The Country Needs Ten Thousand More Like Barry Cooper (Kop Busters)

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Former drug officer launches 'KopBusters' TV showStephen C. Webster
Published: Saturday December 6, 2008

Barry Cooper, a former Texas police officer with eight years of specialty in drug interdiction, first made waves when he released the film "Never Get Busted Again," a how-to guide for evading police drug seizures.

Austin, Texas-based Cooper's latest project is not nearly so benign, and will likely generate for the former drug warrior an army of enemies in law enforcement.

'KopBusters' is a reality TV program that aims to sink crooked officers.

"KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana," claims a release from NeverGetBusted.com "When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Excop_Barry_Cooper_launches_Kop_Busters_1206.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Awesome!

Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3Fu4YVH8nA&eurl=http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Excop_Barry_Cooper_launches_Kop_Busters_1206.html

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2. With a video coming out every week showing police brutality, we need someone to watch the cops.

That and the lying to convict.

[tom_paine]

6. I never bought that whole thing about cops routinely lying on the stand. Then it happened to ME.

Yeah, I know, it was stupid to be so gullible.

I have to say, my first though was that if that crook with a badge lied to secure the "conviction" of a White Guy on a Traffic Ticket, what they hell does he and HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS like him do to poor and minority people who they REALLY HATE?

You know what they do. What they did to me, but for much more significant infractions that can result in jail time, not just a traffic fine. Apparently, they always have done so and probably always will.

After watching PA State Trooper Howell lie his ass off in court, unequivocally and unquestionably, no room for interpretation, I must say that I gained a new perspective on the level of law enforcement corruption and lying, which is very likely MUCH more pervasive than I'd ever dreamed.

I'm SURE he was just one very rare bad apple.

:sarcasm: :rofl:

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7. I had cops handcuff me and beat me with batons when I was 19.

It was New Year's Eve and we were going to a party at a hotel. I went to the car to get the beer out, (no one had had a beer yet) when some cops slammed me against the car. They took me down to the station and told me flat out they didn't want to work on New Year's so they were going to kick someone's ass. I was the first they saw. They told the judge they were called because of a break in. My lawyer showed the judge no calls were made that night, then showed the pictures of me. The judge actually threw the pictures at the cops and told them he better never see something like this in his courtroom again. That was over twenty-five years ago, so I know personally how bad some cops are.
Worse than the people they look down on and bust.

[tom_paine]

8. That whole "responding to another call" must be one of their standard lies.

My Liar, Ofc. Howell, ALSO told that particular lie on the stand, now that you mention it.

At the time, it struck me as having made no sense. Because it was a traffic ticket, and quite frankly my lawyer wasn't any good, there was no check performed to expose that obvious lie (which helped bolster his primary lie, now that I recall it, one lie doing the heavy lifting for another).

However, I am 100% convinced, and doubly so now that I have read your anecdotal evidence, that was a complete and total fabrication.

Like you, I am certain that my liar, Ofc. Howell of the PA State Police, was NOT going to another call, and that phone records would have easily confirmed that.

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3. I love how the cops wouldn't even show the warrant when the tables were turned

on them.

[bemildred]

4. Who knew prohibition would lead to police corruption?

Has this ever happened before?

[bertman]

5. Barry has balls of brass!! I hope his bulletproof vest is high quality.

Viva KopBusters!!!!

[tom_paine]

9. That's no joke. I am certain there are more than a few cops who have murdered and would be happy

to do so again to "scum" like Barry.

I am sure that's how they justify their many lies. That it's criminal scum on the receiving end, so it's OK.

It may even be a majority of the time that IS the case. (not that it's OK, but that it's actual criminals they are usually lying about)

It STILL doesn't make it right, and it sure as hell doesn't make up for the damaging lies they have told about innocent people because they were poor or minorities.

There's lots of guilty people in jail undoubtedly. Probably the vast majority. But there can be no question that Police Lying is uniform, standardized (like the "I was responding to another call" lie) and pervasive beyond anyone's wildest nightmares.

And because of that, combined with the fact that eight years of Bushie Corruption and Criominal Leadership has trickled down to ALL LEOs and that, bad as they were before, they are WORSE now.

Finally, there can be no doubt that the number of innocents doing hard time in penitentiaries around the nation are also higher than I'd ever dreamed. Maybe even as many as one-fifth.

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10. Check out The Innocence Project.

If this were more widely known, I think it would change some minds.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/?gclid=CMvZl5_erZcCFSJIagodFwLQiQ

[BrklynLiberal]

13. Serpico left the country after he testified against crooked cops.

[glitch]

18. We have no way of knowing "There's lots of guilty people in jail... probably the vast majority."

One of the less obvious problems of systemic corruption.

[Fumesucker]

11. Lying on the affidavit..

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/27atlanta.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

ATLANTA, April 26 — After the fatal police shooting of an elderly woman in a botched drug raid, the United States attorney here said Thursday that prosecutors were investigating a “culture of misconduct” in the Atlanta Police Department.


Chief Richard Pennington of the Atlanta police said, “We will not tolerate any officers violating the law and mistreating our citizens in this city.”

Kathryn Johnston was shot to death in a drug raid in November.

In court documents, prosecutors said Atlanta police officers regularly lied to obtain search warrants and fabricated documentation of drug purchases, as they had when they raided the home of the woman, Kathryn Johnston, in November, killing her in a hail of bullets.

