:36 am
Mississippi arrests 42,000 people a year for cannabis offenses. The courts, the jails and the prisons are full and it is unsustainable.
annonymous
December 11, 2015 at 5:46 am
So you are saying these 42,000 people could have been taxpayers instead of welfare recipients? seems like a no-brainer to me!
common sense
December 11, 2015 at 6:24 am
If you are sick of this racket, contact your congressman.: http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2015/12/congress-could-approve-marijuana-measures-this-week/
been there, done that.
December 11, 2015 at 6:28 am
http://www.leap.cc/
Civics 101
December 11, 2015 at 6:45 am
The total failure of a Drug War has done more harm to civil liberties, civil rights, The U.S. Constitution and The Bill of Rights than any black page in our history. It has created, empowered and funded a vast underworld. It has corrupted our courts and law enforcement. It has left a path of death, violence and destruction wider than any other war. This Holocaust against our own must stop!
BS
December 11, 2015 at 6:52 am
OPD Chief East says “no one has been hurt by this…” – WAKE UP !!!
American
December 11, 2015 at 7:07 am
God bless the First Amendment. USE IT!!!
reader
December 11, 2015 at 7:32 am
The horror stories from Metro’s reign of terror in the community make Steven King’s look like bedtime stories.
skin deep
December 11, 2015 at 7:34 am
yes, Mrs. Tannehill, Oxford is real pretty…on the surface.
P.T.L.
December 11, 2015 at 7:36 am
At least the trash cans are not on the curb!
sick
December 11, 2015 at 8:54 am
I have watched more good people destroyed over nothing, since the sixties, than I can count. This is nothing but an evil scam. It is past time to take back our Criminal Justice System from these criminal thieves.
James Harwell
December 11, 2015 at 10:02 am
East needs to go. He needs to step down or be fired. It’s time the standards be raised for OPD leadership. Clean house of the leadership of all L-O-U agencies involved.Cease and desists all entrapment programs involving students and underage citizens.
Signed, Fifth-Generation, Oxford Native Son.
James Harwell
December 11, 2015 at 11:02 am
“Perverted justice”, said atty Lance Block, who summed up this atrocity in the 60-Minutes segment.
But, this makes me mad as hell – that lives have been ruined by these unprofessional law enforcement practices. And some have even lost their lives, entirely, due horrendous murders and suicide.
(It is) Especially sad, when one considers that our judiciary system has been established to consider the highest value of individual life, such that, in the instance of trial by jury, the burden of proof was set extremely high. So high, in fact, that, in cases where life and death is at stake, it is better that even a murderer get off rather than one innocent person be sent to prison or pay with his life.
source
December 11, 2015 at 11:03 am
It would appear that much of this overreach originates with the District Attorney’s office.
Genesis 4-9
December 11, 2015 at 11:14 am
“Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.…”
end of the road.
December 11, 2015 at 12:43 pm
This sadistic gig is up. A lot of people need to figure out an honest way to make a living.
Anonymous
December 11, 2015 at 2:11 pm
Continue hiding your dirty little secrets, Oxford town.
realist
December 11, 2015 at 3:14 pm
Real men don’t use kids to do their job- #cowards
Rules of the game
December 11, 2015 at 3:28 pm
One thing Joey East said is absolutely true: Everybody who tests for Drug Court is an addict. (because they know if they aren’t they go to prison.)
Anonymous
December 11, 2015 at 4:47 pm
Looks like to me if mom and dad would teach there kids the values that they should there would not be a problem.
Anonymous
December 11, 2015 at 5:06 pm
How do you know that mom and dad did not promote values? Let’s face facts in the real world. Young people sometimes make bad choices. (Lots of old people made bad choices when they were young.) So how are we going to deal with them? If someone is jaywalking, do we slam him down across the hood of a police cruiser and treat him like a bank robber? The BuzzFeed and 60 Minutes reports exist because, apparently, something about the drug initiative is badly out of proportion. It does little good to pretend otherwise.
real life
December 11, 2015 at 5:37 pm
Yeah…kids always do exactly what their parents want them to do…hahahahahahahahahahahahaha………….
