The 1980s War on Drugs
How Ronald Reagan and his administration incentivized drug raids, which weakened the Public Trust and is still being damaged to this day.
Drugs in the 1980s took on a new role and became seen as much different across the nation. President Reagan initiated the war on drugs campaign to help combat the use of marijuana and other hard drugs. Reagan and his campaign focused on taking out marijuana, as they felt it was a gateway drug to other harder forms. Over the course of fighting the war on drugs, many new aspects of policing began to take place and be considered. Over time it became clear that the war on drugs was being heavily incentivized to help take the drugs off of the street.
Ronald Reagan-Speech to the Nation on the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (September 14, 1986)
To help get more results out of the law enforcement officers fighting the war on drugs, President Reagan organized the civil asset forfeiture of 1982. This made it possible that officers could seize property solely based on suspicion that a drug crime took place. Reagan and his campaign also fought for the incentive of forfeiture of substitute assets. This was a large incentive for law enforcement agencies nationwide. This is when the government could estimate the amount of money the suspect had made in the drug trade and confiscate that proportion of their property. Both of these bills were passed in 1984 of the comprehensive crime control act.
Law enforcement officers saw the civil asset forfeiture as a good way to earn extra money, and even saw it as a game. This led to officers seizing money, guns, and drugs for little to no reason. This became known as “policing for profit” as the confiscated items could be kept and used however, they would like. This was bad as police started to lose community bonds, and it increased the gap between civilians and law enforcement officers. Stop and frisk became more popular, and some cities passed anti-loitering laws which essentially gave law enforcement the right to arrest anyone who was simply hanging around outside. These policies ultimately deteriorated the already thin line between many communities and police agencies. This was a huge negative impact, and was ultimately the largest of negative consequences.
In 1987 the National Defense Appropriation Act allowed the National Guard to work with law enforcement agencies and allowed them to conduct searches and make arrests while being deployed. Law enforcement agencies also gained access to the National Guard aircraft. More and more national guard involvement began to take place, which led to them being deployed more often and perhaps overused. National guard and SWAT was being used for drug raids, which was not the initial use of SWAT. The more common drug raids also weakened the bond between communities and police officers.
There was a rise in police abuse of power and use of force complaints during this time. This began to play into the role that cops were “untouchable” as accountability was far and few between. Not only was the mistrust in communities a huge negative consequence, but there were also many other issues. There were many unneeded deaths and injuries of law enforcement officers and civilians during drug raids and other tactics. The increase in police brutality as seen in the Christopher Commission was a huge negative both at the time, and today in policing. The damage done during this time has still carried into modern life and is still what many people see today when they look at the cops. With the incentives of forfeitures this along with harsher punishments led to more and more innocent or small-minded suspects being put into jail. With all of this taking place, there was a lack of accountability by the police, which was seen by the public and caused a fear of the police to rise.
With all of the negatives such as increased deaths, lack of trust, and a broken bond between civilians and police, there was still some good to come from the war on drugs. Reagans fight to combat drugs was deemed successful. There was a lot of taking the good with the bad during the “tough on crime” movement. As time went on it was clear there was a drug problem, however, it was clear there was also a police brutality problem. The movement was a huge eye opener and learning component in history for modern policing.
The Public Trust in the 1980s diminished as citizens witnessed Police Officers everywhere simply violating Civil Rights everywhere as it was being encouraged to find for money from suspected drug money. Men and women dressed like soldiers would burst through doors and seize anything drug related they could simply find.
To this day those impacted due to this "War on Drugs" still have a negative view of Law Enforcement Officers. This view is passed down from generation to generation which is a large reason communities have a mistrust with police everywhere.
The "War on Drugs" did help significantly deplete the amount of drugs on the street. This however, was not worth the negative consequences that came from the number of drugs being taken off the street. This belief that "Cops are not held accountable" stemmed from this era and is far from true. However, it is still a very common thought in today's age which has made policing hard for certain areas of the country.
