but bears repeating: this, like the Luzerne County juvenile court mess, is so awful because it involves an abuse of pretty-absolute power.

From the March 20 article, before the video turned out to apparently substantiate the store owners' stories:

Danilo Burgos, president of the city's Dominican Grocery Store Association of more than 300 members, said one member recently alleged that police cut video-camera wires and stole $5,000 while searching his store. The store owner told Burgos that he didn't want to report it.

"Most of these people just want to earn a decent living and go on about their business," Burgos said.

And many Dominicans often are afraid to speak up because they come from a country where police are notoriously corrupt.

"Back home, police get away with everything, including murder," Burgos said.

"They fear something similar could happen to them here."

Moe Maghtha, who moved to the United States from Jordan in 1999, said his father's experience with Cujdik and the other narcotics officers has left him too scared to operate his South Philly tobacco shop.

"If he sees cops now, he freaks out," Maghtha said. "My dad never been in jail. My dad never been in trouble. Now he's like a little kid that got bit by a dog. He won't go out."

Maghtha, 23, said he had to give up his job as a satellite-dish technician to take over his dad's store. Maghtha's father, 53, recently suffered heart problems and did not want to be interviewed or allow his name or the name of his store to appear in this article.

And:

Sirilo Ortiz said that on the evening of Nov. 1, 2007, he had emerged from the basement of Lycomings Grocery in Hunting Park to see a gun barrel pointed at his face.

After Cujdik and his squad members burst into the store, they cut the wires to the surveillance camera with wire cutters, he said, then looted the store.

Ortiz, 39, who came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 1996, had owned the store just five days.

One cop took a Black & Mild, a slender cigar, from the shelf and started to smoke, said Ortiz, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter.

The officers took three brown boxes from his kitchen and loaded them with food, he said.

"It was like they was shopping," said Maria Espinal, who was working in the kitchen and saw the cops take boxes stuffed with packaged goods.

The cops put a gun to Espinal's head, too, she said, before identifying themselves as police. "I thought I was going to die," she said.

Ortiz said he had about $500 in his pocket and $700 in the cash register. But the police recorded taking a total of only $918 on property receipts.

Ortiz said he took a plea deal and served six months' probation and 25 hours of community service for selling the tiny plastic bags.

He was so depressed and anxious, he lost 25 pounds and could no longer work in the store, he said.

"I couldn't take it no more," said Ortiz. "Every time someone opened the door, I thought something bad would happen."

He gave the store to his brother and now drives a cab.

"Cops are supposed to take care of people and do the right thing," Ortiz said. "I don't trust them anymore. You're supposed to trust the police, but they're the ones you can't trust.

"They weren't supposed to be the ones."

When you end up driving a cab because that feels relatively safe, things are pretty bad.

and everyone knows that George Bochetto never attempts to skew the facts or push interpretations of the law so unique as to defy believability.

Bochetto says there is no way those cops took $10,000 that disappeared from that corner store after they cut the wires on each of 8 video cameras before executing their apparently fraudulently acquired search warrant. Bochetto is a man of his word and the highest of legal ethics, cautious and infallible in every legal theory he advances.

Clearly anyone who thinks the cops have been up to no good when they systematically disabled every single camera in the store are just succumbing to media hype.

"Now that the Daily News has created a mass hysteria concerning the Philadelphia Narcotics Unit, it comes as no surprise that every defendant ever arrested will now proclaim their innocence and bark about being mistreated.

"Suffice it to say, there is a not a scintilla of truth to such convenient protestations."

Now I seem to remember that Bochetto has recently put forward a controversial legal theory some place else recently. Can anyone else remember where that was exactly?

-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.

Theres something humorously literary about an (ahem allegedly) crooked narcotics officer by the last name of Tolstoy.
-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.

this just shows, again, the utter bankruptcy of the war on drugs.

"And it is a reminder that oversight, both from the media and from the government, will always, always be needed." (quoted from Dan U-A above)

Now if we can have the same (e.g., media and government oversight) for attorneys in the Commonwealth, this would certainly be a step forward for a more accountable and ethical system of government for all Pennsylvanians.

The types of baggies that these cops claim to be hunting down - even the "best" ones for packaging drugs in - the little ones with images printed on them for "branding" purposes are cheap and readily available to anyone with an internet connection from Fetpak. Fetpak is a leading distrbutor for all kinds of retail and packaging supplies. Everything from the plastic "tee-shirt" bags that say "Thank You For Shopping" to the sticker rolls for price sticker guns to the butcher paper you wrap hoagies in.

