mrsat_98
04-25-2014, 06:43 AM
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30784/undercover-officer-shot-in-failed-marijuana-bust-at-busy-new-jersey-shopping-center/
GARFIELD, NJ — An attempted undercover marijuana bust ended in gunfire in a busy New Jersey shopping center parking lot on Tuesday, leaving a police officer wounded and two suspects in custody and another hospitalized.
The undercover officer was posing as a prospective customer and was in the driver’s seat of a car with a suspected marijuana dealer in the passenger seat, Bergen County prosecutor John Molinelli said. The car was sitting about 100 yards across the parking lot from a Marshall’s department store when a second man approached the car and demanded that the officer “give him everything,” he said.
The man pointed a gun at the officer, became agitated and shot him twice during a scuffle, Molinelli said.
The officer was struck once in his left side and once in an ankle. He was hospitalized in stable condition.
Narcotics task force members monitoring the staged transaction, for about $400 worth of marijuana, fired several times at the suspected shooter, who was hospitalized with injuries police said were not considered life-threatening. Police said they believe he and the suspected dealer were working together. They were arrested at the scene, where police recovered the suspected shooter’s weapon plus suspected drugs and money, Molinelli said.
A third man, who police said had driven the other two to the scene, fled in a car when the shooting began, Molinelli said. State police arrested him a short time later near a toll plaza on the Garden State Parkway.
Police were withholding the officer’s name due to his undercover status but said he’s a nine-year veteran of the Paramus Police Department and was on loan to a Bergen County narcotics task force.
Molinelli called the incident an “an average street drug buy” and praised the work of the task force officers.
Molinelli said he believes the injured officer had been set up for robbery by the three men. He said the officer was not armed or wearing a bulletproof vest since he was participating in an undercover operation.
“He was wide open,” Molinelli said.
Witnesses reported hearing several shots and said at least one person was bleeding from his head and leg.
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30792/police-shootout-at-new-jersey-strip-mall-just-another-drug-war-failure/
Instead of setting up stings to take sexual predators off the street, we’re targeting low level marijuana users for using and selling a plant that has never killed or raped anyone in recorded history. It is time we put legalization of the possession of marijuana in to the hands of Garden State voters. Pass Assembly Bill 2842 and let the people decide.
This week the Bergen County Narcotics Task Force proved a point. Whats this point? The point is that the drug war has FAILED. Unfortunately a police officer could have died for this point. Bergen County managed to waste tens of thousands of tax-dollars attempting a low level marijuana bust. The Task Force sent an undercover officer “on loan” from the Paramus Police Department to purchase 400 dollars worth of marijuana and he ended up getting shot twice at a busy North Jersey shopping mall.
My question is why? Why are we putting police officers lives in jeopardy over such small amounts of marijuana? 400 Dollars worth of marijuana equates to about one ounce on the street. Why are we spending tens of thousands of dollars to set up a sting, to arrest someone for what essentially amounts to a class C misdemeanor possession of marijuana? Why are we arresting over 22,000 people every year for marijuana? Why are we wasting our time with these low level marijuana busts when there are unsolved murders, rapes and burglaries?
Nationwide, barely more than 1 in 10 burglary cases will be solved according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Doesn’t that seem like a much better use of our limited police resources? What about sex crimes? New Jersey has hundreds if not thousands of backlogged rape kit’s, yet were going after people for some pot? We should be calling for resignations!
Instead of setting up stings to take sexual predators off the street, we’re targeting low level marijuana users for using and selling a plant that has never killed or raped anyone in recorded history.
Prohibition doesn’t work. Alcohol prohibition should have taught us this, with the waves of crime its prohibition caused in the 20s and 30s. It is time we put legalization of the possession of marijuana in to the hands of Garden State voters.
Pass Assembly Bill 2842 and let the people decide. Colorado has lowered crime, solved more of them, created jobs, generated millions in tax revenue, raised its overall quality of life, stop arresting its citizens at an alarming rate, and more importantly allowed the public to begin trusting law enforcement again.
