The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Detroit Police Plant Evidence:
And the Difference between the Cops and Other Gangsters???

Jun 11, 2001

James Culp, a Detroit man arrested in 2000 on drug charges, has just filed a federal lawsuit against the Detroit police under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Specifically Culp said the police first planted drugs on him as a pretext to arrest him, then after indicting him, offered to sell him the drugs that were to be used as evidence against him.

Two months after his 2000 arrest, Culp said the police came to his home and offered to sell him the evidence to be used against him for $5,000. When he paid them, they gave him the drugs, telling him to get rid of them.

The officers returned a second time to tell him there was more evidence to be gotten rid of in his case. But this time they demanded $10,000. Culp said he couldn’t borrow any more to pay them.

Unfortunately, he also told these crooked cops that he had not yet burned the evidence. The cops–all out of uniform–came back to his house when he wasn’t there. With guns drawn, they terrorized his wife, niece and children. The two women were pistol-whipped and his wife Rosetta was beaten unconscious. Both ended up in the hospital. The "off-duty" cops made it clear they were searching for the "evidence."

Is it just a coincidence that 30 KILOGRAMS of cocaine worth 12 million dollars showed up missing three months ago when the department inventoried its property room? If so, it’s an awfully big coincidence!

Remarked Culp’s lawyer about the missing evidence, "If [the police] really want to keep track of their drugs, they could rise to the level of 7-Eleven [and use surveillance cameras.]" Culp has turned the evidence over to the FBI, after Police Internal Affairs refused to talk to him.

The police–now what are they called? Guardians of the law?

Yes–but whose law?