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DRUGS and the Small TownPosted Monday, January 19, 2009, at 9:09 AM
"What do you mean we have drugs in Brazil?!!! Are you kidding? That isn't true, all that stuff in the paper is just made up so the cops can get more of our money!" stated an angry townsperson at a local club. I was within earshot to hear the conversation whether I wanted too or not. I couldn't help but hear them as the music was loud and this person was in a contest to outdo the jukebox.
So is there a drug "problem" in Brazil or is there is more coverage of those few who decide to make stupid life decisions such as drug addiction, production or sales? Well, being a non-native, I was forced to do some heavy research in the process. Starting from the most obvious such as newspaper archives as far back as was allowed via the local library and then to local law enforcement, attorneys, drug abuse counselor, two inmates (one in a drug program, one that is not), a corrections officer, and all the way up to a local Judge. As you might imagine, this will be a series in order to properly place all the facts found and information provided by each source. While I am doing the enormous task of fact finding to either back or dispute what I am being told, you are welcome to email me with any information or facts you possess on this issue as well. Make sure your facts are straight for I will be quoting you and will not accept any anonymous submissions as fact unless I am given proven links to your information that I can check, recheck and then check again. My goal is to lead you completely through the legal system from investigation to incarceration and then back into society as a whole. I think we can all stand to learn a lot more about where our tax dollars go and how the whole process works from start to finish. I can assure you just from my preliminary interviews that much like myself, you will be very surprised about facts in our own local criminal system that we, as layman, do not realize happen. Please stay tuned and let's learn together. The next time we want to leave comments on a criminal case, we can get to the meat of the issue and ask the questions that REALLY come up (the one's we don't even realize) when a drug offender gets investigated, arrested, detained, sentenced, rehabbed and then released. Does Brazil really need another drug dog? Do our Judges and Prosecutor, Public Defender, Police Officers and Detectives frivolously spend our hard earned tax dollars? I think we will all be surprised at the answer. Stay tuned…. Karen Meister can be contacted at: ksframeofmind@yahoo.com. Comments Showing most recent comments first [Show in chronological order instead] |
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Hey Karen, sounds to me like Cy would be a resource to help you out with your story, sounds like he may have an inside track on law enforcement, that could shorten the time you have to spend getting answers there,
Hey Karen, sounds to me like Cy would be a resource to help you out with your story, sounds like he may have an inside track on law enforcement, that could shorten the time you have to spend getting answers there,
You have selected a daunting task, one that could take up to several hours a day, each day of the year of your time and effort to fully explore, analyze, comprehend and then figure out how to write in a manner that makes it understandable to the masses. Not only will you have to explore the adult side of the legal system, but are going to have to dive into the juvenile system to fully understand what happens to criminals, because drug addiction and the ensuing drug related crimes so terribly begins in the juvenile courts. Then that opens up the family courts and domestic abuse and on and on it goes…the destruction of a person, a family and ultimately a community. I applaud your decision, but worry you will discover, as many before you who attempted to do the same thing, the frustration and loss of determination once you begin to discover how the system "really does work."
May you be blessed with enlightenment and an extra 3 inches of skin for all the personal attacks you are about to encounter from people who don't want to hear the facts or face the reality that truth brings.
Jenny,
That is exactly what I will be doing. I was really surprised to find out the actual cost of even plea bargain cases. It is unbelievable and it does leave one seeing things in a very different light. I am hoping that by doing these blogs, that once completed, we will all be just as informed/educated regarding the system as the Public Officials who have to perform within that system everyday.
As always Jenny, you are a pleasure.
KM.
Karen:
I just added this comment to anohter article in this paper but it would be intersting to learn about the cost of taking someone accused of a crime through the "system" and to see the choices our legal system has to make with regard to cost factor and return on our dollar. I"ll bet some are unaware of just how much crime costs the community.
