Sister Iroz
November 17th, 2008, 01:41 AM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An Arlington woman has made a complaint against a Jacksonville SWAT team after she said it destroyed part of her property in its effort to serve and protect.
Police swarmed Joyceann Gibbs' Arlington neighborhood Wednesday night. A SWAT team responded to a home next door to Gibbs' as they tried to talk out a man barricaded in the house.
Gibbs said she wasn't home at the time of the SWAT standoff, but she said she was shocked when she saw a report on the news the next morning.
"I noticed on the news at 5:30 a.m. on Channel 4 that there was a SWAT team on Sandy Shores," Gibbs said.
She said SWAT team members and equipment littered her property as they did their jobs.
"I could tell by the newscast that they had one of their machines out here. It looked like the bomb machine. There are tracks all swerved in the driveway, and it went over this area and crushed in the fence," Gibbs said.
Damage to her property wasn’t the only thing about which Gibbs had to complain; she said SWAT members opened the gate to her back yard and let out her three dogs and three cats.
She said she spent five hours trying track down her pets.
"I think it was an invasion of privacy. If they had asked a neighbor, they could have given my number and I could have come over and secured my animals," Gibbs said.
While the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office didn't comment on Gibbs' case specifically, it said if a team ever causes property damage, it turns the case over to the city's risk management department and it investigates on a case-by-case basis.
Gibbs said she understands JSO was just doing its job. She said she just wishes it could have been done differently.
"I understand their goal is to keep from harming themselves or anyone else. It was just that I think if you can get a number before you go through their property and let their animals out," Gibbs said.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/17985350/detail.html
Police swarmed Joyceann Gibbs' Arlington neighborhood Wednesday night. A SWAT team responded to a home next door to Gibbs' as they tried to talk out a man barricaded in the house.
Gibbs said she wasn't home at the time of the SWAT standoff, but she said she was shocked when she saw a report on the news the next morning.
"I noticed on the news at 5:30 a.m. on Channel 4 that there was a SWAT team on Sandy Shores," Gibbs said.
She said SWAT team members and equipment littered her property as they did their jobs.
"I could tell by the newscast that they had one of their machines out here. It looked like the bomb machine. There are tracks all swerved in the driveway, and it went over this area and crushed in the fence," Gibbs said.
Damage to her property wasn’t the only thing about which Gibbs had to complain; she said SWAT members opened the gate to her back yard and let out her three dogs and three cats.
She said she spent five hours trying track down her pets.
"I think it was an invasion of privacy. If they had asked a neighbor, they could have given my number and I could have come over and secured my animals," Gibbs said.
While the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office didn't comment on Gibbs' case specifically, it said if a team ever causes property damage, it turns the case over to the city's risk management department and it investigates on a case-by-case basis.
Gibbs said she understands JSO was just doing its job. She said she just wishes it could have been done differently.
"I understand their goal is to keep from harming themselves or anyone else. It was just that I think if you can get a number before you go through their property and let their animals out," Gibbs said.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/17985350/detail.html