Woot! What I've been waiting for!

[Athena]

I've been watching this story (http://www.theagitator.com/?s=Cheye+Calvo+) since it broke over at The Agitator (http://www.theagitator.com/). As many of you are aware, I think that using SWAT as a standard aspect of narcotics investigations is absolutely RETARDED, and it speaks to the even greater retardism that we lovingly refer to as the War on Drugs. But on July 30th, police REALLY fucked up. They raided a Mayor's house, shot his two black labs (even though neither showed aggression and one was running away), dragged the Mayor down from his room in his boxers, handcuffed them all and sat them on the floor amongst the blood pools left by their beloved pets to be interrogated...

...All because the Mayor's wife, Trinity Tomsic, was the unknowing recipient of a package of marijuana. Traffickers had been using the addresses of innocent civilians to distribute the pot.

http://ndn.newsweek.com/media/63/Cheye-Calvo-dogs-raid-vl-vertical.jpg

To hell with the presumption of innocence.


For Trinity Tomsic, who arrived home in the middle of the raid, the episode is a nightmare from which she will probably never completely awaken. "They were my kids," she later said of her pets. "All I could see was the blood and tissue of my dogs" surrounding her handcuffed husband and mother.

Imagine being Georgia Porter, one minute cooking dinner, the next handcuffed on the kitchen floor, inches from the bloodied body of a dog who was part of her family. Imagine Cheye Calvo hearing the shots from upstairs, not knowing what was happening, and then finding himself handcuffed, helpless, forced to kneel in his underwear. Imagine Trinity Tomsic dealing with her defiled home--not only did the police slaughter their dogs, they tracked blood all over the house in a search that yielded nothing.

You need to imagine all these things because, in a way, we all live in that house. It's called our country, and this is what's starting to happen here.



Still think SWAT teams should be used as standard issue for narcotics investigations?

[Rotten Apple]

Heh. You know my answer.

Lucky it was only the dogs that are "like" children. Some people lose their actual children.

[Pete Bondurant]

Still think SWAT teams should be used as standard issue for narcotics investigations?




I still think SWAT teams should be used as standard issue for narcotics investigations.

[brokenandtwisted]

Still think SWAT teams should be used as standard issue for narcotics investigations?

Only if it's a shipment of hard drugs, in my opinion...something with millions of dollars involved. Subjected to reasonable limits, of course.

I'd sue for emotional distress.

[Gilbrit]

Berwyn Heights Police Chief Patrick Murphy has been highly critical of the county police for not alerting his eight-member department before the raid. He said his officers could have gained entry to the home without incident or informed county police that Calvo was unlikely to be violent.

Greenbelt Police Chief James R. Craze said yesterday that county officers contacted his 54-member department the day of the raid to ask whether his emergency response unit could serve the warrant. County police have said the Sheriff's Office was asked to participate because its team was busy at the time. Craze said it is not unusual for agencies to cooperate in such cases.

"From what I know, their SWAT team wasn't available, and that's why they were out shopping," he said.

He said his department, which conducts a drug raid a month, declined to take part because it is authorized to operate outside city limits only when the raid is conducted by a regional task force led by the Maryland State Police. County police are not part of the task force, Craze said.


SWAT wasn't in on this one, just county police narcotics officers.
Washington Post Story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080502664.html)

Prince George's County authorities did not have a "no-knock" warrant when they burst into the home of a mayor July 29, shooting and killing his two dogs -- contrary to what police said after the incident.

[Pete Bondurant]

I'd sue for emotional distress.

I'd have the S.W.A.T. team smash up your attorney's domecile.

[brokenandtwisted]

I'd have the S.W.A.T. team smash up your attorney's domecile.

I'd cut your head off and cannibalize you. Then plead insanity.

Yeah, I said it.

[Pete Bondurant]

I'd cut your head off and cannibalize you. Then plead insanity.

Yeah, I said it.

That...is...inspiring.


:spider: :spider: :spider: :spider: :spider: :spider:

:spider: :spider:

:spider: :spider: :spider:

:spider: :spider:

[Athena]

SWAT wasn't in on this one, just county police narcotics officers.
Washington Post Story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080502664.html)



From your link:


A Prince George's police spokesman said last week that a Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers were operating under such a warrant when they broke down the door of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, shooting and killing his black Labrador retrievers.

Regardless, paramilitary endeavors, whether it's actual SWAT or simply standard police with SWAT-like gear (even more dangerous) should not be used in situation where a reasonable threat has not been determined to exist. They didn't even bother finding out that this guy was the mayor, for christ's sake.

The thing is, especially with these no-knock warrants (which SWAT commonly doesn't have but enter like that anyway), it puts officers' lives in danger. I don't know about you folks, but I'm a gun-owner with a dog. If I was in bed, heard people break into my house and shoot my dog, I'd probably grab my gun. How am I supposed to know they're police? Especially since robbers have been dressing up like SWAT to gain entry into homes (http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008808080345).

If I shoot a cop, even if he didn't announce himself, I'm charged with murder (http://www.theagitator.com/2008/06/18/more-possible-police-misconduct-in-ryan-frederick-case/). Of course, if a cop shoots me during a raid (even if I'm unarmed and holding my infant son (http://www.theagitator.com/2008/08/05/lima-ohio-swat-officer-acquitted-in-the-killing-of-tarika-wilson/), he's cleared of charges if ever charged to begin with.

All I'm saying is that SWAT should be used for the special circumstances it was created for. Hostage situations or mafia busts. Using these tactics against people not even known to be dangerous or even deal drugs has set a precedent that is actively taking lives on both sides.

[celtic friend]

I never really thought of it like this, honestly.
When I was younger there were two groups of kids always fighting each other.
One night after a fight, the cops in plain clothes just walked into 3 of the boys' houses and had guns drawn, and proceeded to take the boys away. I guess they figured the kids would be home at 3am. Nothing ever came of the charges but that really could have gone dangerously wrong. What if Dad had a gun and just unloaded on them, not knowing who they were at 3 am?
I think it should be for pretty serious charges for them to be able to do this type of thing.