Back on June 22, 2009 we asked the simple question "Does Our Department Aggressively Investigate Drug Trafficing". All we did is compare our 2008 wiretap numbers to that of Gwinnett County. We retrieved these numbers from the Federal Courts who keep track of wiretaps. We were accused by some of making up the numbers, bashing our outstanding, even if under staffed Narcotics Unit, and generally causing hate and discontent.
Some became so upset; we thought their heads would literally explode. For the record, we support our Narcotics Detectives 100 percent. They do an outstanding job given their circumstances. We know their job is dangerous. We know Terrell Bolton wasted millions of dollars of seized narcotics money on silly ass buses.
To this day, we will never understand why Narcotics Detective Terry Toles was never given his due. For those of you who are not familiar, Detective Toles was shot during a drug transaction, but it took years of suffering by Terry before he died. Why is he not listed as Killed In The Line of Duty? Just because it took years for him to die........boy are we off topic....
For those of you who demanded numbers, we put our crack investigate folks on it. The numbers you find attached were retrieved from the Georgia Department of Corrections. The numbers are startling. We are not laying blame at the feet of the detectives who are out there humping it day in and day out.
Who do we blame? Vernon Jones? Gwen Fleming? Past departmental administrations?
Be careful, watch your back, watch your partners' backs.
Dopers Serving Time
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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15 comments:
The bottom line is DeKalb D.A. and Judges do not put drug dealers in prison. The D.A.'s office look for the easy plea's and deals to avoid a trial. Does anyone wonder why crime is out of control in DeKalb . If we had a ZERO TOLERANCE , WE WOULD NOT HAVE ALL THIS CRIME.
The judges keep setting low bonds and the jail keeps getting signature bond to rid them of their problems of having to hold subjects for trial.
The bottom line is Dekalb is a safe haven for people to commit crimes. We do not have the room for you in jail and we have so many crimes that Dekalb treats it like a every day event. Every one can be a repeat offender in DeKalb.
If the citizens only knew how many people are arrested over and over for the same crime and received no time for the offense. The police department wants officers to be pro-active and look for the criminals, knowing that its a revolving door. When will it end?
Dekalb Officers, are you trying to piss people off again? The numbers ARE NOT shocking to me. I stated in the last post that I was in Narcotics. There are alot of MOTIVATED Detectives down there that wants to go out and do a good job. They are limited. When I was in Narcotic all you would hear is, "Well when we(supervisors)were down here as detectives we did it like this and it worked. Ok that was like 10 years ago. MAJOR PLAYERS in the game are not as willing to just be selling to any TOM-DICK-and HARRY that comes along. Therefore you have to go about doing things differently.
For the poster who said something about the man winning the Peachtree Road Race in the last post, give me a break. You comparing grapes to grapefruits. Bottom line is those detectives can do a better job but they are getting their hands tied. Now that the numbers have been posted DEKALB OFFICERS people will still call you a LIER. Be prepared for the backlash on this one.
I love drinking the milk out of my cereal bowl after it had cinammon toast crunch in it.
Thank you for proving that our DA's office is dropping the ball when it comes to prosecuting drug dealers. Why is it that DeKalb County leads the state in drug seizures, but is pathetically lacking in prosecution?? Shouldn't the two go hand in hand? PD is doing their job, why aren't the DA's??
This failure isn't limited to drug cases though. Several months ago, I saw a list of everyone to be paroled and released from Georgia prisons in the upcoming month. It was broken down by county. Do you want to guess which county had the most people being released? No, not one of the counties with the highest crime rates. It was Cobb County! DeKalb has a MUCH higher crime rate than Cobb. But Cobb actually sends people to prison! Since we're not sending perps to prison, they don't get released from prison!! Cobb sends more people to prison AND has less crime. Funny how that works, isn't it, Gwen?
I know of a serial thief in DeKalb who had to be transferred from prison (Cobb County sent him there, not us) to face new charges in DeKalb. What kind of harsh sentence did our DA's impose on this repeat offender already serving time in prison? Probation!! You gotta love it! The case was a slam dunk, especially with his history!! But our DA's took the easy way out!
"Here you go, here's your probation, just promise you won't do it again! Ok fine, just try not to do it again? Ok, you got us, we don't care if you do it again, just take the probation please so we can say we won a case!"
Most of your murders are drug related. Most of your armed robbers and burglars have a drug history. If these people were in PRISON for their drug offenses, they wouldn't be out killing and stealing!
This isn't rocket science, Gwen!
