Cops on strings...

[Randwolf]

One more of a gazillion threads on drug use / abuse, I know, but...

One of my friends (female) got busted. Busted for trafficking Oxycontin. Apparently she sold five (5) (yeah, count 'em, 5) pills to another "friend" who turned out to be a CI. (Confidential Informant, technically on the police "payroll") Six months ago. So what, right? Happens every day...

However, that's not my issue here, although I could go for days bitching about the underlying "Drug War", so much that it makes me puke.

My issue with this:
They waited almost six months, then came f*cking crashing through the windows of her third floor apartment on ropes. For real. She has three kids, which of course got scared to death and were promptly taken into Child Services custody.

Now, I understand that what she did is against the law of the land (USA), plus you can take whatever moral stance regarding this that you like.

My question is, why execute the warrant in this fashion?

I mean, it's not like she was squatting in a boarded up crack-house, likely to be surrounded by armed thugs. She is just your normal, average late thirties housewife type. The cops knew this. They had her under surveillance for 5-6 months. They knew they weren't busting some drug king-pin, just a low level user of prescribed medication. Yes, she occasionally sold some of her prescribed pills for extra money. This may be "wrong", but do we need the drama scene with vice cops literally swinging in through the windows armed with M-16's? Is that really necessary? Of course, as I said earlier, this traumatized her children - more than a little.

They did this in broad daylight, not even waiting for a time during which she was having a party or even entertaining a couple of guests - they might have found someone else with a joint or something on them had they timed their "Spiderman" arrivals a little better. As it is, they got jack - except what they already had on her from six months ago.

As she said afterwards to her boyfriend: "They could have just knocked on my door - the results would have been the same".

So really - what is the point? Training exercise, maybe? That is the only "logical" (and I use that word hesitantly) possibility that I can come up with. I guess we are determined to increase the percentage of people incarcerated for drug violations, so as to achieve / maintain our number one rating on the number of people behind bars for minor drug offenses.

And don't try to tell me that maybe she was involved more than I know - I ain't buying it, I know her too well. But if this defense makes your sleep less troubled, fine. Whatever works for you, but I know the extent of her involvement in the "underworld". Smoke some pot and occasionally sell some of her prescription for extra money. Period. Is all this Oorah necessary? How would you handle a situation like this, even assuming you are charged with upholding the law? A bit overboard, don't you think?

Thoughts?

 

[cosmictraveler]

The police many times wait to get more people into their "sting" over a longer period of time because no one knows who the CI is and compiling the people who the CI bought the drugs from. The more time they wait, the more people they can catch. If they just used the CI for one bust then everyone would know who the CI was and their cover would be blown.

 

[Tiassa]

The obvious

My question is, why execute the warrant in this fashion?

Because they're cops. This is how they fool themselves into believing they're doing any good for society at large.

 

[Neverfly]

Is that S.O.P., by the book, no matter the circumstances?

 

[Doreen]

Is all this Oorah necessary? How would you handle a situation like this, even assuming you are charged with upholding the law? A bit overboard, don't you think?

Thoughts?

Sort of a mini Waco.

Obviously not the best way to handle it. Better to do it would be to walk toward her from all sides, on the street when she is heading, alone, to the store or whatever. Probably safer for them also. Smashing into an apartment, where you cannot see what they are doing clearly, is very dangerous. Hell, in some states, nice law abiding citizens might start shooting, and with heavy weapons.

After approaching her on the street or on her steps they can sit her down in the car and work out all the kid stuff calmly. Then they can do a search of the house when the kids are with relatives or whatever.

This is not a pattern where things are getting better and more democratic. We are moving back in time in the ways law enforcement deals with the public AND the technology and weapons they have keep getting better (or worse depending).

 

[Faure]

I honestly don't believe that they busted through her window SWAT-style on ropes. That is, to my knowledge, utterly contrary to every operations manual in any jurisdiction I've ever heard of. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but its odd sounding enough to make me highly skeptical of your claims. Is there any evidence anywhere that any jurisdiction in the country executes low-level felony warrants for prima facie nonviolent suspects in this manner?

