Drug Arrests Were Real; the Badge Was Fake

Drug Arrests Were Real; the Badge Was Fake

www.nytimes.com

GERALD, Mo. — Like so many rural communities in the country’s middle, this small town had wrestled for years with the woes of methamphetamine. Then, several months ago, a federal agent showed up....

Arrests began. Houses were ransacked. People, in handcuffs on their front lawns, named names...

They said the agent, a man some had come to know as “Sergeant Bill,” boasted that he did not need search warrants to enter their homes because he worked for the federal government...

Sergeant Bill, it turned out, was no federal agent, but Bill A. Jakob, an unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding minister and a former small-town cop from 23 miles down the road.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Basically the man is in deep trouble for violating fedral laws to obtain these arrests. The controversy here lies in the fact that many believe he accomplished something the local police department had trouble doing for a long time.

It's kind of a real life superhero story. For example, if Spider Man all of a sudden showed up in your city and started doing battle with evil doers and busting them, would we complain that he did not have a proper authority to do so?

Basically this whole thing is a huge mess. The guy fooled just about everyone into his ruse.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Mad_Hatter


I just saw this guy being interviewed on the CBS morning news. Pretty bizzare situation.

Yeah, I saw it as well. I wanted to see what the ATS community had to say about it.

I guess what I would like to ask is,

Is there any point at which you think it would be okay to bend or even break the law for the greater good?

He probably not only busted more perps than the police but the "arrests" probably ended in fewer shootings and deaths than the police would have handed out too.

Unfortunately I am all for the public doing the job themselves these days. The police are increasingly ineffective, especially here in the UK now where they hit the small time guys for the most trivial of infractions just to meet targets, while the real violent criminals go unpunished.

If members of the public get together and run the buggers out of the neighbourhood then I am all for it. If the police and politicians don't like it then tough, they have had their chance to serve us and have failed miserably and we should have the opportunity to remove them from office based on poor performance - not by elections but by simple job performance metrics. In fact, probably the same performance measures they use to cook the books and tell us all how safe we are and how violent crime is falling.
Of course, everything would have to be done anonymously and covertly so the police don't know who is responsible for handing out the required sentencing.

I'm not talking full blown armed vigilantism and lynch mobs, just enough to make the point that what the perps are doing is wrong and that it WILL NOT go unpunished, that people are watching and will not tolerate their criminality in their neighbourhoods.

The guy should get a slap on the wrist, and then they should make him a REAL federal officer. Then they should fire every single police officer that wasn't able to do what he did. Then we should remove everyone that disagrees with this post.


---edit add---

I have relatives that suffered from meth addictions. I would gladly do what this officer did. Not only did he bring people to justice, but he actually saved many lives. No person should ever be punished for saving lives.

[edit on 2-7-2008 by ALLis0NE]

How could he make arrests? What police dept. could he take them to. The cops would had known that he wasn't a cop and the cases would had been thrown out of court. Did he just bust up the labs and let the preps go?

reply to post by lost in the midwest


Citizens arrest maybe?

These drug making pansies are scared, paranoid, druggies. Any person can run in their house with a gun, with a fake badge, and they would be so paranoid and high on drugs that they would believe it.

[edit on 2-7-2008 by ALLis0NE]

Originally posted by lost in the midwest
How could he make arrests? What police dept. could he take them to. The cops would had known that he wasn't a cop and the cases would had been thrown out of court. Did he just bust up the labs and let the preps go?

I think this quote from the article may answer your question.

Mayor Schulte said that Mr. Jakob had, in fact, gone to elaborate lengths to deceive local authorities, including Ryan McCrary, then the police chief, into believing that he was a federal agent — with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Marshals Service or some other agency.

In addition to having a badge and a car that seemed to scream law enforcement, Mr. Jakob offered federal drug enforcement help, Mr. Schulte said. (Local officials thought the offer must have somehow grown out of their recent application for a federal grant for radio equipment.) Mr. Jakob even asked Chief McCrary to call what he said was his supervisor’s telephone number to confirm Gerald’s need for his help, the mayor said.

wow, personally i think this was gutsy, i think we all know the police dont go into danger zones like this hardly anymore,they would rather sit on the side of the road and watch people fly by at 88 miles an hour..........seeing as why he (fibbed) i think he was in the right on this one, but now the police will probably harrass this guy instead of busting more people that need to be busted...IMHO

reply to post by Mad_Hatter


WoW!! what a con-man. Its a shame to waste talent like that. The Feds should make him work undercover, as part of his punishment.
:

Actualy this sounds pretty good. It might be on the side of Vigilantism, but in the past it was common and there is case law supporting it. Citizens have always had the right to bind together and protect they're towns and citizens. They just can't meet out justice, they must turn over any criminals to the authorities to be adjudicated. In this day and age with cops not able to do what needs to be done, the citizens are going to start doing it themselves. After all the citizens are ACTUALY the government. The cops are going to get pissed but who cares. If the ACLU wasn't around every corner making trouble an putting roadblocks up to good legal enforcement the cops would not be the way they are today. It would be a partnership not an US verses Them complex so many in law enforcement today live with!


Zindo

Originally posted by Mad_Hatter
Is there any point at which you think it would be okay to bend or even break the law for the greater good?

Having lived through Nixon and Watergate and Reagan/Ollie North and the Contras (and current POTUS who thinks he can), I would say no. He should have at the very least been a Buford Pusser, who at least was a real sheriff. info

No, first this man is breaking the law by impersonating a police officer, then goes on to break more laws acting as such. Citizens taking justice in their own hands is wrong. It sounds good, but where would it stop? Would my neighbor justify his/her actions against me, if he/she felt it was for the greater good because he/she believed, for example, I was a drug dealer based on friends visiting? Would my neighbor justify spying in my windows to see that I wasn't a terrorist?

Actually, there have been citizens arrests in my town, but the justice part cannot be done by citizens.

Originally posted by lost in the midwest
How could he make arrests? What police dept. could he take them to. The cops would had known that he wasn't a cop and the cases would had been thrown out of court. Did he just bust up the labs and let the preps go?

Yes, what's up with that??

Huh, and if he'd been a actual cop, peopled be in a uproar claiming he was intruding upon other peoples rights.
He said he didn't need a warrant, and jsut arrested people he believed were in the wrong... and y'all are ok with that?
Sure, it's cool and all, but if he'd been a actual cop? How many of his cases would have been thrown out? And what is thelikelihood his named be mud?