Letter to the Editor

I just submitted the following letter to the editor of the Birmingham News is response to Nearly 300 arrested in statewide drug sweep

Dear Editor,

In response to "Nearly 300 arrested in statewide drug sweep" (03/07) I found a number of things very disturbing.

In January Sgt. Jim Henderson VP of the Alabama Narcotics Officers Assoc. protested the federal government cuts to his budget on this editorial page claiming the cuts would make drug task forces ineffective. When have they ever been effective? Every year the number of drug arrests and the amount of drugs seized rises. If the tactics employed by Sgt. Henderson and other drug warriors were working, then shouldn't those numbers be going down?

This article seemed to imply that execution of warrants was delayed in order to create a big media scene, even though the cops knew there were children living in meth labs. I guess the safety and well-being of the kids is only important when they can be held for ransom in exchange for a government welfare check. Doesn't sound to me like they did this in the interest of public safety.

Drug task forces are equivalent to people who abuse the welfare system. Instead of doing real police work on serious crimes like murder, rape, child sex assault, robbery and vehicle theft they focus on rounding up low-level, non-violent drug users because it's easy. And they get a government welfare check for doing so.

The Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center reports that crime clearance rates for 2005 were 19%. The drug warrior welfare cuts should be looked upon as a good thing. Perhaps now police will get to work on solving real crimes.

Respectfully Submitted for publication,
Loretta Nall



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