We Should All Fear And Despise This

I'll start with direct quotes from the story, with light edits:

They've caught him and handcuffed him. He is brought into the house and placed in a chair, his hands cuffed behind his back.

He is already moaning.

Webber is heard first, telling [the detainee] his "dope dealing's over." Franklin chimes in, telling [the detainee] the lawmen are shutting down hi[m down]. Monday speaks next.

"It's (expletive) over, son," Monday says.

The beating begins then.

There is no way to tell from the transcript how long the first assault lasts. At some point, Franklin instructs Carroll to hold off.

"Wait a minute, Will, before you start," Franklin says.

"10-4," Carroll responds.

Franklin then speaks to [the detainee], saying, "I tell you what we're gonna do. Let me tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna put them handcuffs in front of ya. Cut you a little slack. But if don't start operating (sic), we're gonna put the (expletive) behind your back, and I'm gonna take this slapjack, and I'm gonna start working that head over, you understand?"

..."You're not (expletive) listening," Webber says. "You hear what I told you? I told you not to be talking. ? This (expletive) right here, he loves seeing blood. He loves it. He loves seeing blood. You're talking too much. ? He loves (expletive) seeing blood. He'll beat your ass and lick it off of you."

Franklin orders another officer to remove [the detainee]'s handcuffs so he can sign. [The detainee], who cannot read or write, asks one of them to read it to him.

Monday refuses.

"Just sign it," Monday orders Siler.

[The detainee] refuses.

"Git (sic) up," Monday responds. "Git (sic) up. I said get the (expletive) up."

Beating sounds follow.

"Now git (sic) up, (expletive) it," Monday says.

[The detainee] responds, "Oh, alright."

"No, git (sic) the (expletive) up," Monday says again.

"Let me ask David (Webber) something first," [the detainee] pleads.

"Look, you sign this (expletive) or I'm gonna hit you again," Monday says. "One. Two."

Slaps and blows are again documented on the transcript, with Monday continuing to order [the detainee] to sign.

By now, [the detainee] is crying.

Threats come next. The lawmen tell [the detainee] they will jail his wife and have his children taken away from him. The transcript details more beating sounds, more moaning from [the detainee], who repeatedly asks to talk to Webber.

"You ain't talking to nobody," Green responds. "You're gonna sign this (expletive) paper."

[The detainee] screams. More blows are heard. The lawmen continue to order [the detainee] to sign. He responds with moans and more screams. But there would be no reprieve.

"...It's just beginning, buddy," Webber says.

[The detainee] is going to die, the officers tell him.

"I want to help you," [the detainee] says.

Webber responds, "No, I don't want your help. I want you to sign that form 'cause you're the one we want and we got 'cha (sic), and if you don't sign it, you probably won't walk out of here."

Think you're reading something from Abu Ghraib? Another Iraqi dentention center? Rogue soldiers near Fallujah? Maybe Guantanamo Bay?

Nope. Try Campbell County, Tennessee.

These are local law enforcement officers -- cops -- beating and torturing a drug suspect in his own home. Now the suspect, Eugene Siler, is no good guy. He's got a long clear record of drug dealing. If the cops treat someone at his level like this, how do you think they treat the big-time, important cases? Anyone who will gladly fudge the small stuff, the stuff that "doesn't matter," will unquestionably do whatever it takes when the stakes are high, when his ass is on the line. That goes for cops, judges, politicians and news reporters. Anyone.

Part of the problem is that cops were given seizure rights and forfeiture control. When they bust you with money, or anything they can identify as being vaguely connected to the "crime" in question, it's seized and becomes, without due process, theirs. Trying to get it back is when due process kicks in and you'll often spend as much in time and aggravation as what they've seized, just trying to prove your innocence or lack of connection. It'll certainly take a long, long time to get it back, if you ever do. The cops keep the money they seize, and will sell off the rest and keep the profits; but not always. Sometimes, valuable items will just disappear into the private hands of police and their friends.

I used to work in a drug treatment center. I'd hear stories about police treatment and seizure. I'd also hear stories about the top-level command under former Sherrif AC Gilless, and their little retirement community around a certain lake in Arkansas.

The money equation needs to be altered. Take out the huge, undocumented profits and the most of the problem of police abuse melts away. "Illegal" drugs need to be legalised and medicalised. Make it a doctor / pharmacy relationship; or like methadone treatment. The "drug problem" needs to stop being a crime problem; it's a public health problem.

At one time, Memphis Mayor Herenton talked about converting a local, closed, medical facility into an overnight holding center. Public drunks and those arrested for simple possession or use (ie, no crimes of property or assault attached) would be diverted from the jail to this facility. They'd be held overnight and then screened. Some would be given an option: immediate referral to a treatment facility or being sent to court. The upside is that it treats drugs as a social and medical problem. A lot of folks who don't need to clog up the jails get diverted to the help they need. Not all of the referrals will straighten up, but more than a few will. Attach some form of community service to this as punishment instead of jail time. Everyone benefits.

Of course, as with so many Herenton ideas it just disappeared, abandoned like a lot of his proposals. There was no money to be made by certain banks, developers and businessmen; nor public money to fund it. That's a shame as I think he was onto something. It needs reviving.