In working with the Narcotics team, there are many practices that and strategies that prove to be successful in the arrest of drug dealers. A confession is the most trusted piece of evidence a prosecutor can present (Meissner, Redich, Bhatt, & Brandon, 2012). While trying to get an informant to confess, the officers try to get the informant to build up a series of false explanations, and the more the person lies, the more he has to remember. A confession also explains inconsistences in evidence. One of the most successful tactics is the use of interrogation (Meissner et al., 2012). The undisclosed deal involves different types of practices depending on the officer and the informant. There are several different interrogation tactics used
After reading the case study summary it can be seen that there are many problems with the investigation of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. This section focuses on how jailhouse informants were used in unethical way to get a conviction. Jailhouse informants were one of the main reasons as to why Ron and Dennis were convicted. Giannelli (2007) states, in his article that jailhouse informants should be removed from the courtroom due to their unreliability. There are many causes as to why jailhouse informants should be removed from testifying. The first, is credibility of the informant, as seen during the testimony jailhouse informant’s testimonies were fabricated. The key witness Terri Holland was going to face her third felony when she supposedly heard Ron Williamson confess of the crime. However, this testimony should have been challenged by the defense because she did not
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) raided Dr. Murray’s practices, home and personal technical devices looking for evidence that tied him to the killing of Jackson. With a search warrant the DEA specifically were looking for the medical records of Jackson. In doing that, they found out Dr. Murray owed more than 780,000 dollars from other clients that he previously treated. In addition to that, they discovered he also unpaid payments on his mortgage, child support and credit card. In the court of law juries might believe Murray’s motive for being Jackson’s personal physician was to eventually get rid of his debt. The DEA also found eight hundred and three dollars were spent on drugs by Murray in Las Vegas, which was later shipped to Los Angeles
In 2009, news broke announcing the indictment of five Camden, New Jersey Drug Task Force police officers that operated in South Camden, New Jersey’s deteriorated neighborhoods. Specifically, the officers were alleged to have stolen money and drugs from dealers and used the funds and drugs to pay informants and plant evidence to stiffen charges against suspects. Moreover, these officers falsified police reports, paid for false witness testimony and used some of the stolen cash for personal use. South Camden, NJ has been struggling with criminal activity for years. Consequently, hardworking citizens and police officers entangled in the community have failed to rid the drug problem that has evolved and produced other nondrug-related crime. Community policing has been in effect for several years in this rundown city and police continue to struggle with disappointment. Of the five officers indicted three pled guilty, one was convicted, and the fifth acquitted of all charges (Newall, 2010).
In 2009, news broke that five Camden New Jersey Drug Task Force police officers operating in South Camden, NJ were indicted on police corruption. Specifically, the officers were alleged to have stolen money and drugs from dealers and used the funds and drugs to pay informants and plant evidence to stiffen charges against suspects. Moreover, these officers falsified police reports, paid for false witness testimony and used some of the stolen cash for personal use. South Camden, NJ has been struggling with crime for years. Consequently, hardworking citizens and police officers entangled in the community have failed to rid the drug problem that has evolved and produced other no drug related crime. Community policing has been in effect for several years in this rundown city and police continue to struggle with disappointment. Of the five officers indicted three pled guilty, one was convicted and the last was acquitted of all charges (Newall, 2010).
Renegotiation of reality occurs when, by virtue of the institutionalized process of police interrogations, the suspect perceives that his initial reality holds no value to the interrogator or to the outcome of the interrogation, when he lacks agency to defend his reality, and when there is no other option. In this paper, I will illustrate how each of these factors facilitates false confessions and will use the Norfolk Four case as my vehicle for exploration and analysis.
On May 23rd, 2017 at approximately 8:02am I Officer J. Quiles #1869 assisted in serving a, narcotics search warrant at 807 Cedar Cove.
In some of the high pressure situations the Narcotics team was involved with, the suspects opened up mostly to the ones that showed compassion, with the assumption that the presumably nice person would hopefully protect them. The goal of the team was to get the suspect to be cooperative. Homeland Security told the suspects that if they had nothing to hide, they did not need protection, and many of the suspects took the bait. They tried to obtain and secure information, ask questions, and have a purposeful conversation. The interrogator must have a basic knowledge of human personality and psychology in order to persuade effectively, for it depends on the person being questioned (Meissner et al., 2012). On several occasions, the Homeland
Last night, I attended a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. This was not quite a new experience for me, be my late father was an alcoholic and narcotics addict that died of cirrhosis later on in my life this is why I identified myself with them. Narcotics Anonymous is a fraternity or association where there a recuperating addicts and their main purpose is stay clean. Consequently, the member of this fraternity were well-groomed, yesterday was ice cream sticks day where they had a keyword written on a little piece of paper, such as “perseverance”. Anyone can be a narcotics or alcohol user.
Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is a prescription medication that is used for opioid overdoses. This medication reverses the lethal effects of opioid drugs however, only reverses it for two to three minutes because opioid effects are so strong, therefore, Narcan usually has to be used multiple times while trying to resuscitate the patient who has overdosed. Although Narcan will reverse the effects of the overdose, the patient must be taken to the hospital immediately to do further medical treatment depending on the severity of the overdose.
There are those who would argue that undercover policing is unethical, however it is a central part of intelligence led policing. Undercover policing, sometimes referred to as covert policing is where officers go undercover, often as criminals in order to gain intel, evidence, get convictions and make arrest. However many would argue that this practice is unethical because it requires police officers to lie and engage in criminal activity. This paper will not take a stance on whether or not the practice of covert policing is ethical, but will instead examine the arguments and problems surrounding undercover policing. Which include; unchecked power, the use of deceit, authorized criminality, infringement of privacy rights, psychological stress placed on officers and its overall effectiveness.
Many of today’s interrogation models being utilized in police investigations have an impact on false confessions. The model that has been in the public eye recently is the social psychological process model of interrogation known as the “The Reid Technique.” There are two alternatives used by the police today to replace the Reid Technique, one is the PEACE Model and the other is Cognitive Interviewing. These methods are not interrogation techniques like Reid but interview processes.
a. The 12 steps and 12 traditions laid a foundation for the early members of NA struggling with addictive substances other than alcohol.
I chose to do my paper on a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. I am quite familiar with this program; I have been clean and sober for nearly eighteen months and attend meetings weekly. Without the support and encouragement from my sponsors I guarantee I would still be where I was nearly two years ago. I prefer to attend closed meetings, because they are generally smaller; and I am able to open up to the group.
What does it take to close a case? Investigators -- engulfed in a slew of incriminating evidence and having secured some extremely reliable witnesses is a substantial amount to put away a prime suspect. What can insure that a case is closed even more quickly is a confession from the suspect. This confession usually takes a certain amount of coercion, on the part of the interrogators, to achieve. Coercion is an interrogation technique that uses intimidation to get suspects to confess to crimes whether or not they are truly guilty of any crime. Some will argue that coercion is a brilliant method with which to incarcerate criminals with. Others will say that it is much more beneficial to conduct a full investigation instead of relying on a
The group that I attended was a Narcotics Anonymous (NA). The meeting was held at the VA, every Monday at 6pm. The meeting was free and open to the public. The meeting lasted for 1 hour. There was a time limit. As we approached the end of the hour the leader announced it and said that if there were any last thoughts before the meeting ended. This gave me the impression that they stick to their time limit.