In my opinion, you're either grossly exaggerating, outright lying, or don't know the whole story. Unless I'm completely wrong about standard procedure, the only circumstance I can think of this making sense in is if they had reason (maybe good, maybe bad reason) to believe your friend was a more significant player in the drug trafficking arena than you think she is.

 

[Randwolf]

I honestly don't believe that they busted through her window SWAT-style on ropes. That is, to my knowledge, utterly contrary to every operations manual in any jurisdiction I've ever heard of. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but its odd sounding enough to make me highly skeptical of your claims. Is there any evidence anywhere that any jurisdiction in the country executes low-level felony warrants for prima facie nonviolent suspects in this manner?

In my opinion, you're either grossly exaggerating, outright lying, or don't know the whole story. Unless I'm completely wrong about standard procedure, the only circumstance I can think of this making sense in is if they had reason (maybe good, maybe bad reason) to believe your friend was a more significant player in the drug trafficking arena than you think she is.

You can be as highly skeptical as you want, but you would also be wrong. I have nothing to gain by reporting this, and your post is the first I have responded to on this thread - mainly it was a rant. I have nothing to gain, I have been on this site for two years, check my other posts - do you see anything that looks like exaggerated, attention seeking BS? (Other than the shit we all do )

I will tell you that this occurred in west Florida, USA. Hell, it was Tampa Bay, if that helps, and you have some sort of "inside connections" you can check. The only reason I posted it is the very reasons you mention - I wouldn't believe it either, had I not been so close to the situation. My life (of which you know nothing) has brought me into contact with a lot of branches of law-enforcement. I have seem strange, sometimes over the top things happen before - mostly to do with RICO enforcement, but the people in question at least had the potential to be involved in something warranting the kind of treatment that was dished out here...

What you are saying, IMO, is essentially true - what they did was wrong unless she was in deep - but she wasn't. Mostly, I think they had their intel mixed up - they thought they had something entirely different from what they had at hand.

As to "SWAT" style, it was SWAT. Period. I personally believe, after some time to think it over, that they thought she was harboring some sort of high level drug dealer in her apartment. Remember, this all started with a CI, who knows what that weasel told the authorities?

All I can tell you, is I heard the story initially from the woman's boyfriend / fiance / whatever PC term you prefer, and later (short version) directly from the woman in question. They are threatening her with ten years per pill (Standard on the books for trafficking oxycontin, if anyone ever actually got that sort of sentence), and treating her in all ways imaginable as if she has knowledge of some large, sophisticated drug ring. So you are probably right, she was probably more deeply, much more deeply involved, than it appears - in their eyes. Problem is, she wasn't. I think I know the truth about this situation, and by way of comparison, let's just say I have heard "rumors" regarding others of my acquaintance that might actually deserve such treatment, if the truth were to be known.

Nonetheless, presuming she didn't break three large windows of her own from the outside in (which I personally checked out after the fact) then someone did. At the moment I will take her word for what happened, I've known her nearly twenty years - I have no reason to believe she lied about how it went down.

Similarly, you have no reason to believe I am lieing in my relay of the story, except that you are "highly skeptical". Can't say I blame you...

On the other hand, don't know what to tell you pal, nothing has hit the newspapers, so I have no collaboration to offer you. However, remember when they "extricated" that teen-age kid in Miami, FL several years back for deportation? (to Cuba, if I remember) Found him in the closet at his relatives' house? Flung open the closet door with M-16's? I think it was in the late '90s, try googling for it if you're too young to remember - I have nothing to prove here, and I'm not doing your work for you. Anyway, that event was recognized as being extremely wrong, covered by international news, etc. - but it f*cking happened. Same idea here - maybe they thought she had OBL hiding out inside, I don't know.

