Arrest quotas are unjust.  Such things assume people are breaking the law at a certain rate and that the police should be able to catch them doing so.  They put undue pressure on the police force to meet the quotas.  When this occurs, our liberties are compromised.  The corruption that ensues is unparalleled in framing innocent people.  The court tends to believe the testimony of the police, and the innocent person doesn’t stand a chance.

I’m not saying that all police are corrupt. But, I would be naive to believe that I should trust them just because they’re the police.  Yesterday I read that a former NYPD narcotics officer testified that they routinely fabricate drug charges (the original link is broken, so this is a new article) on innocent people in order to meet the quotas. I think that the person on trial should have just as much credibility as the police officer testifying against them.  We do not want wrongful convictions in our legal system. It would be better to have guilty people go free than innocent people suffer.

Of course, like I’ve said before, I don’t agree with drug use.  But, this war on drugs isn’t accomplishing much.  In fact, it may be doing more harm than good.

Related posts:

1. Drug Charges for Drugs that Didn’t Exist