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Recent Articles By KEITH PLOCEK

National Features

He looks like a good cop. He's got the 'stache, the short-cropped hair, the pushed-out chest and the shiny badge. He sounds like a good cop too; drawled and official. He's got a TV reporter's microphone in his face and a brick of marijuana in his hand, and he's answering questions—not in the "I just accidentally Tasered an old lady" kind of way, but with a grin of accomplishment. The total bust was in the neighborhood of 275 pounds.

This is the old Barry Cooper. Top cop. Total prick. He claims more than 300 felony drug arrests during his eight years as an officer in Gladewater, Big Sandy and Odessa, and a former supervisor says he was damn good at his job, even if he doesn't agree with Cooper's latest get-rich idea.

The video cuts to a decade later, a few months ago. "That was me, Barry Cooper," he says, "top narcotics officer." His hair is longer. That 'stache is now a full-on goatee. The top cop has become a dude. "I'm going to show you places that I never found marijuana hidden." He talks with his hands, like a mellowed-out P.T. Barnum. "I'm going to teach you exactly how narcotic-detector dogs are trained, and I'm going to answer that age-old question: Do coffee grounds really work?"

It's quite the pitch: Former drug warrior sees the light, goes to the dark side and makes a video, Never Get Busted Again, with shady tips on how to fool the fuzz. Stoners rejoice. The new beginning of the end of prohibition is near.

"The drug war is a failed policy, and the legal side effects on the families are worse than the drugs," Cooper says. "I was so wrong in the things I did back then. I ruined lives."

Cooper now sees himself as the new face of marijuana reform, and he just might be right. He's got the credentials. He's got the charisma. He's got the shiny new DVD. Sure, his former colleagues don't approve, but that's to be expected. What's surprising is that Cooper has also managed to piss off some of the old guard, the hippies-turned-reformers who've been knocking on the back door for years, chipping away at the legal system with talk of medical marijuana and overcrowded prisons. He's a Johnny-come-lately, they say, an ex-narc looking to make a fast buck. He claims he doesn't understand why they're against him, but he's confident he'll eventually lead the flock:

"The people who take the time to know me will get on my side."

Ask any parent what his greatest accomplishment is, and he'll probably tell you his kids. It's a noble sentiment, for sure, but between that pause and the talk of being the richest man alive, there's a hint of disappointment, a resignation that comes with seeing your own dreams swirl down the commode. Your greatest accomplishment should be your kids, but shouldn't your second greatest accomplishment also be something great?

"When I was 5 years old, I specifically remember being in the backyard and it really felt like I had tens of thousands of people behind me, and I was leading them, and they were following me because they liked me, not because they had to," says Cooper, sitting on a couch in the living room of his three-bedroom house in Big Sandy, one of those small, pine-covered towns between Tyler and Longview. His wife and their four kids—two his and two hers—are huddled together in a warm pile on the other couch. Earlier today, he told one daughter he liked her hair, although he wished she would've used more blue; the pink was a tad overwhelming. "I want to be a freedom fighter," he says. "I want to help people get out of jail."

Cooper says he's always felt like he was meant to lead an army, but before he dreamt up Never Get Busted Again, he'd begun to think his chance had passed. He'd been a good cop. "He was hard-working, and he was talented," says Tom Finley, a private investigator in Midland who used to be a supervisor with the Permian Basin Drug Task Force, where Cooper worked between stints in East Texas. "He had trained his own dog. He was good. He made a lot of arrests and found a lot of drugs on the highway." But Cooper wound up on the wrong side of small-town politics—busting a mayor's son for meth and a councilman for pot didn't help—so he left law enforcement in 1996 to pursue two other ventures: selling used cars and preaching the gospel.

His larger-than-life persona and big, toothy grin served him well. "I was making more money in cars in a week than I'd make in a month for the police department," he says. "Everything I do, I make money on. That's my gift." As for the preaching, he had a congregation for six years, although he's reluctant to provide many details, save for abstract talk about how it ended: "The best I can tell, the Bible, it's about love and being friendly and being kind, and the meanest people you'll ever meet in your life are at church."

Cooper's not the kind of guy to sit still for long. He bounced around, owning car lots, tire shops and limo services in the one-stoplight, speed-trap towns of East Texas, eventually opening up a cage-fighting league called Xtreme Fight Championship. It was a good fit for him. Over the years, he's wound up in jail a few times, for unlawfully carrying a pistol, for assault, for making threats, for failing to return Jeepers Creepers and Jeepers Creepers II. All of the charges were dropped down or dismissed, although he is guilty of having bad taste in movies.

Write Your Comment show comments (16)

  1. This will all end with crying.

    Comment by Bill Piker — February 9, 2007 @ 10:02PM

  2. " Stroup says he has absolutely no problem with former drug warriors rethinking their positions; he just thinks Cooper is all about the cash.

    Cops are in it for the cash too...lots of federal funding for the drug war and the cops get to keep any loot they confiscate and lets not forget all those military toys coming in to fight potheads.

    Of course it all about the cash....the drug war has grown government substantially.

    Government needs a reason to exists and grow so more activities must be criminalized.

    Comment by mike ditka — February 10, 2007 @ 09:11AM

  3. do what china did - drag the drug dealers out in the street and shoot them

    Comment by quicksilver33 — February 10, 2007 @ 10:43AM

  4. if he is sincere ,he is doing the right thing / what he says is true.

