Dothan Police Department Planted Drugs on Young Black Men For Years
[edit]
Apologies, should have done some digging before posting, as it’s come to my attention that the Henry Country Report is prone to muck-racking T_T So take this with a healthy dose of scepticism. Also the SPLC isn’t sure of it either, but there is some 800 odd documents to verify:
RETRACTION: We’ve removed tweets to a “Henry County Report” story about the Dothan, Ala. police department.
— SPLC (@splcenter) December 3, 2015
And for the sake of your blood pressure/sanity, don’t read the twitter comments, it’s full of trolls.
HUNDREDS OF CASES PROSECUTED WITH PLANTED EVIDENCE, MANY WRONGLY CONVICTED STILL IN PRISON
The Alabama Justice Project has obtained documents that reveal a Dothan Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation was covered up by the district attorney. A group of up to a dozen police officers on a specialized narcotics team were found to have planted drugs and weapons on young black men for years. They were supervised at the time by Lt. Steve Parrish, current Dothan Police Chief, and Sgt. Andy Hughes, current Asst. Director of Homeland Security for the State of Alabama. All of the officers reportedly were members of a Neoconfederate organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center labels “racial extremists.” The group has advocated for blacks to “return” to Africa, published that the civil rights movement is really a Jewish conspiracy, and that blacks have lower IQ’s . Both Parrish and Hughes held leadership positions in the group and are pictured above holding a confederate battle flag at one of the club’s secret meetings.
The documents shared reveal that the internal affairs investigation was covered up to protect the aforementioned officers’ law enforcement careers and keep them from being criminally prosecuted.
Several long term Dothan law enforcement officers, all part of an original group that initiated the investigation, believe the public has a right to know that the Dothan Police Department, and District Attorney Doug Valeska, targeted young black men by planting drugs and weapons on them over a decade. Most of the young men were prosecuted, many sentenced to prison, and some are still in prison. Many of the officers involved were subsequently promoted and are in leadership positions in law enforcement. They hope the mood of the country is one that demands action and that the US Department of Justice will intervene.
Holy poop, here’s hoping this actually gets dealt with finally now that it’s out in the open. Either way, the Dothan Police Department is going to be in very deep shit and will likely be near bankrupt by the tsunami of compensation claims that will result from this. And it’s reassuring to see it was people within the Dothan PD that came forward time and time again against this racist and illegal behaviour, resulting in this information being finally leaked to the public.
Oh and cue most of the current Republican presidential front runners saying next to nothing about this, and for Trump and Cruz to try and defend Dothan PD’s past behaviour and be against the firing and prosecution of the people involved.
