The White, the Black, the Blue … and His Dog
by Naja and Arnaud Girard……………..
This week Blue Paper reporters stumbled across a very secretive drug interdiction operation in the Florida Keys.
And what we discovered is a trove of information that brings us closer to understanding the issue of racial profiling in the Keys.
The operation was called, “Blue Lightening Strike Force.”
It took place on March 19, 2015 on US 1 just outside of Key West.
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This is shocking. We as a society, especially we the non-blacks, should be ashamed that we let our tax dollars fund such outright disgusting discrimination. They let a white guy with a stolen gun and criminal record go, with no dog search, but spend 22 minutes with a black man with no criminal record and an INCORRECTLY TINTED WINDOW (???!!!) including repeated searches by the drug dog?? Another black man stopped and dog-searched for not having hsi seat belt on???
I weep to be a part of this.
I am with you, Rick! Thanks to The Blue Paper for exposing this sickness. Institutionalized racism is real and alive and well in our American culture and to deny it and continue to deny it is patently absurd. American fair play, equality and exceptionalism are bunk.
The people who were guilty of DWB (driving while black) in this story should file a complaint with the FBI .
The FBI will then audit the police to see the race ratios of the arrest.
The police also engage in gender discrimination too.Police are far more likely to let a woman go off with warning than a man.Perhaps a story for another time.
This is a story about black man who is a retired police officer.He will explain the secret police policies hidden from public knowledge http://www.vox.com/2015/5/28/8661977/race-police-officer
That is Pulitzer great. The Blue Paper is extraordinary, thank you for the objective field research in service of justice. Mdkhuggins
Mdk! When will we read your next contribution?Very much miss your “truth-to-power” column!
I wonder when “blue lightning” will go after the drug trafficking in Duval Street sin businesses? About a year and a half ago, a woman who told me she stripped in various Duval Street clubs, names withheld her to protect her, and young KW cops, off duty, providing security in those clubs, were trafficking drugs. I had no reason not to believe her, it was a chance meeting, she didn’t know me, she was sitting at a bus stop on Stock Island, I was driving up to Marathon, stopped and offered her a ride, I offered lots of people rides who were sitting at bus stops on US 1, and she got into my car and started talking about her life, and I knew it was no chance meeting, not a chance of that. As for racial profiling in local drug enforcement cases, Chief Assistant Public Defender Trish Gibson stated during a public meeting some weeks back that her drug caseload was Bahama Village, crack cocaine, no Duval Street cases, where white powder (cocaine) is trafficked. Local law enforcement went a bit outraged. I wonder, can cocaine arrests and the race of the arresttee be obtained from local law enforcement agencies?
I’m sure local law enforcement will deny this is happening but that is what all police departments do. Hell, they’re perfect. When was the last time that cops after an internal investigation determined that they were in the wrong? It’s never happened. Until police departments, prosecutors and state attorneys get their shit together and stop the the thuggery, cops will continue to get shot for no reason. You can only push people so far before they resist and lash out. We have reached that point and cops, prosecutors and state attorneys all have blood on their hands.
Naja & Arnaud,
Another investigative analysis based upon research and evidence secured via your hard work that uncovers some solid data, which departs from the stated goal and objective of ‘operation blue lightening strike force’.
Why wasn’t the operational protocol adhered to? Are there rogue field supervisors and officers that are insubordinate? Do they feel comfortable disobeying direct orders; as they departed from the explicitly set forth operational guidelines of ‘blue lightening strike force’?
Why would any officer of the law ever feel sure, certain and assured; when violating a direct order?
Do some police officers have a tendency to make up the rules as they go along?
Why bother having supervisory/management positions that create operational plans, when most of the officers assigned to carry out said missions discard their stated responsibilities and do their own thing?
I commanded a cadre of heavily armed and hardened United States Marines. They were issued orders directing the how, why, where and when (guidelines) of hundreds of combat operations. Under the harshest of circumstances, they adhered to the details and requirements of all operations. The penalty for disobedience was harsh and swift. There weren’t any loose cannons winging it on their own.
Should we not expect the same reliable and credible service from our law-enforcement officers?
I am uncertain as to the composition of the ‘task force’. Mistakes are sometimes made. However, in combat mistakes kill people. I would think the same holds true for law-enforcement. The police officers that I’ve come to know are courageous, credible, honest and compassionate. They leave no doubt as to their commitment to protect and serve.
However, an ‘operation’ is not worth the paper or screen it appears on, if it is not followed in its entirety. Perhaps this plan was unnecessary from the get go. Cognizant of this fact, the officers may not have seriously subscribed to the stringent policies incorporated in said operation.
Sloppy work and operations at any level, create bad habits and tendencies that will ferment into flaws and shortcomings that can lead one down a dark road. Our community, society and nation doesn’t need anymore of that nonsense.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fbi-says-racist-organizations-have-been-infiltrating-police-departments-for-years/5452512
According to this article, the FBI has been keeping tabs on the number of white supremacist members infiltrating law enforcement. The article states, “Between the years of 2008 to 2014, that number of documented infiltrators rose from just shy of 150, to one thousand. Even worse is the fact that most of them were never fired after their hate group affiliation was discovered.”
Nice of the FBI to notice and interesting how the increase coincides with the first US black presidency. Poor Obama…somehow he can figure out how to drone kill sheep herders on the other side of the globe but he can’t figure out how to keep his own black folk from being unfairly targeted in his own backyard.
Maybe it’s time to demand full disclosure of any and all group affiliations from your elected and hired officials. Maybe go so far to insist that it be a part of police contract that they not be affiliated with ANY group.
Sister… I am somewhat surprised by your retort. I thought surely you would see through the propaganda. While there is no dispute that the law enforcement ranks are populated with vile racist murdering sycophantic vermin, they are not the cause, nor are they the reason, that law enforcement is a cultist, gang like, criminal enterprise. The purpose of police is, and has always been, to facilitate social control. They have never been tasked with the “protect and serve” mantra that we all have been conditioned to accept, unless you are of the property class; in other words, our “owners.” As Mr. Symington correctly points out, this is institutionalized. The behavior of police is a deliberate construct by the state. The brutality they inflict on innocent people of all colors, the indiscriminate murder, property confiscation, et al., is all state sanctioned and deliberately prosecuted. How anyone can argue or doubt this given the indemnity that police are give for any and all behavior by the courts is beyond me.
The article you cite, while interesting, is to me, just a feeble attempt at misdirecting the cause and effect of police behavior. If it were just a matter of some white-cracker-banjo-strumming-toothless-cousin-counting-sister-loving-rednecks infiltrating an honorable, professional organization, it would be easily and quickly resolved. The Gary Lee Lovette’s of the world would be quickly dispatched to find their one true Bubba in prison.
sadly, that is not the case.
I totally agree with you Keysbum.
What I was attempting to point out, unsuccessfully it appears, is that even if there is documented racism in the police force, it is there only because that is what our “owners” want in place.
This hollow article goes on about how the FBI has been documenting the racism for decades yet they do nothing to stop it and neither does the black POTUS or the black AG. It is clearly wanted or at least the perception of racism is wanted. Gives people something to grumble about while they rob us all blind.
I do believe that there are “secret” societies and memberships that have great influence on the inner workings of our “civilizations”. If these affiliations could be discovered and opposed at the local level of elected and hired officials, perhaps it could benefit a small community like Key West.
Perhaps if the people start opposing and not electing people on either party, meaning a Democrat or Republican, that political power will be eliminated. It would take a new party decades to organize to a powerful level and perhaps they just might care more for the people than the power.