Insurgents

13

"When you were on the force you busted a lot of drug dealers, right?"

John leaned back in his chair and looked at me. It was turning out to be a slow evening and I hadn't been sent out on any calls since I'd gotten back from Manny's. "Yeah." He said. "All the time. Why?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking about something Mr. Loeffler said to me. He said he could get me a job in law enforcement. I told him I wasn't interested, but it kinda got me thinking. There's something attractive about the idea of bringing down a drug cartel. You ever get any big fish?"

"When I was on the taskforce that was our job," he said, "getting the big fish. It didn't really work though. We got a lot of possession with intent to distribute charges, but you hit the ceiling pretty quick. The low level people all flip on each other, but nobody's gonna give up a supplier. You really thinking about joining the force?"

"No, not seriously." I answered. "I'm just curious how it works. You say the low-level people wont give up the high-level people, but did you ever consider starting at the top?"

"How do you mean?"

"I don't know," I said, "maybe you could find someone who fits the profile of a big time supplier, and just watch him until you've got enough to make a case."

"Sometimes you can do it like that, but this is still America. You can't just start surveillance on somebody because you think he might be involved in something. You have to have some kind of evidence or information to start with. You need a warrant. That's drugs mind you -terrorism is another story. If they see you so much as looking at a bridge they can ship you off to a secret prison with a sack over your head. Go figure."

"You ever feel bad about it?" I asked. "Sending all those people to jail?"

"It was my job." He said. "I know these days they'll tell you addiction is a disease, but everyone knows it's a choice. Once you've made the choice it might be near impossible to reverse it, but near impossible aint impossible. Lots of people clean up their act. Sometimes doing fifteen months for possession is just the kind of wake-up call these addicts need."

"But what about Jessie?"

"What about her?"

"You know she smokes marijuana." I said. "She told me so. She could get thrown in jail for it."

"I never busted anyone for pot." He said. "Well, not just pot. If a crack dealer also had some pot, we'd throw that charge on there too, but I've never busted anyone for just pot. I'd say most of the people on the force have used it at some point in their lives, and I don't think anyone takes it too seriously."

"Some must." I said. "There's tons of people in jail on marijuana charges. There's gotta be cops out there who don't share your enlightened views."

"Jessie still smoke it every day?" He asked.

"Yeah, just about."

"Well, I wish she'd quit, but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon. Have those detectives been around to see you again?"

"They came by the house the other night." I said. "They were looking for David, I guess they thought he might be hiding out with us."

"I know, Jessie told me." He said. "I meant since then."

"No, they haven't been around since."

"You tell them everything you know?" He asked, tilting his head forward to emphasize the seriousness of the question.