The way I told it was the way it happened - feel free to speculate on the motives all you like, but don't accuse me of lieing unless you have proof... :bugeye:

 

[Tiassa]

Automatic presumption

I'll vouch for you, Randwolf, and on two specific grounds, if that will help our neighbor Foure understand:

• Personal: Even though we've had cause to disagree on a couple of things in the past, Randwolf, this isn't the sort of thing I would expect you to bring if you were pulling some sort of melodramatic ruse. Indeed, the thought of you attempting a melodramatic ruse is, at this point in our association, somewhat amusing; I would expect you to be much more creative about it if you were lying.

• Drug War: All sanity goes out the window when the Drug War comes to town. People seem to have forgotten two things about the Drug War—

(1) Despite the attention given to our perpetual War on Terror, the Drug War continues.

(2) The Drug War set a lot of the strange, anti-Constitutional precedents that enable the War on Terror.​

Law enforcement has become paranoid and, to a certain degree, mewling and weak. To wit, we once had a case in Seattle where a bank robber killed himself as the police closed in. Not suicide by cop, but actual put the gun to the head and fire. The police attempted to sue his estate for the emotional distress of being denied an arrest. And these days, cameras are enough to frighten them to violence. Now, there is at least one good cop in the United States of America, because I know him personally. But even he gets weird about the Drug War. He might be ready to rumble with the roughest and toughest at the Tijuana border crossing into San Diego, but if marijuana is ever legalized, he says he'll quit being a cop because his job will suddenly get too dangerous. To the other, he's got a kid now, so maybe that's for the best; I'd rather the little guy have a father, and the fact of one good cop isn't going to counterbalance the number of badges out there who are shit in a uniform.​

The presumption is automatic these days: If drugs are involved, the bust is going to be dangerous. So they come in hard and paranoid. As the boyfriend said, they could have just knocked. But that approach, tactically, is too dangerous. You never know. A mother of three possibly entrapped into selling a few oxycontin to UC is probably going to be hunkered down in a third-floor apartment with automatic weapons and the front door booby-trapped with Bouncing Betties.

Plus, if they pretend things are really, really dangerous, then they can turn around and tell the people how dangerous the Drug War really is.

And up here, in the Seattle area, the painkiller black market is, to borrow a cliché, robust. It's symptomatic of people not having health insurance. I have a friend using black market scrips for pain management. When it was Vics, Percs, and even Oxys, that was one thing. But lately she's been using freaking Methadone. The market is out of hand, but also symptomatic of our socioeconomic priorities.

But our cops have been trying, in recent years, to find a dose of sanity. They're more worried, right now, about cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin. Their basic rule on pot and painkillers right now is, "If you don't give us a reason, we won't give you a headache." They're just tired of all the bad press.

Too bad they can't figure that out down in Florida.

One other thing, just for amusement's sake:

They did this in broad daylight, not even waiting for a time during which she was having a party or even entertaining a couple of guests - they might have found someone else with a joint or something on them had they timed their "Spiderman" arrivals a little better. As it is, they got jack - except what they already had on her from six months ago.

When it's something like this, they don't actually care about the timing. They're just trying to be annoying bullies. In 2008, Cheech and Chong played Seattle's Paramount Theatre as part of their reunion tour. Tommy's wife, Shelby, was the opening act. She told this great story about the infamous bust that sent Tommy up for nine months.

Apparently, the police got their warrants, but waited to execute them until five in the morning. Tommy and Shelby had just returned from a night out on the town, and shortly after they went to bed, the police came busting through the door. As they began ransacking the house, the officer in charge asked Tommy, "Do you have any other drugs or paraphernalia in the house, sir?" To which he replied, "I'm Tommy fucking Chong!"

Perhaps the best answer, ever.

 

[Randwolf]

I'll vouch for you, Randwolf, and on two specific grounds, if that will help our neighbor Foure understand...

Thanks, Tiassa, all the way 'round. I feel the same - although we disagree on some issues, I certainly respect you. Plus, I tend to actually agree with your viewpoints, especially when social liberties are involved, maybe more than you know...

In 2008, Cheech and Chong played Seattle's Paramount Theatre as part of their reunion tour. Tommy's wife, Shelby, was the opening act. She told this great story about the infamous bust that sent Tommy up for nine months.

