Policing in NY: Former 32nd Precinct Detective Says the War on Drugs Has Failed, Denounces the Criminal Justice System

From the News Vault
(January 31, 2018)

David Gornoski: In this powerful new video interview, retired detective John Baeza shines a light on the darkness of our criminally unjust justice system.

Before he was Ron Paul and Rand Paul’s head of security, John Baeza was a cop’s cop. Coming from a family tradition of public servants, Baeza started his career as a corrections officer in New York’s infamous Sing Sing prison. He later became an undercover narcotics detective in Manhattan during the height of the 80s crack craze. It was there that Baeza had a Road to Damascus experience: after almost losing his life in an undercover drug buy, he realized the futility of the drug war and all victimless crime laws.

I recently sat down with Baeza, now retired from law enforcement, and an international private detective, author of multiple scholarly papers on serial crimes and forensic science, and an expert consultant on cases involving police procedure and potential misconduct, for one of the most harrowing stories I have encountered.

David Gornoski is a syndicated writer, speaker, and thought leader on mimetic theory. His essays appear in outlets like The Daily Caller, Townhall.com, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE.org), and The American Conservative. A fellow of the Moving Picture Institute, he directs A Neighbor’s Choice as a media platform to explore a new culture of nonviolence.