Shooting Fish in a Barrel
Today's Seattle Times has the story of over a dozen arrests at Federal Way high schools after a four-month long undercover police operation. Two officers, a 29-year-old and a 33-year-old, posed as students at three different high schools, and have accused 14 individuals (11 juveniles and 3 adults) of breaking various laws. All of the accused were allegedly selling drugs, while two of the adults are also accused of selling firearms. None of the firearm sales were on school property.
It's important to recognize one thing here. An undercover operation like this is fairly easy. You can send undercover police officers into just about any high school in the United States and arrest those who know how to find drugs. Federal Way Police Chief Brian Wilson says, "Our schools and community are safer today as a result of our investigation." He's free to believe that, but he's not right.
Even in a system where the more benign currently illegal drugs are properly regulated and available for purchase, I think the penalties for selling drugs to minors should still be harsh. But the current system we have makes it way too easy for young people to get their hands on drugs like marijuana and ecstasy. When a young person tries to obtain alcohol, they can't get it legally. They have to rely on others. But when a young person tries to obtain marijuana or ecstasy, the supply chain is readily available and no ID is ever checked. It becomes much more difficult to hold anyone accountable for these drugs ending up in the hands of minors.
Despite what Chief Wilson and Superintendent Tom Murphy may have convinced themselves, drugs are still being sold inside Federal Way's high schools (and in every other high school in the region). There's no way that these two officers infiltrated every circle of friends in these high schools. I'm not saying this to raise suspicion, I'm just pointing out the futility of thinking that this is the best way to keep our kids from doing drugs - by having adults pretend to be teenagers who want to buy drugs from them.
As for the undercover operation itself, I worry about how it was carried out. From the Times article:
Beyond that, many operations like this are directed at a particular minority community where there's a preception of greater criminal behavior. Not knowing the details here, I have no idea whether or not it was the case, but it's a question that needs to be asked. Arresting kids like this in a high school is like shooting fish in a barrel, and it just comes down to who gets targeted. I doubt that Superintendent Murphy will face any consequences for this decision, even if some of the worst case scenarios about how it was conducted turn out to be true. But I certainly wouldn't want to be sending my kids to a school where officials don't see any problem with operations like this one.
It's important to recognize one thing here. An undercover operation like this is fairly easy. You can send undercover police officers into just about any high school in the United States and arrest those who know how to find drugs. Federal Way Police Chief Brian Wilson says, "Our schools and community are safer today as a result of our investigation." He's free to believe that, but he's not right.
Even in a system where the more benign currently illegal drugs are properly regulated and available for purchase, I think the penalties for selling drugs to minors should still be harsh. But the current system we have makes it way too easy for young people to get their hands on drugs like marijuana and ecstasy. When a young person tries to obtain alcohol, they can't get it legally. They have to rely on others. But when a young person tries to obtain marijuana or ecstasy, the supply chain is readily available and no ID is ever checked. It becomes much more difficult to hold anyone accountable for these drugs ending up in the hands of minors.
Despite what Chief Wilson and Superintendent Tom Murphy may have convinced themselves, drugs are still being sold inside Federal Way's high schools (and in every other high school in the region). There's no way that these two officers infiltrated every circle of friends in these high schools. I'm not saying this to raise suspicion, I'm just pointing out the futility of thinking that this is the best way to keep our kids from doing drugs - by having adults pretend to be teenagers who want to buy drugs from them.
As for the undercover operation itself, I worry about how it was carried out. From the Times article:
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the case is the number of willing suppliers the undercover agents found in Federal Way schools, and the ease with which they found them. Charging papers filed in the case describe in detail the casual nature of many of the transactions.According to the note from Superintendent Murphy, Joe has now been expelled. Why was he targeted in the first place? Did other students tell the undercover officers that he was someone who sold drugs? Did he fit a particular profile? Or was he just the first person the undercover cop met who could find a $5 bag of weed? Not knowing anything about the details here, we have no idea if anything was accomplished or if a young man's life was just seriously derailed for nothing. The problem with many of these operations is that it allows for both selective enforcement and entrapment. In any high school, an undercover cop can easily befriend a person, play upon their insecurities, and get them to commit a crime out of loyalty or a need for attention. When an undercover officer is a woman (as was the case here), this becomes even easier.
One marijuana supplier named Joe made his first sale to an undercover officer during a third-period class at Federal Way High School in February.
"Joe told me to sit by him," the officer recounted in court papers. "Joe pulled out suspected marijuana from his pants pocket and in the middle of class and while the teacher was instructing took out $5 worth of marijuana to sell me. ... Joe did this behind his baseball hat in a poor attempt to conceal the transaction from the teacher."
Beyond that, many operations like this are directed at a particular minority community where there's a preception of greater criminal behavior. Not knowing the details here, I have no idea whether or not it was the case, but it's a question that needs to be asked. Arresting kids like this in a high school is like shooting fish in a barrel, and it just comes down to who gets targeted. I doubt that Superintendent Murphy will face any consequences for this decision, even if some of the worst case scenarios about how it was conducted turn out to be true. But I certainly wouldn't want to be sending my kids to a school where officials don't see any problem with operations like this one.
posted by thehim at 5:38 PM
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