I was in a drug bust yesterday!

**anon** · 06.10.16, 18:29

I met with a friend at a nearby mall yesterday morning. When he had to leave, we approached the place his bike was parked when two police officers came to us, asked for ID and a few questions, then told us they needed us to act at witnesses for an operation they were about to engage on. This is a legitimate procedure and had already happened to me, although for a smaller crime.

Anyway, we agreed. They put us on an unmarked cop car with another policeman and circled around a few times until we parked in front of a hotel. Two of them got off the car and rushed in (gun in hand and equipped with a battering ram, just like in the movies) while we were guarded in the car. Some minutes later, after the scene was secured, one of them came out and asked us to get in.

The hotel room was on the first floor. The door had been breached open and everything within had been searched and turned upside down. A Peruvian man was sitting on one of the beds, handcuffed. We had to be present to watch one of the cops read his rights (to an attorney, to remain silent, guarantee of not being coerced into confessing, and so on). The man received a phone call from "a friend", but wasn't allowed to answer. Police asked him a few questions and kept him in place until an extra car arrived, he was then driven to a police station.

My friend and me stuck around and helped with minor tasks like counting money (under supervision, of course), dictating serial numbers and sorting evidence bags after they'd been sealed. The following items were seized:

One and a half "bricks" of cocaine, chemically tested on-site and worth $15000 on the black market. The biggest one was stamped and embossed with the image of a black horse, which apparently means it is high-quality.
The equivalent of some $2100 in local currency.
Three cell phones.
Two Ford sedans, including insurance paperwork for one of them.
The ID of the man's friend, who would allegedly be visiting the hotel soon but never showed up.

No firearms, thankfully. The officer who was in charge of the operation kept getting radio'ed about progress on the nine other locations they were raiding, including a especially successful one on a slum where several arrests were made and twenty kilos of cocaine were seized. They'd been tracking this ring for almost a year, tapping phones and all, and this was the day they'd strike everywhere.

The drug dealer's wife/girlfriend/female partner, who was also involved in selling, showed up at the hotel at some point and was promptly arrested. We had to be there when her rights were read too.

The bust took almost four hours, from when we parked in front of the hotel to when we were allowed to leave. It has yet to show up on the news, I don't know if police are keeping it a secret or simply haven't announced it yet.

**slikrapid** · 06.10.16, 21:45

@anon:

while we were guarded in the car. Some minutes later, after the scene was secured, one of them came out and asked us to get in.

which means such 'witnesses' don't get to see much of the action(s) done by the police until its all over, so if they wanted to, they could, say, plant evidence or violate rights easily

We had to be present to watch one of the cops read his rights

which may also be pointless if they're going to be violated later on during the process

My friend and me stuck around and helped with minor tasks like counting money (under supervision, of course), dictating serial numbers and sorting evidence bags after they'd been sealed.

no tasting of the coke then, huh?

They'd been tracking this ring for almost a year, tapping phones and all, and this was the day they'd strike everywhere.

yeah, yeah, bust some small-time operations while the big fish continue the game (bribing the local force or doing it on the national/international level)

other than that, i guess it was exciting/interesting and somewhat tiresome, eh?
also, whats the reason for such an involvement of ordinary citizen witnesses, the police trying to show how they're doing a good job, improving PR, due to some previous controversies, due to political campaigns or the like?

**yoco** · 07.10.16, 00:00

wow, awesome story! Don't know if they need witnesses here for such things!

**Lucius** · 07.10.16, 04:46

Nice catch, good for them
I liked how they organized the whole thing from the beginning :)

**hellman** · 08.10.16, 11:55

May be they're going to cut to a deal. 20% your and all you have to say is there was no cocaine and no money there

just kidding.

it was brave of you to take part in this. But to be honest i would have declined.As slik said they would've planted evidence and shit. I don't trust a random cop.

