Flutterby™! : Frat boys busted 2008-05-07 14:54:04.63932+00

Frat boys busted

2008-05-07 14:54:04.63932+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

Six San Diego State University fraternities have been suspended following a monster drug bust. When I first saw this I thought "Fraternities dealing cocaine? Who knew?",

A member of Theta Chi sent out a mass text message to his "faithful customers" stating that he and his "associates" would be unable to sell cocaine while they were in Las Vegas for a fraternity formal, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The text promoted a cocaine "sale" and listed the reduced prices on bulk quantities.

but it was Tom who pointed out the kicker:

Those arrested included a student who was about to receive a criminal justice degree and another who was to receive a master's degree in homeland security.

Uh. Yeah. I've been thinking about the GPS vs Radar thread, and how we could work to change my impression that a teenager accused of speeding and a random police officer are roughly equally credible witnesses, and I'm surprised by two contradictory things: First, that only two of those busted were looking towards law enforcement, and second, that they hadn't made the contacts to get off.

I'm reminded of a friend whose offspring was busted at a party at college, and was offered a free ride if said offspring would become an active informant. Clearly these guys had outlived their usefulness.

Choices of adult occupation are often made on the basis of controlling or repairing a real or perceived defect of character. An example would be those who enter a celibate priesthood because they have problems with restraining their sexuality -- straight or gay. A number of people I knew who ended up in social work would have been far better off being acquainted with the other side of the desk. Because there are a few chemists on board here, I would point out that many males who end up in the field have a preoccupation with stink bombs and minor explosives in their childhood. Forgive me for the sexism, but for women it was more often a fascination with color and/or toxicology. Counterexamples are more than welcome.

Recalling the acquaintances of my youth who later ended up in law enforcement, I had often thought many would go the other way. To be hired, they had to have been really good liars for the moral/legal investigation, knowing that many had been significant, not just experimental drug users. In addition to having committed a variety of other violations, misdemeanors or felonies. One must also include those of the paranoid projection persuasion, as well as the sadomoralists.

Those individuals who enter law enforcement for other reasons face having their humanity being abraded by dealing with the good people at their worst, and also the worst of the species or at least those who are not protected by power or money. All too many end up with beliefs like those of the minister in the punchline of the old "Are all odd numbers are prime" joke. He responded "One is prime, they are all prime."

#Comment Re: made: 2008-05-07 20:24:26.428898+00 by: ziffle [edit history]

When I was around 14 I watched a guy from the next neighborhood over get upset because his lawn mower would not start and started smashing it with a large hammer. Of course he went on to a successful career in Law Enforcement. True Story.

I've worked with many cops in my life, most of them are the finest people I've ever known, a very small handful were scummy people, no worse than the salesman I have to deal with for work. If there are thousands of kids in college right now working on criminal justice degrees and only two busted for selling drugs, although being less than 1 percent of that group, who do you think makes the news?

I was a cop for 10 years. I haven't committed any crimes, I've never let someone off that was a friend, connected, or a fellow policeman. I've never had an anger problem, I've never cheated on my wife, I've never done drugs... I'm sure those statements really surprise some of our readers here though.

I wouldn't be so quick to generalize large groups of people because of the actions of a few.

My experiences largely mesh with yours, and I think that a large part of the problem is that we ask for the wrong role from police. We need something more along the line of fireman, where the goal turns from punishment to assistance.

Maybe the Brits have it right in arming less of their constabulary. I sure think that the tools we offer people have a big impact on how they go about problem solving, give people SWAT teams and no-knock warrants and you're going to end up with some of the disasters we've got.

And, of course, silly laws result in silly enforcement of those laws, and that starts at the legislative level.