You know what might be fun? We could post the names of people the District Attorney's Office repeatedly fails to prosecute. It's all public information on the OJS website. Then maybe someone from the media could pick up that list and confront the District Attorney's Office about it. I'd love to see Gwen explaining why people caught 13 times in stolen cars in the last two years were never prosecuted for anything!
Why should the good, hardworking people all over this county have to live in fear because the District Attorney's Office?
I'm moving to Cobb County. Bad schools, but tough on crime.
Why do we let so many repeat offenders hit the streets again?
Thanks to the blog and officers who comment for enlightening citizens of how our county handles crime.
DeKalb is so broken.
Don't stop trying, my little angels. Keep bringing these issues to the forefront, so that people can really see the need to fulfill their obligation as a CITIZEN of the U.S. by holding their elected officials accountable for this ridiculous, counter-productive, obscene, offensive behavior.
Truly, the only answer you can come up with is that our District Attorney's Office is at fault? Did you consider that there might be other mitigating circumstances?
First of all, take a good long look at the jury pool. DeKalb is a liberal county with a long history of liberal juries. So any attorney who decides to go to trial starts off by gambling on whether or not they are going to be able to assemble a jury that is anything resembling neutral.
Second, detectives, like every other officer in DeKalb County, are overworked. This means that portions of investigations that might be aggressively pursued given unlimited time and resources sometimes fall through the cracks. If the judges decide some key piece of evidence is missing, or a sharp Defense Attorney manages to prey upon the fact that the jury expects real life to mirror television (CSI, etc.) then the case is lost there.
We are on the same team as the District Attorney's Office. They don't want the criminals back on the street any more than the detectives or the officers do. Many of the investigators there are former detectives and officers themselves.
The fact is that we have a frustrating, complicated system in a county full of citizens that are often sympathetic at trial and/or who look at the police as the bad guys. We have Magistrate Judges who are former defense attorneys. We have Superior Court Judges with many and varied strong personalities.
Alienating the people we are working with is not the best solution to putting more drug dealers in jail.
To Anon Eight, I agree with your sentiments! WE are all on the same team and pissing each other off destroys efficient government or law enforcement.
Here are some hints on how to play the system around DeKalb.
Network. Talk to everyone and be respectful to their opinion and thoughts. Most of them have more knowledge of the issues in areas of their expertise. Let them educate you of their issues that affect your common goal, which in this case is putting the fracken' perp in jail.
Find your "go-to guys": Every department has the frack-ups, the mediocres, and the "hard-chargers". Find the hard chargers and do business with them. This puts more work on the "hard-chargers" but they, we have the attitude that if its important its worth doing right and will expend the extra effort to get the job done. This means returning the favor or offering support as needed when you see they need it.
If you have an issue or need services from another department, approach at the lowest level possible. Befriend the lowley but savvy clerk who knows how to work the system to your advantage. I routinely work with A/C's and Majors, but when I want something done fast I go to the MPO or sergeant and they all ways come through. (these are my go-to guys) The less management knows what you are doing, the less they can stop you.
Don't be afraid to ask for help; That's what we are here for.
Keep 'em flying guys!
Agent 99 you speak the truth, the DA's Office alone is not the only problem. The jury pool, certain judges, etc. are also factors in why Dekalb seems to be lenient on the badguys. How do we solve this? I think if there is a problem with an ADA or Judge lets post their info for all to see. Of course that did not stop the public from re-electing an idiot judge last election, but we can try. Also as officers we need to get past the attitude that our job ends at the arrest. It ends AFTER the scumbag is sentenced PERIOD. Anything else is unacceptable. Keep fighting the good fight and DeKalb Blog doing your good work. Shine that spotlight!
From the AJC today : "A drug bust by Gwinnett police in cooperation with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has uncovered more than 2,000 pounds of Mexican-grown marijuana, Gwinnett police said Tuesday".
Another geat job by Gwinett PD !
To the poster claiming DeKalb has made several significant drug seizures recently: We will gladly praise the hard working narcotics detectives. But without verifiable documentation (i.e. Gwinnett County/AJC Article, we will not be able post your comment.
This blog sure was quick to sing the praises of Gwinnett's drug unit a few months ago. Why wasn't this story posted on the front page for all to see??
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/I_Team_Gwinnett_Drug_Task_Force_Flap_082509
Oh, and DeKalb seized more than that $1.2 million Gwinnett got last year! Is that aggressive enough for you?
Great Drug Bust Story!
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/20815728/detail.html
Odd how the Gwinnett Sheriff's Office was a part of this case, but your beloved Gwinnett Police Department was not?
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