**anon** · 08.10.16, 22:14

Originally Posted by slikrapid

which means such 'witnesses' don't get to see much of the action(s) done by the police until its all over, so if they wanted to, they could, say, plant evidence or violate rights easily

...

which may also be pointless if they're going to be violated later on during the process

True, but they can't put civilians on the line either. What if the guy was armed and there was a firefight?

One of the cops told me this should have normally been a pre-dawn raid, but was rescheduled to 10 AM due to "bureaucracy". So yeah, planting evidence is definitely a possibility. I want to believe there are still honest cops out there and these were some of them, though.

no tasting of the coke then, huh?

Love is my only drug anyway

yeah, yeah, bust some small-time operations while the big fish continue the game (bribing the local force or doing it on the national/international level)

Better than nothing, I guess. At least for those who believe drug sale and use should remain illegal, which is a separate discussion I don't feel like getting into.

other than that, i guess it was exciting/interesting and somewhat tiresome, eh?
also, whats the reason for such an involvement of ordinary citizen witnesses, the police trying to show how they're doing a good job, improving PR, due to some previous controversies, due to political campaigns or the like?

I don't know the exact reasons, but I would guess it's a mixture of everything you've mentioned. Police brutality was a problem in this country until the early 00s. If they were chasing you and saw you with something that looked like a gun, they'd shoot first. There were several cases of children shot dead because they aimed a toy pistol at a policeman.

Originally Posted by hellman

it was brave of you to take part in this. But to be honest i would have declined.As slik said they would've planted evidence and shit. I don't trust a random cop.

Hey, at least I have another story to tell now

**slikrapid** · 09.10.16, 01:15

@anon:

but they can't put civilians on the line either. What if the guy was armed and there was a firefight?

sure, the idea was to point out how these witnesses can only go/know/witness so far, that they won't really stand in the way of any determined corruption, that it smells of mere cosmetics or governmental propaganda

I want to believe there are still honest cops out there

the majority probably are, until challenging times arrive, when the strength of their beliefs/honesty gets tested, showing 'what they're made of' so to speak

Love is my only drug anyway

hehe, love for what?
or to quote the bee gees: 'how deep is your love'

Better than nothing, I guess.

depends, maybe they're simply eliminating competition for the big fish, securing their monopoly
also, they're supposed to try being better than the minimum or the average or the previous, better than what is expected of them, because only 'the better' has the capacity to improve 'the average' or 'the current'

If they were chasing you and saw you with something that looked like a gun, they'd shoot first. There were several cases of children shot dead because they aimed a toy pistol at a policeman.

not only in the usa, huh?

**anon** · 10.10.16, 19:29

Originally Posted by slikrapid

hehe, love for what?
or to quote the bee gees: 'how deep is your love'

"You're the light in my deepest, darkest hour // You're my savior when I fall"

not only in the usa, huh?

I'm afraid not. The Kirchner administration (2003) onwards limited the weaponry that can be used by police officers, as well as when they're allowed to use deadly force. On one hand this isn't very good for situations which do require their former method of conflict resolution so to speak, but on the other hand kids with BB guns no longer need to fear for their lives.

The USA is still the king of crazy serial killers, though

**anon** · 26.06.17, 22:27

I had to do this again today, but it was for a police unit investigating tax fraud, and thus not as exciting. A company with offices on a nearby apartment building was allegedly in violation of some tax law(s), but they didn't have a warrant to do a search, so for the most part I had to stay in the doorway as they interviewed the janitor and later on, people in other apartments to see if they'd heard anything about the company (none of them had). It took a bit over an hour.

**slikrapid** · 27.06.17, 18:59

Originally Posted by anon

but they didn't have a warrant to do a search, so for the most part I had to stay in the doorway as they interviewed the janitor and later on, people in other apartments to see if they'd heard anything about the company (none of them had).

sounds like a waste of time (or tax payers' money), unless the janitor acquired crucial information about fraudulent practices going on in that shady place