New York Police using undercover officers to bust drugs addicts, not their dealers

NYPD cars parked alongside sidewalk in East Harlem neighborhood Getty Images/Spencer Platt

The New York Police Department has been conducting undercover operations that target impoverished drug addicts, but not the actual drug dealers.

Using a tactic that aims to prosecute low-level drug offenders, an undercover officer will approach an addict and ask them to buy $20 or $40 worth of drugs — crack or heroin, according to a Monday report by the New York Times. The addict will go buy the drugs from a nearby dealer, return the product to the undercover officer, and be immediately arrested.

In each instance, the Times says, NYPD officers did not pursue the drug dealer. One case involved an officer supplying his cellphone for the addict to call a dealer, who still was not arrested.

The reality of drug addiction makes it hard for addicts to say no to the prospect of having some money in their hand, possibly en route to the next fix.

“For him to put the money in my hand, as an addict, let me tell you what happens,” a 55-year-old crack addict, Reginald J., told the Times. “I like to think I could resist it, but I’m way beyond that. My experience has shown me that 1,000 times out of 1,000 times, I will be defeated.”

In four trials analysed by the Times, three of the defendants had been acquitted. The Manhattan district attorney’s office would not comment on whether or not the office found the sting operations to be “appropriate.” It remains unclear how far these tactics extended.

Jurors who served on the cases were disturbed by the NYPD’s operations against such minor offenders.

In a letter to prosecutors following one trial, juror Seth Silverman, said it was “approaching absurd” that the district attorney would use the “awesome power of [their] office … on such a marginal case.”

Another juror from a different trial echoed the concern.

“The big underlying question is why a nine-person buy-and-bust team did not follow him to the dealer where he got it from,” Scott Link told the Times. “Everyone [in the jury] was scratching their heads, wondering what the heck is wrong with our system.”

The NYPD busts go against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s efforts to reform the criminal justice system in his city.

In late 2014, Mr de Blasio launched $130m program to significantly reduce the prison population, giving low level offenders, such as drug addicts, the opportunity to seek treatment instead of prison time.

Mr de Blasio concluded: “This comprehensive plan to identify and divert individuals out of the criminal justice system and connect them with treatment and services to address their underlying issues will mean not only safer streets, but stronger neighborhoods and healthier people.”