    Comment by misw776 — February 10, 2007 @ 11:09PM

  5. mike ditka your obviously a misinformed pot head. I smoke weed too, but you make smokers seem dumb as hell. 1) Cops dont get to keep money that is confiscated
    2) the gov spends billions on the "drug war" so its actually taking from the gov.
    3) the gov. does not exist cuz of the war

    Comment by charlie — February 12, 2007 @ 04:23PM

  6. i love how these other jerkoff high strung cops say hes a cop gone bad. i think hes a cop gone good. so many of these idiots never think for themselves and just accept this atrocious drug war that has made 0 progress and has robbed tax payers of ungodly amounts of money. there needs to be more people like this ex-cop that see the light on this senseless drug war that was spearheaded by one of america's most abhorrent presidents of all time; dick nixon and his nazi drug czar harry j anslinger. so what if hes making some money off of it, and of course his prior colleagues are going to try and drag his credibility through the mud to prevent any success is his cause, they are just a bunch of haters.

    Comment by kb — February 16, 2007 @ 01:13AM

  7. When one considers the billion$ spent every year on incarceration and the billion$ spent on drug warriors, the lives ruined for a failed puritan cause you have to question the policy. I've come to the conclusion that there's just too much money in the drug war; money for attorneys, jails, increased profits for dealers for the gov't to back off on their insane course. Also, if they did finally come to their senses they'd probably be facing the issue of reparations to those who have had their lives ruined unjustly.

    We need 100,000 more like this guy.

    Comment by fdw — February 16, 2007 @ 07:21AM

  8. Don't shoot the messenger!! And he's right....the "movement" ain't moving. NORML?? They've been moving in slow motion for years! Quick...can you name 2 or 3 other marijuana law reform organizations?? I can't either. I say look at the message. With this guy at least SOMETHING is happening. We'll be watching....

    Comment by Chux — February 16, 2007 @ 11:07AM

  9. An adult should not be told what he can and cannot put in his body. All scheduled substances should be legal. It's all a matter of moderation. Those that choose to use drugs will do it regardless of the law. Those who choose to sell drugs do it to make a fast buck and that attracts a criminal element. If drugs are so bad for me why is it that I can go drink a cup of gasoline which is far more toxic and isn't illegal.

    Comment by NARC — February 16, 2007 @ 11:48AM

  10. Charlie, I think Mr/ Ditka does have a point. First off, you're right; cops aren't allowed to keep the money they seize. However, their departments get loads in federal funding, while the politicians that secure said fuding get votes from the pork alone. People who are fond of a police state (and let's not kid ourselves; they exist, and are more numerous than the freedom-lovers that visit sites likie this might be able to imagine) love the excuse to keep more boots on the ground (military analogy fully intended).

    And any police union run by intelligent people will realize that the end of the drug war would hurt them very badly. Without the drug war, we would need many fewer cops. Were the drug war ended today, there would be a LOT of laid-off cops out looking for jobs.

    Comment by Daryl Sawyer — February 16, 2007 @ 05:57PM

  11. Well, SOMEBODY gets to keep the money they confiscate. Who is to say that the narcs always report exactly what they took in? Cash is untraceable you know. And the money that does get confiscated, gets put into the police budget. As well as the proceeds from "asset seizures". It is time we end this idiotic war on some drugs. It has ruined too many lives, and destroyed too many of our civil liberties.

    Comment by Paul the cab driver — February 16, 2007 @ 06:26PM

  12. I'll second mike ditka's first point. The War has fuelled police confiscations and takings, and the departments are just getting greedier. It has fuelled the militarization of the police, leading to jackbooted SWAT teams serving no-knock warrants with guns drawn. That said, the cops are just as much victims in this stupid, senseless War as the users. When the Drug War Memorial goes up, their names should be on the wall, too.

    Comment by Ikester — February 16, 2007 @ 06:31PM

  13. Charlie,
    it sounds like you are strictly a user and not a trafficker. Do you think that cops report all the cash they find on drug traffickers? Dee dee dee! Hell no. I dare you to have 10,000+ on you and get pulled over with a few pounds of marijuana in the trunk. Then send us a picture of you reading the police report. The look of surprise will be priceless.

    Comment by Kevin — February 16, 2007 @ 11:36PM

  14. It's refreshing to see that the haters are in the minority here.

    I just wanted to let folks like quicksilver33 know that if anyone tries to drag anyone I care about into the street and shoot them, I will shoot first. These people have been threatening, harrassing, and locking up innocent people for years. It's about time they knew people have had just about enough.

    Comment by White Rabbit — February 16, 2007 @ 11:56PM

  15. Cool!!!! I like this guy! I have no prob. with folks makin dough!! Go get em dude! What matters is if he is right or not. And, he is right!! forget all these fools who worry about where he's commin from, as long as he speaks truth, he's cool with me!!!!
    And............... He speaks TRUTH!
    Go get em man!!!!!!!! As The lewrockwell folks would say-"Tu ne cede malis" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (aw, look it up! Fight evil w/ good sounds about right to me.
    Bonds! Tick

    Comment by john ticknor — February 17, 2007 @ 12:26AM

  16. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=198325969631851603

    Comment by kt — February 17, 2007 @ 08:33AM

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