Creativity Required When Reporting Drug Arrests
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 6:40 PM

An investigation is underway of a now-resigned officer from the Pittsburg, California police department. The officer is accused of falsifying reports of drug arrests. In the wake of the scandal, 10 to 15 misdemeanor cases and one or two felony drug cases have been dropped by the District Attorney. The falsification was uncovered because the reports tended to reproduce near identical purported dialogue, along the lines of "I used heroin earlier," and, to the query of where it was injected, "I'd rather not say." The police claim that the arrests themselves were not tainted -- i.e., that those arrested really were under the influence of drugs at the time of arrest.

Maybe if drug users nationally coordinate on precise language to tell the police....

Labels: California, drugs, policing