Fighting the system from within.

AuthorGillespie, Nick
PositionNeill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - Soundbite - Interview

Retired Major Neill Franklin spent 34years with the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department. Today he serves as executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a nonprofit that advocates an end to the war on drugs. Reason TV's Nick Gillespie sat down with Franklin at FreedomFest in Las Vegas in July. For a video version of this interview, visitreason.com.

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Q: Do blacks and whites have dramatically different experiences with police?

A: Absolutely. Historically in this country, the police have never really been the friends of the black community. We're only a couple hundred years out of slavery, and the slave patrols--mainly in the South--were rounding up runaway slaves and so on, and much of ourpolicingwas born outofthat.

Q: You're pulled over and you get a ticket, which gets a fine attached to it when you don't pay it because you don't have the money. Is it a means for social control?

A: Police have always been tax collectors, and unfortunately certain communities bearthat burden more than others.

You know, a $250 fine doesn't mean much to people who have money. Pay the fine and go on and get another tomorrow. No big deal. But when you enforce these policies in poor communities--and this was one of the things that was discovered in the St. Louis/Ferguson area--a $100 fine can devastate a family.

Q: In Dallas during a Black Lives Matter protest five policemen were killed. How does that make you feel?

A: In addition to feeling the pain of the families of those five police officers, the other thing that came to mind was the disservice that we have done to our police brothers and sisters in this country. And when I say "we," I'm talking about our politicians, and I'm talking about the policies that we have passed and continue to pass, such as drug prohibition, where we're trying to solve a public health crisis with criminal justice solutions. And our cops are the tip of...

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