Isn’t it time for New Jersey to follow suit?
GARFIELD, NJ — An attempted undercover marijuana bust ended in gunfire in a busy New Jersey shopping center parking lot on Tuesday, leaving a police officer wounded and two suspects in custody and another hospitalized.
The undercover officer was posing as a prospective customer and was in the driver’s seat of a car with a suspected marijuana dealer in the passenger seat, Bergen County prosecutor John Molinelli said. The car was sitting about 100 yards across the parking lot from a Marshall’s department store when a second man approached the car and demanded that the officer “give him everything,” he said.
The man pointed a gun at the officer, became agitated and shot him twice during a scuffle, Molinelli said.
The officer was struck once in his left side and once in an ankle. He was hospitalized in stable condition.
Narcotics task force members monitoring the staged transaction, for about $400 worth of marijuana, fired several times at the suspected shooter, who was hospitalized with injuries police said were not considered life-threatening. Police said they believe he and the suspected dealer were working together. They were arrested at the scene, where police recovered the suspected shooter’s weapon plus suspected drugs and money, Molinelli said.
A third man, who police said had driven the other two to the scene, fled in a car when the shooting began, Molinelli said. State police arrested him a short time later near a toll plaza on the Garden State Parkway.
Police were withholding the officer’s name due to his undercover status but said he’s a nine-year veteran of the Paramus Police Department and was on loan to a Bergen County narcotics task force.
Molinelli called the incident an “an average street drug buy” and praised the work of the task force officers.
Molinelli said he believes the injured officer had been set up for robbery by the three men. He said the officer was not armed or wearing a bulletproof vest since he was participating in an undercover operation.
“He was wide open,” Molinelli said.
Witnesses reported hearing several shots and said at least one person was bleeding from his head and leg.
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30792/police-shootout-at-new-jersey-strip-mall-just-another-drug-war-failure/
Instead of setting up stings to take sexual predators off the street, we’re targeting low level marijuana users for using and selling a plant that has never killed or raped anyone in recorded history. It is time we put legalization of the possession of marijuana in to the hands of Garden State voters. Pass Assembly Bill 2842 and let the people decide.
This week the Bergen County Narcotics Task Force proved a point. Whats this point? The point is that the drug war has FAILED. Unfortunately a police officer could have died for this point. Bergen County managed to waste tens of thousands of tax-dollars attempting a low level marijuana bust. The Task Force sent an undercover officer “on loan” from the Paramus Police Department to purchase 400 dollars worth of marijuana and he ended up getting shot twice at a busy North Jersey shopping mall.
My question is why? Why are we putting police officers lives in jeopardy over such small amounts of marijuana? 400 Dollars worth of marijuana equates to about one ounce on the street. Why are we spending tens of thousands of dollars to set up a sting, to arrest someone for what essentially amounts to a class C misdemeanor possession of marijuana? Why are we arresting over 22,000 people every year for marijuana? Why are we wasting our time with these low level marijuana busts when there are unsolved murders, rapes and burglaries?
Nationwide, barely more than 1 in 10 burglary cases will be solved according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Doesn’t that seem like a much better use of our limited police resources? What about sex crimes? New Jersey has hundreds if not thousands of backlogged rape kit’s, yet were going after people for some pot? We should be calling for resignations!
Instead of setting up stings to take sexual predators off the street, we’re targeting low level marijuana users for using and selling a plant that has never killed or raped anyone in recorded history.
Prohibition doesn’t work. Alcohol prohibition should have taught us this, with the waves of crime its prohibition caused in the 20s and 30s. It is time we put legalization of the possession of marijuana in to the hands of Garden State voters.
Pass Assembly Bill 2842 and let the people decide. Colorado has lowered crime, solved more of them, created jobs, generated millions in tax revenue, raised its overall quality of life, stop arresting its citizens at an alarming rate, and more importantly allowed the public to begin trusting law enforcement again.
Isn’t it time for New Jersey to follow suit?