No secret
December 11, 2015 at 5:39 pm
They come to college to get drunk, get stoned and get laid in any order. If they learn something, that is gravy.
Bill Beckwith
December 11, 2015 at 6:40 pm
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-top-drug-official-says-the-old-war-on-drugs-is-all-wrong/
Bill Beckwith
December 11, 2015 at 6:56 pm
“Was the war on drugs all wrong? asks Pelley. “It has been all wrong,” he says. “We can’t arrest and incarcerate addiction out of people. Not only do I think it’s really inhumane, but it’s ineffective and it cost us billions upon billions of dollars to keep doing this.” ” – Michael Botticelli, Drug Czar
Bill Beckwith
December 11, 2015 at 6:57 pm
“Botticelli’s approach is to try to stop demand by treating addiction. “Addiction is a brain disease. This is not a moral failing. This is not about bad people who are choosing to continue to use drugs because they lack willpower. You know, we don’t expect people with cancer just to stop having cancer,” he tells Pelley.”
Bill Beckwith
December 11, 2015 at 6:59 pm
GREAT!!!!! Now give all these young people back their futures!!!
You are all idiots
December 11, 2015 at 7:04 pm
I have never seen a bigger bunch of fucking idiots in my life. Do you dumbasses really believe everything you see on tv? Do you really believe the statement of this punk on sixty minutes was true ? I bet if a drug dealer threatened your kids and wife you would have threatened him too. I guess you want the police to just let thesee idiots buy and sell drugs and let mommy and daddy pay off their mistakes with bullshit rehabs and attorneys who get on sixty minutes and run their idiot mouths. seriously??? You are bitching because narcotics wired them when they were buying drugs!!?? They were already buying drugs you dumb assess.
John doe
December 11, 2015 at 7:04 pm
The documents exist which show that for years defendants paid fines directly to metro ion exchange for dismissals. Up to 10, 30, 40000 dollars. Also it’s s lie that misdemeanor arrests are not called into metro to be ci’s to get misdemeanor charges dismissed
John doe
December 11, 2015 at 7:10 pm
The most appalling thing is the university funding this bunch to arrest their own students, and to then send them out to do undercover narcotics work. Shame on ole miss
Anonymous
December 11, 2015 at 7:20 pm
Perhaps the most telling part of the article was where it said most people wanted to remain anonymous because they were afraid that the police would retaliate. I would say the city and the cops have lost the trust of at least those people
smdh
December 11, 2015 at 7:25 pm
People are dying, you idiot. Go tell Chris Poole’s parents your delusional, ignorant ravings. Tell Andy R.’s parents. Tell CC’s parents, Tell Rachel Hoffman’s parents, tell Dusty’s parents, tell Andrew Sadek’s parents. Use your brain, you brainwashed sheep.
Anonymous
December 11, 2015 at 7:45 pm
“Do you dumbasses really believe everything you see on tv?”
No, but do you believe everything someone says when he’s screwed up and is trying to cover his ass?
annon.
December 11, 2015 at 7:47 pm
sober up, dude, you are embarrassing yourself!
Anonymous
December 11, 2015 at 11:23 pm
Joey East was once a Metro Narcotics agent, so it’s in his best interest to defend this rotten drug enforcement program.
Laws
December 12, 2015 at 4:05 am
“Reckless Endangerment” is a crime. Every “person” in that office is guilty of hundreds of counts and should be in prison. ZERO TOLERANCE!!! GET TOUGH ON CRIME !!! LOCK EM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY !!! PUT THEM UNDER THE JAIL !!!
Oppositeeffect
December 12, 2015 at 4:26 am
Because of the C.I. program, we have many people carrying concealed weapons for defensive purposes. They are paranoid and spook easily, for good reason. They do not trust cops or anyone outside their small circle. This does not add to public safety.
gunslingers
December 12, 2015 at 4:33 am
“But, Oxford in Disneyworld and everything is groovy and sanitary! “
self protecting
December 12, 2015 at 5:27 am
The people who know how many lies are in this article historically are forced to keep quiet to survive. The system is self-protecting in this way and this is how it has gotten away with murder all these years.
Fascism
December 12, 2015 at 5:30 am
“Robert Paxton says that fascism is “a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.”
results?
