drug dealer manager

patrickolee

Have a friend who is in a near minimum wage job. One of his colleagues (kind of manager) is dealing drugs (just hash we think). This dealer guy is getting very cocky and cutting the hash in his shop and in his view. My friend and others in the shop have asked him to stop, but he won't. He's quite threatening/agressive to deal with.

Is there any risk to my friend if the dealer gets caught (which he will do soon, plain clothes gaurds hanging around)? Is he guilty of anything just by seeing this going on and not reporting it? There are cameras in the shop. I've advised him just to leave the place as its not a great job anyway, but he's been there 6 years now and doesn't want to and doesn't feel he should have to. Is he at risk? Has he done anything wrong?

seamus

Knowing about a criminal offence and failing to report it, is in itself a criminal offence. People are very rarely prosecuted for it though. Probably because it's acknowledged that people have various social and emotional reasons why they can't/won't report a crime.

The best advice would be to either pluck up the courage to go the Gardai and report him, or leave. If reported, chances are the Gardai know about it and may rely on your mate to be a witness in court. If he leaves, he can forget about it. But yes, knowing about it and failing to report it could leave him in hot water.

patrickolee

Yes, that's what I was afraid of. I think the chances of me being able to convince him to report it to the gaurds and be a witness against him are fairly small. He wouldn't be the bravest person in the world :-) Sounds like leaving the job is his only option.

One of the other employees has already left after he was followed home by the gaurds. I think he may be wise.

folan

anonymous tip? from concerned customer?

Kimbot

Simply put...... an annon phone call to the local garda station will sort it out pretty quick!!

Spud83

patrickolee wrote:

Yes, that's what I was afraid of. I think the chances of me being able to convince him to report it to the gaurds and be a witness against him are fairly small. He wouldn't be the bravest person in the world :-) Sounds like leaving the job is his only option.

One of the other employees has already left after he was followed home by the gaurds. I think he may be wise.

Would he have to be a witness if there are cameras in the shop? Surely he could report to the guards in secrecy and then just let it play out. Or report it to the upper management and I'm sure they would be very interested in the fact this is going on on their site.

Kimbot

Or report it to the owner of the place if its a small local shop!!

patrickolee

The gaurds definitely know about it already, plain clothes all over the place by the sounds of it. I've asked him to tell the boss man, but he's afraid it'll get back to the dealer chap that it was him who reported. There's no way he'd testify against him. Basically he's scared and wants to stay out of it. With the cameras in the shop, I'm afraid he won't be able to. I'll get him to read this thread later, maybe it will convince him to leave the job. Best option imho.

Jo King

seamus wrote:

Knowing about a criminal offence and failing to report it, is in itself a criminal offence. People are very rarely prosecuted for it though. Probably because it's acknowledged that people have various social and emotional reasons why they can't/won't report a crime.

Oh. The old crime of misprision of felony was abolished in 1997. A crime is only committed if there is some step taken to assist the offender.

patrickolee

Oh, that's great news. Thanks

seamus

Jo, for the sake of information, do you have any links to the relevant acts/SIs?

Rhonda9000

Why the Criminal Law Act 1997 of course

s. 3

seamus

Thank you

Victor

Get him to go to the Garda and ask that his information be used for intelligence purposes only.

uberwolf

would an anonymous tip giving the exact time of one of these cutting sessions be enough for the cops to get a warrant for the footage?

They have a phoneline for such a purpopse

patrickolee

The cutting sessions seem to be fairly random. Thankfully they mostly happen when he's not there, but occasionally they happen in the overlap, but he wouldn't be able to say for sure that it would happen at a particular time/day. He's pretty sure the guards know about it already in any event. It's probably small pototoes in the grand scheme of things.

It looks like it might not happen again anyway. Someone else left the job as a result of the guys cutting sessions and has since got assurances that it won't happen again. It seems there are a few people in the job who have things to hide and don't want to get exposed. My friends happy enough as long as he isn't dragged into it. Hear no evil, see no evil.

johnnyskeleton

Jo King wrote:

Oh. The old crime of misprision of felony was abolished in 1997.

Although this abolishes the distinction between misdemeanors and felonies, it is more likely that, even if an old common law offence like that survived the establishment of the state and the enactment of the constitution, it would have fallen into obsolescence by now in any case.

Jo King wrote:

A crime is only committed if there is some step taken to assist the offender.

Or if some step is taken to avoid detection. Or if the person takes possession of the illegal item (for whatever reason). I also think that if the roles were reversed and it was the manager who knew that an employee possessed drugs on the premises, the manager could be held liable.

uberwolf wrote:

would an anonymous tip giving the exact time of one of these cutting sessions be enough for the cops to get a warrant for the footage?

In theory, I think the garda needs to have reason to believe that an anonymous tip is true so would need to investigate further before applying for a warrant, but in practice I'm sure they do get warrants on such unreliable grounds. In any case, remember it is a business premises so not constitutionally protected and if it is the video footage they are after, I'm sure they could just ask the owner of the premises to give it to them.

hullaballoo

Yes, misprision was abolished inadvertently by the 1997 Act. It had been a useful enough means to instill some vigilance in people. Oh well!

johnnyskeleton

hullaball&#250 wrote:

Yes, misprision was abolished inadvertently by the 1997 Act. It had been a useful enough means to instill some vigilance in people. Oh well!

Has it ever been used since the founding of the state?

hullaballoo

johnnyskeleton wrote:

Has it ever been used since the founding of the state?

I haven't taken the time to read every criminal case since the founding of the State, so I can't answer that. I was just paraphrasing PA McDermott, who seemed to lament the abolition of the offence.

pirelli

Hash People have always sought to legalise cannnabis.
I see this as the dream being realised. Here you can safely go to your local shop where your can feel safe and return home to a quiet evening smoke and a good fellas pizza. It could be the pro cannabis agenda versus the anti cannabis agenda.
(a recent study showed a connection between hashish use and brain disorder) ****
I can see your friends perspective however and would like to see him being treated wth respect and dignity at work.

** For this reason it might be wrong to sell the product to the customers with out some health warning like tobacco and alcohol carry on their product.

vasch_ro

probably the best thing to do is talk to a friend who is with the Gardai and get him to make the the necessary enquiries on the QT, you said the sessions are random so you may not be aware that the are going on as such, as they do not occur at the same time every day where by you might be reasonably be expected to be aware of his behavior, also after his day off
you could just say that the Gardai came in looking to speak to him and were asking loads of questions about him and try and spook the dude first.
Do you have any frinds or contacts in the local drug unit that you could talk too ?

vasch_ro

pirelli wrote:

** For this reason it might be wrong to sell the product to the customers with out some health warning like tobacco and alcohol carry on their product.

presently it is unlawful to sell hash/cannabis in Ireland