Apparently, the police got their warrants, but waited to execute them until five in the morning. Tommy and Shelby had just returned from a night out on the town, and shortly after they went to bed, the police came busting through the door. As they began ransacking the house, the officer in charge asked Tommy, "Do you have any other drugs or paraphernalia in the house, sir?" To which he replied, "I'm Tommy fucking Chong!"

Perhaps the best answer, ever.

Delightful!


As to the "War on Drugs", for whatever reason, pain-killers seem to be heating up again here, at least in Tampa Bay and South Florida (Miami, etc). They are currently "investigating" a lot of the pain management specialists, as well as street level dealers and users. Oxy's, Roxy's and Vicodin seem especially favored, for whatever reason. Then they threaten with this "ten year per pill" crap to get someone to roll...

Everyone is, of course, paranoid at this point. I have to admit, I'm somewhat wary of what I say regarding this issue on the phone or even on the web. On the other hand, I'm sure it will settle back down, shortly. Thanks again...

 

[Asguard]

Oxycontin is one of the most highly adictive narcotics we have. I dont know of to many countries except for the US who actually still USE it. In Australia for instance the 2 main narcotics for server pain are fentyal and morphine with pethadine comming next (though i think its being phased out) and codine for more mild pain (its even avilable over the counter in pharmacies mixed with either ibprophine or paracitamol).

However as to how they excuted the warrent that does sound excessive. It sounds like someone blew the risk assesment, for instance i got arested for failure to apear in court on a driving unregisted charge (forgot to pay the registration on the car). Whenever the cops tried to serve the warrent i simply wasnt home and when the court date pased a warrent was issued. They knocked on the door on a sat morning, explained why they were there, were really polite and chatty. No busting down the door, no hand cuffs, unfortunatly it took a while to get prossesed because they were busy and i wish i had bought a book but apart from that it was quite easy

 

[Tiassa]

Paranoia will destroy ya, just as fast as not giving a damn

Everyone is, of course, paranoid at this point. I have to admit, I'm somewhat wary of what I say regarding this issue on the phone or even on the web.

I'm not completely reckless, but I've long since given up trying to be subtle about it. I mean, it cracks me up in GTA IV when Niko calls a contact and says, "Yeah, I killed that guy for you," but over the years we've used plenty of codes that fool nobody. "I need to talk to Dave," for instance. Or in the early days of text messaging, we used Douglas Adams references because of the number forty-two. ("Hitchhiker", the first book, was an eighth; "Milliways", the restaurant at the end of the Universe—e.g., the second book—was a quarter, and so on.) One of my best dealers, I would ask him to meet me at the store, and we would talk about curtains, rugs, DVDs, whatever; it was a spontaneous, adaptive code. These days, I use an utterly transparent code that any jury will see through, though it's better than saying, "I need to buy some pot. Who's got some marijuana to sell me?"

Fun story. I lost some money not too long ago, when one of my dealers got busted. I've been promised payback, but I'm not counting on it. Times are tough when you're recovering from a business interruption, and funds lost in a bust are just a risk of the market. But it's hilarious; they busted the dealer, went through all the motions, and I'm still not sure where the prosecution stands on that, because consequences have not yet crashed down on my associate. But after the whole booking and charging and releasing was done, the dealer went to get the car back from police impound and, lo and behold, there on the passenger seat, still sitting in plain view to anyone who walked past and glanced in the window, was the glass pipe.

I'm still trying to figure out why they bothered with the bust in the first place.

 

[Randwolf]

Oxycontin is one of the most highly adictive narcotics we have. I dont know of to many countries except for the US who actually still USE it.

Yes Oxy/Roxy are extremely addictive - they don't call it Hill-Billy heroin for no reason! :

In fact, if you, or anyone close to you finds themselves in a position where they have to quit "cold-turkey", you will most probably think they are going to die, and transport. It looks (and feels) exactly like Heroin withdrawal... Unless you are already familiar with the symptoms of ceasing intake - best bet is to titrate down as low as you can, then switch to something like Syboxin (sp?) or even Methadone for those last few days - otherwise, you will wish you were dying. My fatality count of close + second close friends now stands at five - for combination Oxy / Roxy / Vicodin / Xanax / etc OD. If only I had gotten there ten - fifteen minutes earlier... :bawl: But what can you do?

