How to hoodwink drugs police

[zengrifter]

Retired narcotics officer tells public how to hoodwink drugs police

Ed Pilkington in New York
Saturday December 23, 2006
The Guardian

What is the best way to hide your stash of marijuana when the police come knocking? How do you avoid positive tests for drugs? And what can you do to hoodwink narcotics-trained sniffer dogs?

All these questions and many more will be answered by a DVD called Never Get Busted Again, about to go on sale on the internet. US law enforcement officers are furious about the DVD. What has made them even more furious is the fact that, until recently, the man who made it was one of the most experienced narcotics officers in the Texas police force.

If anyone knows the dos and don'ts of getting busted, it is Barry Cooper. Mr Cooper, who made more than 800 drug arrests in his time with the Permian Basin drug task force, plans to begin selling the DVD on Tuesday. It is, he says, directed solely at marijuana dealers, not at dealers of harder drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine.

He told his local newspaper, the Tyler Morning Telegraph, he was following his conscience because he believed the war on drugs, specifically marijuana, was counter-productive. "I know I won't be accepted by my peers here in East Texas, but in other areas of the country I will be celebrated," he told the paper.

"When I was raiding houses and destroying families, my conscience was telling me it was wrong, but my need for power, fame and peer acceptance overshadowed my good conscience."

So far Mr Cooper is being coy about the details of the tips he gives out, revealing only in a three-minute promotional video that he goes into such crucial issues as whether coffee grounds really work as decoys, how to avoid narcotics profiling and how to "fool canines every time". Tim Scott, the local police chief, said he was stunned by what a former top drugs officer was doing. "He's going to tell all the ones we have been fighting how to get away with it and that makes me mad."

A senior narcotics officer in the region, Mark Waters, was similarly incensed. "This is a slap in the face to all that we do to uphold the laws and keep the public safe," he said.

Mr Cooper's former bosses said that they would wait to see the new DVD before deciding what, if anything, to do about it.

xxx

[adt_33]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

He told his local newspaper, the Tyler Morning Telegraph, he was following his conscience because he believed the war on drugs, specifically marijuana, was counter-productive....

"When I was raiding houses and destroying families, my conscience was telling me it was wrong, but my need for power, fame and peer acceptance overshadowed my good conscience...."

So far Mr Cooper is being coy about the details of the tips he gives out....

Of course he's being coy. He can't make money by just giving away his inside information.

His "conscience" talk is a grain of truth wrapped in bullshit.

[zengrifter]

Cooper on MSNBC

VIDEO- http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?...833710&f=00&fg

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Ex-cop plans 'Never Get Busted Again' video
Former Texas agent teaches how to hide, stash, and fool drug officers

Updated: 6:26 p.m. CT Dec 22, 2006

TYLER, Texas - A one-time Texas drug agent described by his former boss as perhaps the best narcotics officer in the country plans to market a how-to video on concealing drugs and fooling police.

Barry Cooper, who has worked for small police departments in East Texas, plans to launch a Web site next week where he will sell his video, “Never Get Busted Again,” the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported in its online edition Thursday.

A promotional video says Cooper will show viewers how to “conceal their stash,” “avoid narcotics profiling” and “fool canines every time.”

Cooper, who said he favors the legalization of marijuana, made the video in part because he believes the nation’s fight against drugs is a waste of resources. Busting marijuana users fills up prisons with nonviolent offenders, he said.

“My main motivation in all of this is to teach Americans their civil liberties and what drives me in this is injustice and unfairness in our system,” Cooper told the newspaper.

Cooper said his Web site should be operating by Tuesday.

As a drug officer, Cooper said, he made more than 800 drug arrests and seized more than 50 vehicles and $500,000 in cash and assets.

“He was even better than he says he was,” said Tom Finley, Cooper’s former boss on a West Texas drug task force and now a private investigator in Midland. “He was probably the best narcotics officer in the state and maybe the country during his time with the task force.”

News of the video has angered authorities, including Richard Sanders, an agent with the Tyler Drug Enforcement Agency. Sanders said he plans to investigate whether the video violates any laws.

“It outrages me personally as I’m sure it does any officer that has sworn an oath to uphold the laws of this state, and nation,” Sanders said. “It is clear that his whole deal is to make money and he has found some sort of scheme, but for him to go to the dark side and do this is infuriating.”

Smith County Deputy Constable Mark Waters, a narcotics officer, said the video is insulting to law enforcement officials.

“This is a slap in the face to all that we do to uphold the laws and keep the public safe,” he said.

xxx

[zengrifter]

Barry Cooper's Video Could Get You Busted

Submitted by scottmorgan on February 9, 2007 - 7:33pm. Flex Your Rights has eagerly anticipated Barry Cooper's new video Never Get Busted Again: Vol.1 Traffic Stops, which finally arrived yesterday. After reviewing Cooper's DVD, we're disappointed to report that Never Get Busted badly misses the mark regarding consent searches.

We hope the following will not be interpreted as a rebuke of Cooper or his video, much of which we enjoyed. Still, we find it necessary to comment at length on his surprising advice.

Unfortunately, Cooper recommends consenting to searches, which is the worst imaginable strategy for handling a police encounter. His message flatly contradicts the consensus judgment of civil libertarians, and encourages the very behavior Flex Your Rights and many others have been struggling to abate. Hopefully Barry Cooper can be persuaded to reconsider his recommendation that citizens waive their constitutional rights. He should be excited to learn that refusing consent is a viable and prudent option for his audience.

...more - http://www.flexyourrights.org/cooper

[zengrifter]

Ex-Cop Sells DVDs On How To Hide Pot

Former Narcotics Officer In Texas Is Now A Shaggy-Haired Marijuana Legalization Advocate

CBS - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n2952049.shtml