Reports all over the web say: "U.S. attorney's office in Grand Rapids claims Benton Harbor 26-year-old Officer Andrew Collins used his position to steal seized drugs. The indictment also says he reported fictitious drug sales to improperly gain search warrants and embezzle police funds." Of course there's the mention of consistent drug-planting to arrest, convict & imprison innocent Benton Harborites. The question now is how many, who, and at what levels were his accomplices?
Here are comments from media websites such as WNDU.com:
--I always thought this type of stuff was in Hollywood. Wow. I'm thrown back by this one. Reminds me of the movie, Training Day.
Posted on Jan 11, 2009
--Below, James described his impression of Collins as a "slick, lying, arrogant jerk." That's very interesting to me because I knew Collins for years, long before he became a police officer, and I had exactly the same impression. ...It's too bad, but he's just going to have to do his time. And many of us who have known him for years could see this coming.
Posted on Dec 26, 2008
--Sometimes organized crime gets one of their own on the force. If that's the case, the news won't talk about it, as a favor, you know, to the force, who have a kind of "understanding" with underworld elements as well as local beat reporters.
Posted on Dec 26, 2008
--I was on the jury of a drug case where Officer Collins was the key testifier to the fact that the accused hid crack in the seat of his police cruiser while being detained. Office Collins came off as a slick, lying, arrogant jerk. I was an alternate juror, but had I been retained for the verdict, would have voted for innocence based on Officer Collin's testimony (I believed he set up the accused).