I do believe it's still prescribed in Canada though, because you can get it on the net if you have a valid prescription for it. I am trying to distinguish Canadian laws for you between Oxy/Roxy vs anything in, say, the diazepam family or flexerils (muscle relaxants), etc., - these you can order from Canada simply by filling out an electronic "remote" medical complaint, and voila, the drugs arrive on your doorstep. Its not the same for the Oxy family, but you can still purchase the narcotics from Canadian pharmacies if you have a (signed American) scrip. Leads me to believe they are still prescribed there? :shrug:

On the other side, what do you use for serious, chronic pain in OZ? Morphine tablets? I mean, there must be something available for prescription, right? Or has the pendulum swung so far in the other direction that nothing worth ingesting is available?

Very old poem - Reborn

Take Me in Your Arms

(Miss Heroin)

So now, little man, you've grown tired of grass
LSD, goofballs, cocaine and hash,
and someone, pretending to be a true friend,
said, "I'll introduce you to Miss Heroin."

Well honey, before you start fooling with me,
just let me inform you of how it will be.

For I will seduce you and make you my slave,
I've sent men much stronger than you to their graves.
You think you could never become a disgrace,
and end up addicted to Poppy seed waste.

So you'll start inhaling me one afternoon,
you'll take me into your arms very soon.
And once I've entered deep down in your veins,
The craving will nearly drive you insane.

You'll swindle your mother and just for a buck.
You'll turn into something vile and corrupt.
You'll mug and you'll steal for my narcotic charm,
and feel contentment when I'm in your arms.

The day, when you realize the monster you've grown,
you'll solemnly swear to leave me alone.
If you think you've got that mystical knack,
then sweetie, just try getting me off your back.

The vomit, the cramps, your gut tied in knots.
The jangling nerves screaming for one more shot.
The hot chills and cold sweats, withdrawal pains,
can only be saved by my little white grains.

There's no other way, and there's no need to look,
for deep down inside you know you are hooked.
You'll desperately run to the pushers and then,
you'll welcome me back to your arms once again.

And you will return just as I foretold!
I know that you'll give me your body and soul.
You'll give up your morals, your conscience, your heart.
And you will be mine until, "Death Do Us Part"



Author Anonymous
​

Still rings true - H or Oxy...

 

[Asguard]

As i said you can get narcotics here too, you can even buy some over the counter (pharmacy only) in the form of codine but ONLY in a combination formular with paracitamol or ibprofin. It also comes in the form of a day night flu medication with paracitamol, an antihistmine and either phenilefren or psudoefindrine (ironically its not the narcotic which makes the second of those restricted to pharmacy perscription, its the psudoefridren which can be used to make speed).

Morphine is widly used though its highly restricted (only ambulance drug which has to be loged in and out and carried on the person of a paramedic rather than just stored in the ambulance drug kits). Morphine tablets are perscribed for chronic pain

Fentyle patches are also used for chronic pain and pethadine is used for labor (or at least was, not sure if it has been replaced by fentyle)

But i have never herd of ANY perscription guidelines in Australia, NZ or any country except the US (and i will belive you about canada) for Oxycontin

 

[Randwolf]

I honestly don't believe that they busted through her window SWAT-style on ropes. That is, to my knowledge, utterly contrary to every operations manual in any jurisdiction I've ever heard of. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but its odd sounding enough to make me highly skeptical of your claims. Is there any evidence anywhere that any jurisdiction in the country executes low-level felony warrants for prima facie nonviolent suspects in this manner?

While nothing has hit the papers (as yet) regarding my friend, here are a few related articles for you to chew on...