"I believe that money is a big factor in how cases are handled. Not pointing any fingers here at all but public officials have budgets to work under so they have to decide which cases are going to be the most profitable to go to court with compared to what it's going to cost. Plea bargains might seem unjust to us outsiders as we think someone is getting away with something but the officials are weighing all the costs and looking at their total budget. Costs money for incarceration, court time, law enforcement's time in courtroom, public defender, witnesses, jurors, various clerks and others who record everything and make sure all is done according to procedure so there are no loopholes by which to escape.
I agree that if slap on the wrist is all the consequence received, it is not much of a deterrent but just how much more would it cost the taxpayers to follow through on each one of these cases? Is it really affordable? Sort of a catch 22 situation. We don't have enough for follow through so it allows more to think they will not be punished very much so it may make situation worse??? Just how much are we willing to have our taxes raised to deal with this? How much worse is it going to get? Is there a way we can help deter future crime and not only deal with current crime?
Is anyone looking at the bigger picture?"
Education is a wonderful gift!
To Propria:
I am not,but those who can, will. The full sum of education is best given to one who thirsts for the knowledge of things not understood. I ask that you consider such a prospect in reading the future interviews and information I will be providing on this issue in the near future. There is no controversy here. This is a chance for those who wish to learn about how our system works from the inside out, to do so. Thanks so much for your comment.
KM.
Does Brazil really need another drug dog? Do our Judges and Prosecutor, Public Defender, Police Officers and Detectives frivolously spend our hard earned tax dollars? I think we will all be surprised at the answer.
I'm not trying to start controversy, but what exactly makes you the expert, or even right person so to speak, to answer these questions for us?
I agree that we have to ask why this happened. I also agree that if we make the laws and punishment strict enough, then part of the temptation will go away. The Gov. just cut funding to some of the drug education agencies. Seems to be sending out a bit of a mixed message!
Whether a drug dog, more taxes to hire another law enforcement officer, more jail cells, more cars, more computers. etc etc., my gut feeling is that this is because we have so many under educated citizens in the community. Whether its because a system or a parent failed them or they themselves didn't take ownership of their education really doesn't matter. Yes the more people we have directly fighting this drug and resulting crime battle, the less we will have it going on, but I contend these measures are short term band aids and only by having a long term plan in place to prevent the next generation from falling into a situation where drugs are used as escape or as a source of revenue will we better conquer the problem. While there are some intelligent people addicted to drugs, there seem at least to be many more who look to them as their only choice whether they truly are or not.
Either way it's going to mean the tax payer is going to have to foot the bill. The question is whether we pay a little continuously to control the problem or we throw money at it to help alleviate it? Sort of like patching a fence that has really rusted too much to be of any use. we can keep spending time and money patching and repatching and dealing with the damage done when the cows keep getting out, or we can dig holes and string new fence. The choice is ours.
I for one would rather build a new fence. I used to think that living in the country was so much safer than living in an urban area but I now send my kids out running with pepper spray in their fists in case they come upon a mobile meth lab or mugger. At least running in the city someone would witness a crime. Out among the cornfields who knows what one may come up on, especially with the home invasions that have recently occurred and the one lady who was mugged in her driveway. What's going to happen next? What makes these people so desperate that they dehumanize their fellow man in order to take what is not theirs? Then many readers dehumanize the perpetrators. These are people too. They have made horrendous choices but are still people. I think we have to ask what happened to make so many in our community turn to crime/drugs so while preventing the "disease" going on, we can also work on preventative measures for the future.
Another drug dog would allow that assistance to be available on all shifts, according to a comment on another posting as one officer and one dog can't work every shift and the county is not always available to assist if they're at the opposite end of the county.
I have no proof or facts, but I think another drug dog would be great. Anything we can do to stop this epidemic can only be a plus!
I will be anxious to read your article. I am seeing my neighborhood fall due to the drug problems and am anxious to see what can be done as a community to stop this!
Bless you!