by John Young
One of the legitimate purposes of the state is the abolition of non-emergency use of force between the citizens. That is to say, that citizens retain the right to use force in an emergency, but have surrendered their right to play judge, jury and executioner to the state. That surrender is premised upon the idea that the state will be fair, uncorrupted, objective and actually seek the truth.
The legitimacy of the state in having a monopoly on non-emergency force is premised on two factors. First, that the laws made by the state are just, understandable and reflect the true best interests of the people. Second, that the agents of the state charged with enforcing those laws are uncorrupted and fair.
When the state fails to meet these ideals, the degree to which the state fails is the degree to which it becomes illegitimized in the eyes of the citizens and any pretence of a rule of law suffers. People will break unjust laws, thus undermining the credibility of enforcement of even just laws. As society becomes less just, it becomes more lawless.
What’s the point of all this reasoning? Operation Delta Blues, in which an FBI investigation led to the indictment of a substantial portion of the police department in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas. Indictments handed down in October of 2011 included weapons charges, drug trafficking, money laundering and more. It is no secret that the war on drugs is a failure. The reason it has failed is simple: any attempt to outlaw an item as opposed to a behavior is beyond the capacity of government. It is like the story of Cnut the Great, who demonstrated to his subjects the limitations of his authority by commanding the tide not to rise. There are other reasons the war on drugs has failed, but this is certainly a key reason.
Of course, with our government subjecting us to numerous restrictions as a result of the war on drugs (including needing to show ID and be placed in a database in order to buy legal decongestants), those government agents charged with enforcing the laws ought not themselves be breaking them.
It is inevitable that having fostered a multi-billion dollar underground economy, a certain portion — hopefully small — of law enforcement officers will be on the take. What is so impressive about this case is the pervasiveness of the corruption within a single town. Such a result may not be so surprising, however, when it is considered that Helena – West Helena is one of the poorest towns in the United States. Endemic poverty and low wage scales in this 2/3rds African-American town make corruption very attractive.
All told, Operation Delta Blues resulted in the indictment of 70 people, among whom were a number of then-current and former law enforcement officers including Marlene Kalb, Herman Eaton, Winston Dean Jackson, Robert Rogers and Robert Wahls.
The large-scale public corruption, including even a deputy sheriff, was uncovered by a two-year federal investigation that included the DEA, FBI, BATFE and IRS. Which leads me to ask: who will investigate and uncover the corruption in federal law enforcement?
Corruption of this scope is indeed an indicator that many parts of the United States have reverted to Third-World conditions and, taken alone, would approach the status of failed states.