December 12, 2015 at 5:42 am
If Metro’s budget is half a million a year and they have been in “business” since 1988, why are there any drugs in Lafayette County?
Taxed drugs
December 12, 2015 at 5:50 am
Let’s not forget the drug dealing doctor walking free with a slap on the wrist. Was he the same one selling Searn Lynch, head of Metro, 900 pain pills? Oh yeah, Lynch is walking free also.
popcorn junkie!
December 12, 2015 at 6:31 am
What time do the Puritans burn witches on the Square?
1984
December 12, 2015 at 6:38 am
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell
1984
December 12, 2015 at 6:38 am
“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.” – George Orwell
Animal Farm
December 12, 2015 at 6:41 am
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” – George Orwell
1984
December 12, 2015 at 6:42 am
“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” – George Orwell
1984
December 12, 2015 at 6:43 am
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.” – George Orwell
forked tongues
December 12, 2015 at 6:44 am
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ” – George Orwell
1984
December 12, 2015 at 6:45 am
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” – George Orwell
Power
December 12, 2015 at 6:47 am
“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.” – George Orwell
Bob Dylan
December 12, 2015 at 8:49 am
“If something’s not right, it’s wrong.”
Anonymous
December 12, 2015 at 11:46 am
The Mayor and Aldermen (especially Tanneyhill) have the opportunity to do the right thing and clean house at the OPD and Metro but they will take “the ostrich approach” and bury their heads in the dirt until this blows over and it will be back to business as usual!
Anonymous
December 12, 2015 at 11:47 am
Orders where metro took money to no adjudicate cases. Money was paid directly to metro, not the county as the city lied at their press conference IMG_0155.JPG
pay on your way out
December 12, 2015 at 12:32 pm
The largest check was for $50,000.00 to get a student out of an LSD charge. There were over 40 other buy outs. These are documented.
David Doggett
December 12, 2015 at 6:18 pm
This twisted sickness has been going on all over Mis’sippi since the ’50s. The drug war destroys more lives than the drugs, and causes widespread disrespect for law enforcement. Nixon and Hoover promoted the drug war to harass young progressives and minorities.
Anonymous
December 13, 2015 at 1:16 am
Why is it Keith Davis was forced to resign, well moved over to the Sheriff’s Department, and no action was taken against the man in charge Chief East? Do you really think he didn’t know what practices were in place? He use to run Metro Narcotics, so he was well aware of procedures. Why did it take exposure for procedures to be reviewed? Where is the integrity?
Lowdown
December 15, 2015 at 1:58 am
http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/the-confidential-informant-game-turns-out-its-not-a-game/5296
Bad Press
December 15, 2015 at 2:00 am
In case you weren’t keeping score, one guy working for the police dropped off some drugs for another guy working for the police to pick up. The guy in the middle gets arrested for drugs the police had control of on both sides of the transaction. Now he goes to work for the police. At this rate, Ole Miss is going to be full of undercover police agents running around selling each other drugs supplied by the police. That isn’t fighting crime. They don’t get credit for stopping crime they started.
The police are bullying college kids into doing their jobs with the threats of outrageous prison sentences and felony charges that could significantly impact their futures. All to make law enforcement’s job easier.”
overly zealous
December 15, 2015 at 7:55 am
How does one replace a Jihadist DA?
worried Mother
December 15, 2015 at 10:53 am
Dear Ole Miss,
We have a normal 18-year-old daughter fixing to graduate from high school. We both work and used to be considered middle class. We have been saving for our daughter’s college since she was born. We are applying for Pell Grants and she is applying for college loans from the government.
Our little girl is her daddy’s pride and joy and if anybody caused her harm, I do not know what he might do!
We do not have burial insurance on our daughter, nor can we afford to hire a personal body-guard to protect her from governmental agents who might destroy her life and education. We cannot afford high attorney bills or to repay her Pell Grants, court costs, and college loans, etc.
Her father is looking into colleges in Syria and the Middle East where, he thinks she might be safer.
Please advise,
Worried Mom
Ps – Hope this doesn’t sound “extreme”, but everything I read on the handling of the problem, sounds extreme