narco news write that stephen peacock has uncovered documents showing that the dea is 'seeking private security forces to handle "multi-ton" shipments of marijuana seized in Arizona'. they write: "The document, which was added to the federal Electronic Posting System database on Thursday (Aug. 11), said that initial security 'runs' of the cannabis shipments will take place in and around Tuscon, Ariz., as well as between Tuscon and 'Nogales and/or Sierra Vista, Arizona.' Future locations may include 'Yuma and/or Phoenix,' it added. "DEA and its private security agents will transport the marijuana tonnage 'on an irregular basis, and will not be scheduled more than a few days in advance,' it said. 'Runs may be needed as often as once a week, but the interval between runs may be much longer.'" http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/8/13/04351/1042 This seemingly routine "help wanted"-type post in fact marks a major, unprecedented change in DEA operations: the privatization of anti- drug forces. While the Drug Enforcement Administration is among the most opaque and dishonest federal agencies, it is still a public entity and subject to some degree of scrutiny that private corporations could avoid. Also, privatization allows the government to cut its costs, as private contractors are likely to pay their employees much less than the federal government would have to. Low pay to law enforcement officers is perhaps the biggest factor causing the corruption in Mexican and other countries' police forces that is so often condemned by the U.S. government. Narco News correspondent Bill Conroy weighs in as well, with some perspective from his sources within U.S. law enforcement: "[Conroy's source] stresses that the private contractors would still have to be overseen by DEA agents to some extent, 'but instead of 12 DEA agents, it sounds like they might now have 10 rent-a-cops and two DEA agents.' "The privatizing of these drug runs, however, is of great concern, the law enforcement sources say. Private contractors, they contend, have a history of cutting corners to save a buck. As a result, 'it's proven that criminals slip through the (hiring) process,' one law enforcer explains. "Another problem, the law enforcer adds, is the fact that the contract was put out to bid publicly by the government with so much detail... The bureaucratic boneheads who decided to put out the bid don't seem to have considered that there is enough detail in the notice to tell 'bad guys exactly what they need to do to infiltrate or stage a robbery of a shipment," a law enforcement source stresses.'" While the DEA has used private facilities in the past to incinerate drugs, Conroy writes, hiring rent-a-cops "is not only a change of policy for DEA, as law enforcement sources point out, but it takes the drug-war privatization push to a whole new level that promises to bring us even more scandals down the road." Read more here, in The Narcosphere: http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/8/13/04351/1042
Did you even read what you C&Pd? There's nothing about privitizing dope busts in there - just the transportation of seized dope. Big difference.
