"When crimes have no real victims, however, policing fundamentally changes. With drug use, the purported victim and the criminal are the same person, guilty of the grave crime of preferring a different intoxicant than the one available at the local bar. Victims no longer participate in catching the criminals, since they are the same person. Police must therefore adopt strategies to catch unwilling “victims” and to interdict the drugs at their source.
Catching unwilling victims is difficult. Anyone could be a criminal/victim, after all, hiding illicit drugs on their body, car, or property. What were once casual interactions with citizens become riddled with suspicion. Is this driver hiding something? Perhaps if I search that random person on the street, I’ll find drugs, after all, he looks like a druggie.
Not to mention that finding drugs on someone can become a pretense for abusive behavior. Perhaps a cop wants to bust up some unruly teenagers to “teach them a lesson” about loitering and disobeying his authority? Is that marijuana he smells? Who could possibly question him on that?
If drug users are out in the street, it’s relatively easy. But what if they’re in their homes, carrying out their crimes in private? Surveillance is the first priority. Helicopters can be flown over the house or, now, more likely drones. Heat‐sensitive cameras can test for “grow rooms,” and there are always informants who are more than willing to fess up for leniency or a small cash payment. There’s a drug dealer in there, they tell the cops, and now police can go after the source.
But the criminals/victims still won’t invite the police into the house, so it is time to suit up and go in with force. Thankfully for the police, the American military has been transferring surplus gear to local police departments for a few decades, primarily to fight the drug war. With all this gear laying around, why not use it?"
Catching unwilling victims is difficult. Anyone could be a criminal/victim, after all, hiding illicit drugs on their body, car, or property. What were once casual interactions with citizens become riddled with suspicion. Is this driver hiding something? Perhaps if I search that random person on the street, I’ll find drugs, after all, he looks like a druggie.
Not to mention that finding drugs on someone can become a pretense for abusive behavior. Perhaps a cop wants to bust up some unruly teenagers to “teach them a lesson” about loitering and disobeying his authority? Is that marijuana he smells? Who could possibly question him on that?
If drug users are out in the street, it’s relatively easy. But what if they’re in their homes, carrying out their crimes in private? Surveillance is the first priority. Helicopters can be flown over the house or, now, more likely drones. Heat‐sensitive cameras can test for “grow rooms,” and there are always informants who are more than willing to fess up for leniency or a small cash payment. There’s a drug dealer in there, they tell the cops, and now police can go after the source.
But the criminals/victims still won’t invite the police into the house, so it is time to suit up and go in with force. Thankfully for the police, the American military has been transferring surplus gear to local police departments for a few decades, primarily to fight the drug war. With all this gear laying around, why not use it?"