White Paper - Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America (from July 17, 2006)

Executive Summary

Americans have long maintained that a man's home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they're sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

This paper presents a history and overview of the issue of paramilitary drug raids, provides an extensive catalogue of abuses and mistaken raids, and offers recommendations for reform

[Blue emphasis mine]




All further citations are from Swat Reform, which I grant is an organization dedicated to reigning in SWAT practices and other overbearing police actions, and should be viewed with this is mind. On the other hand, they do provide easily accessible source links, (as in "click the 3-4 words at the beginning of each bullet point", once you're on the site) often all the way back to original publication - so have fun, because the ones I followed back appeared to have valid original sources:

(Should keep you busy evaluating if these tactics are SOP, official or not)

American SWAT Reform

• Maryland family - Carroll County, Maryland, January 2009
  The family of a 22 year old Maryland resident were woken up at 3:30am when more than a dozen SWAT members with M-16s forcibly entered their home to execute a warrant that stemmed from the 22 year old's prior marijuana possession arrest. At the time, the target of the raid no longer lived at the house, but his parents and siblings (ages 12 and 18) were handcuffed and taken to local police barracks. Only a small amount of marijuana was found.
  
• Emmanuel Dozier - Henderson, Nevada, December 2008
  Officers did not identify themselves when attempting to raid the home of Emmanuel Dozier. Hearing loud banging and his daughter's cries for help, Dozier took steps to protect his family, and shot three officers in the leg as they entered. His girlfriend, Belinda hid in the closet with Dozier's teen daughter and her infant when shots were being fired, fearing it was a home invasion. No drugs were found.
  
• Samuel Hicks - Indiana Township, Pennsylvania, November 2008
  FBI special agent, Samuel Hicks was killed during an early morning raid on a suspected cocaine dealer's home. Apparently abruptly awoken by the officers, the couple inside the home mistakenly thought their house was bring broken into. Details are still unclear at this time, since the suspect told reporters he did not shoot anyone and that the officers must have fired on him themselves.
  
• Pennyamon Family - Buffalo, New York, September 2008
  Terrell Pennyamon, who suffers from epilepsy, was struck in the head by the end of a shotgun when police broke down the door to his family's residence. Looking for heroin, the cops raided the Pennyamon's apartment by mistake, terrifying their six young children & his wife. When police later raided the "correct" house, no drugs were found.
  
• Mayor Cheye Calvo - Berwyn Heights, Maryland, July 2008
  A SWAT team raided the home of Cheye Calvo after delivering an intercepted box containing 32 pounds of marijuana to his house and observing him bringing it inside on returning home. a package containing 32 pounds of marijuana into his house. Police shot and killed the Calvo's two dogs and handcuffed Calvo -- the Mayor of the town, they found out later -- and his mother in law while searching the property, finding no other drugs. The Calvos were cleared after it was determined that the family did not have any knowledge of the contents of the package, which a UPS deliveryperson intended to intercept before their return home.
  
• Floyd Franklin Jr. - Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, July 2008
  Floyd Franklin Jr. was shot 3 times after he did not comply with officer's demands to drop a pistol he was pointing at them. Agents were acting on warrants related to an investigation into the distribution of a "large amount of illegal narcotics". Police recovered two bottles of liquid codeine from his home.
  
• Ronita McColley - Albany, New York, July 2008
  Ronita McColley, a single mother, was shocked when police threw a device through her window as part of a drug raid. McColley had no criminal background and had never been involved with drugs, and no drugs were found in her home. Police later admitted they raided the wrong address.
  
• Terry Speck - Mustang, Oklahoma, March 2009
  Terry Speck was roused from her bed early one morning by six armed men who were part of Oklahoma's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, who were looking for her 20 year old son. Speck told the cops that her son was already in prison, but they continued to search the home for 20 minutes before leaving empty handed.
  
• Hubert Henkel - Mulino, Oregon, March 2009
  80 year old Marjorie Crawford was arrested for growing and distributing marijuana after a botched raid on her home. When her boyfriend, 68 year old Hubert Henkel, heard banging on the door, he grabbed his shot gun and was met at the door by police. He was shot and killed.
  
