Throwaways: Recruited by Police & Thrown Into Danger, Young Informants Are Drug War’s Latest Victims

[Enrique]

Video at link, transcripts coming later

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/2/20/throwaways_recruited_by_police_thrown_into

New Yorker staff writer Sarah Stillman has just been awarded a George Polk Award for her article, "The Throwaways," which investigates law enforcement’s unregulated use of young confidential informants in drug cases. Stillman details how police broker deals with young, untrained informants to perform high-risk operations with few legal protections in exchange for leniency — and sometimes fatal results. Stillman joins us to discuss her eight-month investigation, which has spurred calls for reform in several states. We’re also joined by Margie Weiss, the mother of Rachel Hoffman. After police found drugs in her apartment, Hoffman agreed to assist Florida officers in a major undercover deal involving meeting two convicted felons alone to buy two-and-a-half ounces of cocaine, 1,500 Ecstasy pills, and a semi-automatic handgun. Within days, her body was found shot five times with the gun that the police had sent her to buy. We also speak with Alexandra Natapoff, professor of Law at Loyola Law School and author of "Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice." [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

Based on this article in the New Yorker (reporter is interviewed in the video above):

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/03/120903fa_fact_stillman


Perhaps what put her at ease was the knowledge that nineteen law-enforcement agents were tracking her every move, and that a Drug Enforcement Administration surveillance plane was circling overhead. In any case, Rachel Hoffman, a tall, wide-eyed redhead, was by nature laid-back and trusting. She was not a trained narcotics operative. On her Facebook page you could see her dancing at music festivals with a big, goofy smile, and the faux profile she’d made for her cat (“Favorite music: cat stevens, straycat blues, pussycat dolls”).

(...)

The operation did not go as intended. By the end of the hour, police lost track of her and her car. Late that night, they arrived at her boyfriend’s town house and asked him if Hoffman was inside. They wanted to know if she might have run off with the money. Her boyfriend didn’t know where she was.

“She was with us,” he recalled an officer saying. “Until shit got crazy.”

Two days after Hoffman disappeared, her body was found in Perry, Florida, a small town some fifty miles southeast of Tallahassee, in a ravine overgrown with tangled vines. Draped in an improvised shroud made from her Grateful Dead sweatshirt and an orange-and-purple sleeping bag, Hoffman had been shot five times in the chest and head with the gun that the police had sent her to buy.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/03/120903fa_fact_stillman#ixzz2LSPyelcS

[Gorp]

1. Thanks for the link. I knew someone who got screwed over that way, but she lived.

The cops didn't come through on the deal. The dealer got busted and she still faced her charges (similar - less than an ounce). It didn't result in jail time but she did have to do rehab stuff (ARD is the current term) and was on probation for a half-year or so. At least she didn't get killed.

What pisses me off is that the police didn't stick to their side of the agreement. In reality, it was probably the DA who made the decision, but you shouldn't offer it unless you can back it up. Minor detail, but she was also black in a very white-bread and prejudiced area. They used her. I would like to find her. She was one of my "sisters", in a platonic sense. I've tried, but to no avail.

I knew the guy she took out. He was a real slime ball - heroin, acid, PCP, and any kind of pills. I never like him and never bought anything from him. Pot was his least offensive offense, but I didn't buy that from him either - he laced pot with other things to get kids hooked.

He was back out on the street six months after his conviction. She was scared shitless and rightfully so. She even moved out of town to protect herself. This dude would plug someone over a dollar. I don't know what happened to either of them - I moved out of the area shortly after that - but I'm guessing nothing good. I really hope she's still alive.

The "informant" deal is usually a bad one. The Aaaaaaahnold movie "Eraser" is a good example of that. It's real. Put the witness in the line of fire and hope for the best - yeah, right. If you haven't seen "Eraser", give it a whirl. It's one of his best (and he's had some bad ones).

I've lived through this stuff. There are some really disgusting people out there who don't give a flying fuck about anything but themselves. I've stood up to them on many occasions and I'm amazed that I'm still alive because of that. Generally a weak person will back down to a strong challenger. That's true with dogs too. If you don't show fear, they (almost) always act like, "Hey, Do I know you? You're my friend, right?" I've used that approach for almost 40 years and never failed.

I was asked to rat out a friend. I refused. I got a misdemeanor charge and let it ride. I had a joint in my wallet. They didn't find the four ounces of red-bud in my car's trunk - but they looked. I tucked it into the sheet metal framework in the lid. Fortunately they didn't have drug dogs.

Coming back from Toronto (many years ago), a Golden was sent to check me out because I look like Tommy Chong. It didn't alert. I wasn't carrying. But I WAS being profiled. I'm white and have long hair and a beard and mustache. Yeah, I look like a hippie. But that doesn't mean I'm holding!

I guess my point is that the presentation is accurate. The cops just want to get to the source and don't know how to do so without informants. Cameras are everywhere, but who has time to scour through them for clues? Drugs are the least of our problems. Quotas are a much bigger problem. Those kids were nothing more than cannon fodder for the cops. What's the point?

The so-called "war on drugs" is a waste of time, money, and human life. Just dump it already.

I guess I'm done ranting now, but I'm still upset.