[Peace-discuss] Former Chicago Police Officer Suspended in Colorado

[Neil Parthun]

Saw this on Fark.com and had to send it on:

http://media.www.collegian.com/media/storage/paper864/news/2009/01/20/ 
News/Abuse.Of.Power-3589639.shtml

Choice quotes (of which there are many)

In one classroom lecture in spring 2008, Yarbrough advised his  
students -- including many aspiring police officers -- to provide  
illicit drugs to informants as payment for information.

"We may decide to give the informant 10 of those (crack cocaine)  
rocks. OK," Yarbrough said to his criminal investigations class, for  
which he is additionally compensated as an adjunct instructor.

In the recording, one student sought clarification on the chief's  
advice, saying:

"So if a police officer gives an informant 10 rocks of crack, and  
they end up in the hospital, are they responsible for it at that  
point? … Because I could just say the police gave it to me?"

To the student's question, Yarbrough responded:

"Let me tell you what I would do: You give it to them, but you let  
them know that, hey, if you get caught with this, you know, don't say  
my name. Or if they get sick or something, I never gave them those  
(drugs).

"Didn't I tell you guys that sometimes the police lie? Didn't I tell  
you guys that? If I didn't, there you go."

In another recording, Yarbrough alluded that sometimes police should  
cut corners because "if you want the police to play fair, the police  
can play fair. OK. But watch out when you go out at night, and watch  
your crime rates go up. The police can play fair. Do you really want  
the police to do that?"

In a later lecture, the chief, who was a Chicago policeman prior to  
entering academia, said sometimes excessive and violent force against  
a suspect is a "reality of law enforcement."

"If there's a news conference going on, I can't get in front of a  
crowd and say. 'He got exactly what the f*** he deserved.' You know  
the police should have beat him, you know. I used to beat ass when I  
was in Chicago, too. I can't say that.

"I'd have to say, 'Well, you know we're going to have to look into  
this matter seriously … all of our officers, we like to think that  
they operate with the utmost integrity and ethics … All of that sh**  
sounds good. That sh** sounds real good, but in the back of my mind,  
damn. He got popped. If he would have done it the way we used to do  
it in Chi town (Chicago), man, none of this sh** would have happened."

The lecture that inspired him to gather recordings, Gropp said, was  
one in which he says Yarbrough told the class "women want the dick,  
even when they say 'no.' They want the dick."

Live hard,
      Neil

We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear — fear of  
poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or  
fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for  
bad debts or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp  
on vague charges of being a terrorist sympathizer.
[hunter s. thompson, 1937-2005]

Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil  
obedience...Our problem is that people are obedient all over the  
world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war,  
and cruelty.
[howard zinn, 1922-]

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