The Ocean City Police Department’s Narcotics Unit concluded a nearly two-year undercover investigation this week with the indictments of 34 individuals for 91 charges of distribution of controlled dangerous substance (CDS) and 28 charges of conspiracy to distribute CDS. During the investigation, an Ocean City Police officer acting in a covert capacity started a legitimate taxicab company in which he acted as the owner/operator of the company.
WHAT: Press conference to discuss the Ocean City Police Department‘s nearly two year undercover operation.
WHEN: Monday, February 13, 2012
10:00 a.m.
WHERE: Ocean City Public Safety Building, 1st Floor Lobby
6501 Coastal Highway
Ocean City, Maryland 21842
WHO: Chief Bernadette A. DiPino, Ocean City Police Department
Sheriff Reggie Mason, Worcester County Sheriff’s Office
States Attorney Beau Oglesby, Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office
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13 comments:
That is wonderful! Goes to show what can happen with different police agencies and the state's attorney working together. Probably someone will write that the police office that posed as a cab driver is guilty of entrapment!
Don't drink and drive....take cab. Be drunk and talk too much = JAIL. Better off risking the DUI!
wow! They need to do this in Salisbury.
It is absolutely entrapment. But if you are a police officer in Ocean City you can pretty much do what you want and will face no disciplinary actions from the department. There is very little protections and serving going on around here, if you have ever called 911 in ocean city and it was not about the smell of drugs or something along those lines you probably did not see them or it was long after the fact. I have seen many times 3-4 cops at a traffic stop ripping a young adults car apart to later request assistance at my place of work while being assaulted and attempted robbery to see them an hour later after the fact. It bad enough that you beg harassed by undercover officers on the boardwalk trying to sell you drugs, and for those that have not been approached they are very overbearing and almost demanding that you buy from them, now you cant get into a cab drunk because officers offer free rides for pills. Welcome to Ocean City.
P.S. Tasers will be in town next week so come to town and feel the electric in the air.
I would like to know where all that money went from this?
Now this is what you call getting the drugs off OUR streets instead of hanging around on the highways pulling traffic, hoping to get the drug runners just passing through the state.
I wish they would have kept this a secret though.
Outstanding Job! Not even close to "entrapment" Go back to tv lawyer school.
not all of these people are drug runners, many of these people were just joe blow stoners minding their own business getting a can home from a night of drinking and officers are offering free fares for dime bags and pills. No big time drug dealer is stupid enough to caught up in something like this, so lets be real about it. I would also like to know where 2 years worth of profits went. I know they gave more than 34 people rides in two years. I would assume that they kept every cent of it to buy themselves more toys when the average city will never see a raise.
Entrapment? Nope! Entrapment is defined as coercing an individual, by a law enforcement officer, to entice them to do something (commit a crime) that they would not normally commit.
I'm paraphrasing but that's the jist of it.
Let's face it, bad guys are stupid. All of them are. That's why the commit crimes and that's how they get caught.
Using their stupidity to catch them is good police work. Hat's off to Worcester County Law Enforcement!!
Craig Theobald
Ironshire
When you go to a town for vacation and pay a company for a service, you are definitely not paying for an undercover officer to look for ways to arrest you. Did the ocpd own the taxi? Then it should say ocpd taxi on the side. And people wonder why business in town is in decline. You can't even take a taxi without being harassed by police. No skateboarding. No dogs. You have a better chance of being arrested in this town than enjoying your vacation. Do the police do some good? Of course. Will I ever drive through town after midnight no matter if I'm sober as a judge? Nope. The ocpd regularly make unwarranted arrests and charge people with ridiculous offenses, which are usually thrown out after the accused spends the money on a lawyer, place to stay a few months later, and court costs. It's basically extortion, not entrapment.
Hats off to catching a few people on vacation trying to tip the driver with a bag of weed! You've really got the worst of the worst here.. Good work you guys!
It is absolutely entrapment. But if you are a police officer in Ocean City you can pretty much do what you want and will face no disciplinary actions from the department. There is very little protections and serving going on around here, if you have ever called 911 in ocean city and it was not about the smell of drugs or something along those lines you probably did not see them or it was long after the fact. I have seen many times 3-4 cops at a traffic stop ripping a young adults car apart to later request assistance at my place of work while being assaulted and attempted robbery to see them an hour later after the fact. It bad enough that you beg harassed by undercover officers on the boardwalk trying to sell you drugs, and for those that have not been approached they are very overbearing and almost demanding that you buy from them, now you cant get into a cab drunk because officers offer free rides for pills. Welcome to Ocean City.
P.S. Tasers will be in town next week so come to town and feel the electric in the air.
OMG, some of you people just don't get it, do you?
If you're not a drug dealer/user, what's the problem?
If you're doing an illegal activity, it shouldn't matter HOW you get caught!
Some of you are doing nothing more than saying "let's protect the criminals." At the same time, if one of these people sold or gave drugs to your son or daughter, you'd be yelling at the top of your lungs "I don't care what it takes, get them off the streets and away from my kid!"
Good for these guys for doing what they had to do for their investigations in order to make the busts!
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