# How could any cop (or human) resist this? (huge amount of drug money found) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2007, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323 "2007-03-17T10:54:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/41 "2007-03-22T04:34:21Z")
[QUOTE=DanBlather] But did you actually have the $2,000 to pay him? [/QUOTE] Um. You need to read that quote again. I was offered money by someone else. They wanted ME to work on THEIR porn film. Why would I need to pay them? ( well… 😃 😃 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/42 "2007-03-22T04:50:58Z")
[QUOTE=GiantRat] Sure, privacy laws be damned. “Those laws don’t apply to us - we’re police officers!” Oh, wait, that’s what started the whole thread in the first place. [/QUOTE] Anyone has a right not to have the government snoop into his private financial dealings but no one has a right to a job as a public employee. If you want to be a public employee you cede certain rights regarding the privacy of your financial affairs. Here is a sample[law on financial disclosure by public official and employees in Pennsylvania.](http://members.aol.com/StatutesP7/65.Cp.C11.html) Other jurisdictions, such as the federal government, have similar laws. > [@](#): > > Para. 1101.1. purpose. > > (a) Declarations.–The legislature hereby declares that public office is a public trust … and > [@](#): > > Para. 1104. Statement of financial interests required to be filed. > > (a) Public Official or Public Employee.–Each public official of the commonwealth shall file a statement of financial interests for the preceding calendar year with the commission no later than may 1 of each year that he holds such a position and of the year after he leaves such a position. Each public employee and public official of the Commonwealth shall file a statement of financial interests for the preceding calendar year with the department, agency, body or bureau in which he is employed or to which he is appointed or elected no later than May 1 of each year that he holds such a position and of the year after he leaves such a position. Any other public employee orpublic official shall file a statement of financial interests with the governing authority of the political subdivision by which he is employed or within which he is appointed or elected no later than may 1 of each year that he holds such a position and of the year after he leaves such a position. Para. 1105 is a list of the required contents of the disclosure. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/43 "2007-03-23T04:51:43Z")
BTW, they have recounted the money and the confiscated amount _increased_ by over another million. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/44 "2007-03-23T07:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=CBEscapee] BTW, they have recounted the money and the confiscated amount _increased_ by over another million. [/QUOTE] That’s interesting. Maybe someone had his regrets and returned his cut of the loot? ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/45 "2007-03-23T07:41:47Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] That’s interesting. Maybe someone had his regrets and returned his cut of the loot? [/QUOTE] Ha! We have some Federales amongst the Dopers, apparently… ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/46 "2007-03-23T12:02:02Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] That’s interesting. Maybe someone had his regrets and returned his cut of the loot? [/QUOTE] The extra money was in Mexican currency, 17 million plus pesos. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/47 "2007-03-24T17:28:20Z")
> [@](#): > > The is both the USD and Mexican peso sign. Many stores in Mexico indicate prizes "US" if they’re in USD. The one time I was in Mexico (in a border town, where both currencies would be common), the stores used slightly different symbols for the two. One of them had two vertical bars, the other had only one. I can’t remember which was which, though. ---
**Author:** ![enigm4tic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@enigm4tic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigm4tic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/48 "2007-03-24T19:24:15Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I was offered cash to work on a porn movie about 15 years ago. Two days on a weekend of work. I was told to name my price. I said without hesitation, $ 2,000.00 a day cash" and the guy coolly said, " That won’t be a problem. " Cite? 😉 less hijacking… > [@](#): > > And the $ symbol is descended from “Pesos”: > > [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_178.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_178.html) Wow, ignorance fought, I was always of the “U and S” camp. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/49 "2007-03-24T22:42:56Z")
[QUOTE=FRDE] They said it was amazing the things that would turn up, in one case they found £60,000 in cash in some old lady’s place. They considered it fair compensation for lousy wages and disgusting work. [/QUOTE] I don’t think her relatives would agree. That’s just plain bad. ---
**Author:** ![Mapache](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Mapache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mapache)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/50 "2007-03-24T23:43:54Z")
One interesting thing about Mexican law is that the statute of limitations on corruption, or what they call Illicit Income, is very short- less than a year, I think. About 200 meters from my front door, a particularly well-known corrupt politician (a tautology if there ever was one) has built a huge mansion, with an olympic size swimming pool, a tennis court with stadium lights, a bunch of outbuildings and gazebos and so on, which is sitting empty until he can’t be prosecuted. (Maybe they’ll pave the road leading past my house on his ticket). Also cops living way above their purported income is so common that the converse, like my born-again-Christian compadre/ex chief of police, is an object of somewhat disdainful curiosity to other cops because he doesn’t wear a Rolex and drive a Lincoln Navigator. Maybe the cops who took part in the above-described bust didn’t fill every suitcase, pocket, and car trunk with whatever they could carry, but no one in Mexico is going to believe they didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/51 "2007-03-25T06:12:43Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] I don’t think her relatives would agree. That’s just plain bad. [/QUOTE] I doubt she had any relatives - or none that were close ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2007, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/52 "2007-03-25T10:35:21Z")
[QUOTE=FRDE] I doubt she had any relatives - or none that were close [/QUOTE] It’s still stealing from those who didn’t even ask them to do the job. They took a job based on the duties and the pay. Do it. The relatives are owed the money. Period. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323/53 "2007-03-26T05:06:49Z")
[QUOTE=David Simmons] Anyone has a right not to have the government snoop into his private financial dealings but no one has a right to a job as a public employee. If you want to be a public employee you cede certain rights regarding the privacy of your financial affairs. ``` (All my comments are in terms of the US, and to the best of my knowledge) Being a civil servant doesn't mean that you forfeit your rights as a citizen. You are correct in saying that you cede some rights in regard to privacy, but those are (in most cases) rights pertaining to background investigations - you must grant the government permission to research your criminal history without reason; likewise your driving record, tax record, and pretty much any other record on record :) . But once you are an employee of the government, you have the same privacy rights as everyone else (unless you fall into a certain category exempted from that). If you're involved in stealing money from a company, then you are also stealing money from the government by proxy. Uncle Sam doesn't tolerate thievery because whenever you steal money, you're stealing from Sam. ``` [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-any-cop-or-human-resist-this-huge-amount-of-drug-money-found/396323.md?page=2)