New Marshal in Tombstone
 

Newly appointed marshal, Lance Crosthwait, the sixth or seventh new marshal in the last three years, has blown the whistle.

• Based on Crosthwait's own observations and "verbal reports" of locals, deputies have been drinking alcohol on duty.

• Members of the Marshal's Office are "well known to have provided false statements and incorrect information in official matters." He based the allegation on the "opinion of various members of the legal community," according to court records and police files.

• There are complaints from women that "sexual favors were rendered" to members of the Marshal's Office in exchange for drugs or police protection or "freedom from arrest."

• Based on Crosthwait's observation and written reports from locals, some members of the Marshal's Office targeted locals for harassment because of their political or personal agendas.

I can't see how this is much different than a lot of local police departments except here it appears everyone is involved, not just a few bad actors. It also seems to be systematic. :(

With a name like "Lance Crosthwait" it's no wonder he wasn't interested in sexual favors from women in exchange for freedom from arrest, or special protection.

Perhaps if the local men in town were making the same offer, he's have played ball. ;)

In order to understand what is going on, it helps if you have been in Tombstone or at least lived in Southern Arizona on the Mexican border. EVERYBODY has names like "Lance Crosthwait" (if they aren't named "Manuel Garcia Garcia" or similar) because the territory is mostly divided up into huge ranches. Most of these ranches need 10 acres to support a cow, they are desolate, and are the prime running ground for drugs and illegals from Mexico. These are the folks who welcomed the Minuteman Project, and to describe these good ol' boys are independent would not be adequate. Some of the land south of Tombstone which is not private empires is owned by Phelps Dodge Mining, a Mormon enterprise which brought in many families of men digging the huge open-pit copper mine at Bisbee which is now closed. To the east of Tombstone is the traditional homeland of the Chiricahua Apaches, in some very rugged mountains, and an off-limits military base where spies and commandos are trained (according to local rumors, anyway). So you have a TOURIST TOWN which is surrounded on all sides by cowboys, Indians, miners, and military and nothing else. There are no suburbs, shopping malls, more than one road in or out, or new ideas being imported. Every single group is used to running things the way they like it and they don't care what anybody else thinks.

That a culture of corruption and laziness has sprung up in the police department there is not surprising. The officers are probably required to look the other way a lot of the time, it's not like they are detectives or trained investigators. They're just small-town cops. They can't offend a powerful rancher, can't cause a tourist to file a lawsuit because he was not handled delicately, don't get paid hardly anything because there is no competition for the job, and they might possibly be on the take from narcos in Mexico (which has unfortunately been too common in the law enforcement on the border). There is little for them to do in their spare time except drink. Tombstone is a fun place to party (and nearby Bisbee is very picturesque), but if you have to live there all the time it does not attract the best job applicants.

Out of control indeed.

Standard police procedure calls for the evidence to be kept in drawers, ad the sex toys to be displayed openly.

All this reminds me of this film which I was watching only last night ... GREAT movie!

and this film seems spot on
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116905/

I caught Lonestar as a way to pass the time waiting to bring someone home from work one day. I enjoyed it.