Literally anybody can order these bags with any of a dizzying array of images they want for $9.95 per thousand, no shipping charges. I'm not a marketing genius but it seems to me if I am selling an illegal product that I am interested in "branding", I'm going to pick to order a baggy whose packaging image is more unique than the ones for sale at Mauricio's Corner Grocery. Its one of those things about "branding", it only works if noone else is using the same "brand" - its part of why GM doesn't put Honda decals on its products to make them sell better.

Why, despite the obvious fact that corrupt cops like to harass and steal from local merchants, did anyone at any level approve warrants for selling baggies? What utter and complete lack of thought went into prioritizing "crimes" that don't actually affect the safety of regular citizens? Some judge looked at these warrants and said - "Yeah lets get those awful bag retailers". What flawed logic went into thinking harrasing plastic baggies is a productive use of police resources? Was anyone even looking before they rubberstamped these warrants? Why is this even a "crime" and not merely a fine from L&I, under any circumstances?

So yes it sucks that cops turn crooked, but its worse that noone at any level in the Criminal Justice system is asking why those cops are doing the very absurd thing they claim to be wasting taxpayer money on while they are actually stealing from corner bodegas.

How many hours of librarians went down the drain while these guys were allegedly pilfering cash and Little Debbies on the taxpayer's dime (and harrassing a BPT paying, job-providing local business)? How many tax dollars went into legal costs for processing these patently wasteful warrants? Why wasn't a judge or supervisor paying attention?
-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.

as the accumulation of stories of police shakedowns of corner bodegas begins to increase as it gains momentum, like a snowball rolling down a hill. I'm wondering how many accusations will surface by the time this goes to trial.

Evidently though it takes the coordinated effort of a bunch of narcotics officers with guns smashing security cameras to crack down on empty plastic baggie sales, that same degree effort does translate into actually showing up to court to make sure those awful alleged baggie sellers actually get convicted of something.

Municipal Court Judge Ronald B. Merriweather dismissed the charges on Feb. 5, 2008, for "lack of prosecution." Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman for District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, said the case was dismissed because the police witnesses failed to appear in court, as they were testifying in another court case.

I'm paranthetically just so glad that Lynne Abraham thinks its a productive use of prosecutorial resources to actually bring these baggie sales cases to trial. Smart move, Lynne.

And again noone asked if these were appropriate warrants to issue:

Richard Cujdik's affidavit supporting the search warrant stated that a confidential informant had twice gone into the deli to buy tiny zippered plastic bags, which are commonly used to package drugs for individual sale. It is illegal to sell the bags if they are intended for the narcotics trade.

Police reported confiscating $380 in cash, two handguns, and plastic packets. After the charges were dismissed, police returned the licensed guns to Collado-Gomez, but not the $380.

There was no record of the $8,560 that Collado-Gomez claims police took

-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.

According to the Daily News' David Gambacorta, Ramsey approved breaking up the squad accused of the bodega "busts" so as to provide a greater level of supervision on their activity.

According to Deputy Commissioner William Blackburn:

"Narcotics is one of those units that requires a small span of control because they deal with search-and-seizure warrants, confidential informants and other high-risk situations," Blackburn said. "In light of the articles and the scrutiny the Narcotics Bureau is under, we felt this was necessary."

Cujdik and nine other officers who worked in Squad 9, and five officers from a different team, are being dispersed among 10 remaining narcotics squads.

"It's not out of the norm for us to rotate people into different units," Blackburn said. "This is more about them having a higher level of supervision."

Great but rotating officers in units where there is a potential of abuse should already be standard operating procedure and is par for the course in many cities. Props to Ellen Green-Ceisler for calling for procedures that could have avoided this all the way back in 2002.

In a 2002 report that examined police enforcement of drug laws and made recommendations for preventing systemic abuse, Ellen Green-Ceisler, then director of the Police Integrity and Accountability Office, concluded that narcotics officers and supervisors should be regularly rotated.

Green-Ceisler, now a judge, found that police departments across the country require rotations to keep officers honest.

Also it should be pointed out that the position Green-Ceisler held when she issued that report no longer exists. Why? Because former Police Commissioner Johnson did not like a report the last person in that position issued and so eliminated the position a few years ago. Does anyone see the problem here?

The Daily News hit a homerun in its editorial, BTW, looking beyond specifics of the case, at best practices the city can and should adopt from other cities.

Now to figure out who gave Squad 9 so many poorly justified warrants.

-Sean
MrLuigi, my cat, actually only types half as badly as I do.