• Derrick Foster - Columbus, Ohio, May 2008
  Derrick Foster, a former Ohio State University football player, was at a house for a dice game when police executed a raid. Fearing they were being robbed, and never hearing police identify themselves, Foster used his gun - for which he had a license - shooting and wounding two police officers. No one in the house has been charged with a drug crime.
  
• Gonzalo Guizan - Easton, Connecticut, May 2008
  Gonzalo Guizan, 33, was visiting the home of a friend, Ronald Terebesi, Jr. to discuss opening an employment business when a heavily armed police team stormed the house. Unarmed, and possibly unaware that the intruders were police, Guizan ran toward the officers, and they shot and killed him.
  
• Kathy Adams - Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, April 2008
  Drug Task Force officers raided the home of Kathy Adams, a 54-year old former nurse and her husband, while they were sleeping. Authorities had been tipped by a subcontractor who had been in the house earlier in the day who noticed a lot of chemicals in the bathroom. Mrs. Adams had explained to the subcontractor that the chemicals were, as they were clearly marked, used to maintain the couple's salt-water fish tank. The subcontractor went to the police, who obtained a warrant, and raided the home on suspicion of the home being a methamphetamine lab. No arrests were made.
  
• Eric Halperin - Durham, North Carolina, March 2008
  Eric Halperin, a senior honors student at Duke University unknowingly brought a package containing 27 pounds of marijuana into the fraternity house in which he lived. Although the package was addressed to a woman who did not live there, police intercepted and delivered it to the address as part of an undercover operation. Once Halperin called the number listed on a note left with the package, police stormed his residence, then handcuffed the student at gunpoint, strip-searched him, and took him to jail. All charges were dropped within a month.
  
• Burbank Commons - Baton Rouge, Louisiana, February 2008
  Acting on rumored information that a student apartment was being used to grow and sell marijuana, the Baton Rouge Police Department broke through an apartment door with a battering ram and threw a flash grenade into the room. No arrests were made, and the rumors about a marijuana operation were apparently false.
  
• Jarrod Shivers and Ryan Frederick - Chesapeake, Virginia, January 2008
  Ryan Frederick's home had been burglarized a few days before police officers forcibly entered it in the middle of the night, and Frederick assumed the worst about what was happening. Before realizing who the intruders were, Frederick reached for his gun and shot it into the dark, killing Detective Jarrod Shivers. An informant had told police that Frederick was growing marijuana, but it was Japanese maple trees.
  
• Tracy Ingle - North Little Rock, Arkansas, January 2008
  The North Little Rock SWAT team stormed Tracy Ingle's house one night and his first instinct was to protect himself, so he reached for a small pistol he kept by his bed. When he looked outside and realized the intruders were police, he dropped the gun and tried to raise his hands. One cop yelled that he had a gun and a few officers started to fire at Ingle, hitting him five times. Ingle had no drug involvement or violence in his history.
  
• Pam & Frank Myers - Accokeek, Maryland, November 2007
  While watching a movie together, Pam and Frank Myers were interrupted by Sheriff's Deputies of Prince George's county banging on their door. The couple was held hostage by the deputies in the room and not allowed to go to the bathroom for 45 minutes. Mr. and Mrs. Myers claim that in spite of the trauma, it could have ended well with an apology, until they heard two shots from the yard which killed their five year old boxer, Pearl. The police had the wrong house.
  
• Scott Family - Temecula, North Carolina, August 2007
  Lillian Scott and her husband were in the living room discussing family plans, when Temecula police officers carrying rifles charged though the unlocked front screen door and ordered the couple to the floor. Officers also handcuffed their teenage daughter children and two friends, and their teen son who was feeding their five month old baby when he was forced to the ground. No drugs were found and it was determined that the officers had targeted the wrong house.
  
• David and Eunice Nam - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 2007
  David and Eunice Nam, owners of a tobacco shop, were forced to the ground and had their hands bound with plastic ties as members of a narcotics squad ransacked their store. The officers immediately smashed their surveillance cameras and reportedly stole various items and cash from the Korean couple's store. The Nams were arrested for selling tiny ziplock bags that police consider drug paraphernalia, but which the couple described as tobacco pouches.
  