Narcotics officers have admitted to planting marijuana in Ms. Johnston’s home after her death and submitting as evidence cocaine they falsely claimed had been bought at her house, according to the court filings.

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12. Wow, that's one hell of a story!

Those bastards.

[Fumesucker]

14. Yep, and then there was the mayor in that town near DC that got raided a few months ago..

They shot both his dogs, it was obvious that some kind of strange crap was going down with that, kind of interesting how that case just kind of dropped out of the news.

I'm not sure whether a simple majority of drug cops are dirty but I'm quite positive that a truly substantial minority are.

I had a good cop in my family (he's now deceased) so I know they exist. I also know for a fact that there was corruption in the department in which he served at a near-the-top level because he told me that there was and I have independent verification from two other sources.

It takes a special kind of person to carry the authority and power that a cop does for a long period of time without it effecting their thinking in a usually negative manner. IMO there are a lot of cops that start out with good intentions and just get overwhelmed by the nature of the job and the temptations that come with it. Most cops probably shouldn't be cops for more than a decade or so, or at least that's what I am coming to think.

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15. There are a lot of good cops, and I think you're right; the job taints them after a time.

But what bothers me is the fact that the bad cops couldn't get away with the things they do if the good cops didn't let them. (So, those good cops that remain silent, aren't really that good.)

[Iggo]

28. Yes, there are a lot of good cops.

But they cover for the bad cops.

And so, what does that make them?

[tom_paine]

39. A very good point. I have a cop friend who is almost like my Stepdad and there can be no doubt he

was a very good and honest cop. If only they all were.

But I have always wondered in the back of my mind, yet never spoke it because I love the guy, if he was ever presented with such a situation in his career, when he knew some "Serpico Shit" and had to decide whether to be silent or not.

Knowing what a good man he is, if he was, say, put in that situation as a young cop and made the wrong choice, it is hard for me to condemn him so roundly. Life is not all 0/1 and yes/no dichotomies, to use to old phrase, "there are shades of grey".

People make mistakes in the heat of the moment. People behave badly and repent of their action. Am I exonerating ALL cops who turned the other way (and I have no way of knowing if this man is one of them, my guess is not)? NO EFFING WAY!!!!!

Because it's shades of grey and matters of degree in each individual case. There is no moral equivalence between a rookie cops seing a payoff, and simply committing the"sin of omission" by remaining silent, and say, actual villainy by veteran cops, by actively covering up for a crime by lying by commission, or suppressing evidence to save bad cops, etc.

These are very different situations, and by legal defintion, I think (not a lawyer), crimes of remaining silent are less harshly punished by the law than crimes of active comission and covcer-up, let alone the actual criminality itself.

You pose a good question, but the answer is more complex than at first glance. Aren't all of them that have to do with human interactions, cultures, and systems.

And yes, there is most definitely a line of criminality that, once crossed, there can be no mitigating cricumstances to "make it better".

That's my 2 cents, anyway. Take it or leave it.

[Iggo]

40. That's why I left it an open question.

I'm with you on the "life's not all 0/1." I've lived a certain life and my default posotion is almost always against the cops, but I understand that about myself and I'm realistic about it. I know for a fact I was a criminal. And while I never did anything all that bad, I knew people who did very bad things and I didn't say anything. I've been a good and decent man and a law-abiding productive member of society for over 12 years now, so I also know for a fact that people can change.

But does my being a better man now excuse the past? My gut says no. Rehab's easy. Redemption is trickier.

[tom_paine]

43. Agree with all of it. n/t

[punkin87]

16. Good, but I can't find the on-line show.

[progressoid]

17. lots of vids on their site:

http://nevergetbusted.com/sneakpreview.php

[notadmblnd]

20. link doesn't work

[progressoid]

22. hmm...

Works for me. Try his home page:

http://nevergetbusted.com/index.php

[notadmblnd]

23. Thank you.

[punkin87]

24. Thanks.

[annabanana]

27. Now THIS link is down. . (disruption?)

[punkin87]

32. Stopped working again for me.

[Alexander]

19. This man is an American hero.

Somebody needs to kick the fascist law-breaking cops in the teeth.

I'm glad he's a former cop himself - he probably knows exactly how corrupt his colleagues were.

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21. I've wanted to see a story like this for years. I'd like the whole country to see this.

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25. Damn! I should go for the more sensational title when I post.

[ihavenobias]

26. An easy K & R!

:)

[MazeRat7]

29. He's here in Austin eh ? Cool. Maybe I'll be able to look him up

and offer to buy a nice lunch. I'll tell him its from all of you here on DU.

Peace,
MZr7

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30. Great!

He's become a hero on the intertubes, overnight.

[Swamp Rat]

31. "Odessa police are looking to see if other laws were broken."

:eyes:

[annabanana]

42. "Nope, No WMD's over HERE". . . . . . .n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

33. I'd like to see, in this age of economic destruction and record deficits, the idiotic drug warriors

TRY to justify the upwards of $40 Billion they spend a year -not including cost of incarceration, mind you- trying to prevent consenting adults from smoking pot.

Legalize it, regulate it, TAX it, and adopt a harm reduction strategy for other stuff. The drug war is a fucking farce.

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34. Yes it is. It's good to see more people are catching on.

[suede1]

35. Hope this starts to happen more often.

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36. Me too!

[wildbilln864]

37. kick! nt

[wildbilln864]

38. Hell yes!

Barry Cooper is great IMHO. Check out his interview with FalseNews.
:hi:

[High Plains]

41. Thank you, Barry Cooper.