Police Corruption

Why do I feel like I just keep writing the same stories of law enforcement venality over and over again? More crooked jail guards, more sticky-fingered cops, more cops on the take, and another pervert power-tripper cop.

The big news in Mexico this week was the capture of "La Barbie," a major figure in the drug wars. Will it make any difference?

Oh, temptation, such a torment for the weak-willed. A South Carolina cop peddle's his drug dog's training dope, an Iowa cop gets caught with a bunch of coke, and a Florida trooper is profiling out-of-state pain patients and stealing their medicine.

A Texas DA plays funny with the drug money, so does a Baltimore narc, and cops in Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma join the hall of shame.

Hey, cops: Don't give crack to hookers' boyfriends, don't rip people off and traffic dope, don't seize dope without turning it in, and don't get wasted on meth you stole and crash your cruiser. If only this week's crew had followed those simple instructions.

Thousands of journalists marched in Mexico City to protest the killing, intimidation and harassment of journalists in the drug wars. Meanwhile the rivers of blood keep flowing, with no end in sight.

In Tulsa, a corruption scandal keeps on giving; in Austin, a cop is paying the price for partying a little too hearty; and in West Virginia, another jail guard goes down. Oklahoma doesn't get off with just Tulsa this week -- a Bureau of Narcotics agent in Oklahoma City has been charged with shipping weapons to Mexican cartels (yikes!).

More crooked prison and jail guards get busted, another sticky-fingered cop goes down, so does a Rio Grande Valley lawman, a former California Highway Patrol trooper is in big, big trouble, and a small-town Texas police force has troubles in the dope squad.

Oh, my goodness! Charles Bowden has written a mind-blowing book on the prohibition-fueled violence in Ciudad Juarez. Prepare for existential dread.