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Police Power Part III

Police Power Part III image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
November
Year
1973
OCR Text

Police Power Part III

Krasny's

This is the third of a series on the Ann Arbor Police. All the information on the history of the police comes from a dissertation by John Perley Evans, written in 1972, entitled Blue Power: A Comparative Study of Police Political Behavior. The sources for the study come from candid interviews with police, from Chief Krasny down through the ranks. Evans also interviewed a number of city officials and community leaders who worked closely with the police. He plans to eventually publish a book based on his study.

"Cops nab two in record pot bust," screamed the headlines in the Michigan Daily. "2 Charged With Selling $130,000 Worth of Pot," cried the Ann Arbor News last week following a bust at Arborland.

With the arrest of two Californians and confiscation of 880 pounds of marijuana, Krasny and crew helped pull off what is believed to be "the largest marijuana seizure in the history of Washtenaw County."

And with these front page stories, Krasny pulled off another political plum in his battle against the "killer" weed. Undercover agents made arrangements to make a purchase. "When they delivered the stuff, we arrested them." said Police Chief Walter Krasny.

Krasny also made a point of telling reporters about the cocaine and handguns found, just to remind people of his many earlier statements that marijuana is often found with these kind of things. Police information director, Lt. Richard Hill said he believed the pair were part of a larger organization involved in transporting drugs into the state.

While no evidence was given to support such a claim, Krasny agreed with Hill, saying, "Yeah, these guys are big time." But it seems that a larger organization would have better contacts than two undercover agents in the Arborland parking lot. (Ann Arbor shopping center parking lots are becoming notorious for drug squad dealing and arrests. In a highly publicized coup earlier this year, three people were arrested in the Arborland parking lot for LSD sales.)

The war begins

Battle lines in the marijuana war were drawn early in 1971, as police and Republicans sided against a proposed ordinance to lower penalties on marijuana in the city. (This was over a