In Death of John Perrin

In Death of John Perrin, blame the drug war

Once again the Las Vegas community is at odds over another police killing of a citizen. Once again people on each side of the debate are engaged in the predictable "blaming." On each side there are both extreme and moderate views. Since each side has been heard on many occasions in recent weeks, I would like to add an alternative view, one that no one has yet expressed, at least publicly.

I believe it is time to go beyond "blame." The roots of the problem of police shootings are far deeper than "trigger-happy cops" and "dangerous felons." they are deeper than the rather superficial explanations of "suspicious behavior" almost always used by the police. Almost unnoticed - and unquestioned - in the accounts of this shooting was what caused this officer to be "suspicious" of Mr. Perrin in the first place. This was the report of a "drug dealer" hanging out in the area where the shooting took place. The question we must ask is this: why are the activities of a "drug dealer" cause for police activity - in this case activity commonly known as "proactive policing"? Was there a sighting of a beer delivery truck in the area? Was there a report of a pharmaceutical company representative in the area? Did someone report a man and a woman purchasing various "drugs" at the local 7-11, such as tobacco and alcohol? Of course not, because some "drugs" are legal and others are illegal.

What we have here is one of the many different casualties of the insane "war on drugs" we have waged during the past 20 years or so. Of course this "war" has not been declared on the most dangerous drugs, namely tobacco and alcohol (which together account for around a half million deaths each year, plus untold suffering by millions of families everywhere). No, the "war" has been declared on drugs that do not make any profits for big corporations (unless you count those corporations who are reaping huge profits from the "prison industrial complex" that houses hundreds of thousands drug offenders) - like marijuana, heroin, cocaine and the like. It is no accident that these are the kinds of drugs historically used mostly by minorities and the poor. Indeed, as so many researchers have noted over the years, this war has been consistently a war on the so-called "dangerous classes." We middle class white folks have nothing to fear, as we use our own drugs in the relative safety of our rather secluded communities.

Prohibition against certain substances are examples of mala prohibita crimes - offenses that are only "crimes" because the law says they are. In contrast are mala in se crimes - offenses that are widely believed to be "bad in themselves," such as murder, robbery and rape. While in the case of the former there is little universal consensus on the evilness of the behaviors, in the case of the latter there is universal consensus. We all want our police to be diligent in going after murder and rape suspects, serial killers, a gang of auto thieves, etc. However, when we demand that our police go after acts that are not universally condemned we are asking for trouble. This is because these offenses are known as "victimless crimes" or crimes where both parties involved are violating the law and thus neither is likely to "call the cops," like we would if a robbery or burglary took place.

The infamous "war on drugs" has placed our police in a no-win situation - and a very dangerous situation because most "drug-related" violence stems from the fact that the drugs are illegal (not because of the properties of the drugs themselves, as researchers have noted). In order to make arrests (this is how this "war" is suppose to reduce drug use, rather than prevention and treatment), the police have to use some very questionable practices (the "proactive" kind bordering on entrapment). In the case of John Perrin, he was "suspicious" largely because of his alleged "drug activity, which is not inherently bad in itself.

Was John Perrin "dangerous"? Was he a mass murderer or serial rapist? Of course not. Was he the victim of an unjustifiable police shooting? Yes he was, in my opinion. But I differ from most views of this incident in that I refuse to be a "Monday morning quarterback" about the actions of officer Gentner. I don't know what I would have done in the same situation and neither does anyone else. But I do know this and believe it firmly: officer Gentner would not have labeled Mr. Perrin's behavior as "suspicious" if it were not for the insanity called the "war on drugs." Isn't it time we sought a peaceful settlement of this "war"? How about just calling it off and remove our "troops" so they can pursue serial rapists and killers and others who do us far more harm than the millions of John Perrins of the world.