02/11/03  Crime & Punishment?  Or Crime & Politics?

     Not long ago, we were all being amazed by the outgoing Illinois Gov Ryan's assertions that despite our self-proclaimed best judicial system in the world, innocent people were being sent to death row. If an innocent citizen can be tried and found guilty of a capital crime, with the honest DAs, judges, and other safe guards, can you imagine the chaos that exists below the radar?

     A week ago Friday, the Dallas Morning News reported that two Dallas detectives, Senior Cpl Mark Delapaz and officer Eddie Herrerra, ran a scam on the city that worked like this: 

  First, they ground sheet rock up giving it the appearance of cocaine; then hired someone to pose as an informer; 

  Next, they planted the pseudo-cocaine on a patsy (illegal aliens were the easiest);

  Then, they arrested him as a drug pusher. 

They'd perform a field test on the "drugs" which, surprise, surprise, would "test" positive. In the paperwork, they credited their "informer" for the tip, entitling him to a tidy reward, which they'd later divvy up. 

This scam cost the rich Dallas taxpayers $200,000 in rewards, not counting court & prison costs. Pretty nifty, huh? Except, after the scandal broke, 85 cases were dismissed or prisoners released, assuming they could afford a lawyer to get their case re-heard.

Actually, this is old news. This cop scandal was reported in RichsRants originally when it hit the papers back in 2001. (Hope you saved your old issues.)  

Last year the feds took the case over, presumably to ensure justice and so the city would not have to prosecute its own or be accused of covering up the crime(s)---at least that's what they led US to believe. Now it appears, the opposite is true. The perps have neither been allowed to do their duty as police officers nor have they seen the inside of the jail house---but they're still receiving their full salaries, courtesy of the ever-generous Dallas tax payer. (Anybody have Mayor Laura Miller's hot line number?)  Sorta like an extended paid vacation.

But the scandal didn't find it's way back above the fold because they still had their hand in our back pocket. Oh, no.  After nearly 2 years of investigating, the News found out that the 2 thieving cops also worked with the feds on at least 28 separate occasions, going back to 4/1/01.   (That's right, April Fools' Day.) 

How many more innocent men are languishing behind federal bars, if any, is a well kept secret. Nor have any "rewards" paid from our federal "voluntary contributions", been made public.

Maybe the feds don't want to be embarrassed for their role in false arrests & convictions or subsequent cover ups because of these 2 local yokels. There's not one mention in the paper about false imprisonment or misconduct under the color of law. On the other hand, it could be that the feds think of them as 2 of their own, like Lon Horiuchi >http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Slick_Archive/message/12

Now I doubt any of this surprises the savvy subscribers to this list, but the points are: neither Party, Republican nor Democratic, cares how much of our money they spend as much as we do, as long as they keep their jobs.  If they'll ignore perps who stole $200 grand from the city while paying them another $200 grand in unearned wages; and they're not willing to assist innocent people unjustly deprived of their freedom, you and I'd be insane to depend on them to do the right thing, much less vote for them.