• Cheryl Ann Stillwell - Amelia Island, Florida, December 2006
  Cheryl Ann Stillwell was prescribed Oxycontin for pain after an accident that prevented her from working. The warrant cited an informant who claimed to have purchased two pills from an unknown white female at the address. She was killed when police broke into her home looking for a stash of prescription narcotics. The police say they had to shoot in self-defense because Stillwell pointed her gun at the raiding officers..
  
• Patricia Durr-Pojar and Curtis Pojar - Springfield, Missouri, June 2006
  Officers from the Combined Ozark Multi-Jurisdictional Enforcement Team conduct a raid on the home of Patricia Durr-Pojar and her son Curtis Pojar on an anonymous tip that the two were running a meth lab inside. Police break out windows, tear down doors and screens, throw objects out a second story window, and throw Durr-Pojar and Pojar to the ground and handcuff them. Police found no meth and no meth lab.
  
• Dep. Joseph Whitehead - Macon, Georiga, March 2006
  During a no-knock raid, Dep. Whitehead was shot and killed by residents Antron Dawayne Fair and Damon Jolly. Bibb County Sheriff Jerry Modena told the Macon Telegraph that once the suspects realized the raiding party was law enforcement and not gang members, they surrendered immediately.
  
• Tarika Williams and Sincere Wilson - Lima, Ohio January, 2008
  A SWAT team Burst into the home of Tarika Williams, her one year old son, and her boyfriend, and immediately opened fire. Tarika was killed, her son's finger shot off, and even one of the family dogs was killed. While the SWAT team executed the raid at the proper address, their wanton use of excessive force cannot be justified by the undisclosed amount of marijuana and crack they purportedly found in the possession of the boyfriend.
  
• the El-Bynum family - Philadelphia, September 2007
  The El-Bynum family was the victim of a botched police raid while sitting down to Sunday dinner. Police burst into the wrong house, found no evidence of illegal activity, yet arrested Mr. and Mrs. El-Bynum anyway.
  
• Frances Thompson - Atlanta, September 2006
  Two months before Kathryn Johnston was killed, Atlanta police conducted a no-knock search on the home of 80-year-old Frances Thompson, who brandished a toy cap gun at them. She dropped the gun when told to and no shots were fired. Police later realized their mistake and apologized.
  
• Norma Saunders - Philadelphia, September 2007
  Norma Saunders returned home from a family reunion to find her home trashed, her front door broken in, and her burglary alarm torn from the wall. Police officers had raided the house looking for drugs and weapons. The house they intended to hit was several houses away.
  
• David and Lillian Scott (and family) - Temecula, California, August 2007
  A specialized police unit has been temporarily disbanded after mistakenly bursting into the house of David and Lillian Scott. After throwing Mr. and Mrs. Scott, their two teenage children and two friends of their daughter to the ground and handcuffing them, police searched the house, breaking several doors, without finding any evidence of illegal activities. The Mayor of Temecula later apologized for the mistake.
  
• Carol Wallace - Chicago, July 2007
  A narcotics team raided the home of 63-year-old grandmother Carol Wallace. Wallace said about six of the officers dumped clothes from a dresser and closet on her bed and floor and rifled through her medications. She has no criminal record, but had earlier accused the police dept of harassment.
  
• Thelma Lefort, Mike Lefort - Thibodeaux, Louisiana, July 2007
  Mike Lefort, 61, and his mother, Thelma, 83, were surprised and thrown to the ground when the police burst into the wrong house with a "no knock" warrant. Thelma suffered from a spike in her blood pressure and had a difficult time overcoming the shock. The police chief later apologized.
  
• Virginia Herrick - Durango, Colorado, June 2007
  77-year-old Virginia Herrick was surprised by a police task force in gas masks when they barged into her mobile home and threw her to the ground. Her home was ransacked and she was separated from the oxygen tank she needs to help her breath. Police later realized that they had the wrong house and apologized.
  
• Dennis and Sandra Braswell - Hendersonville, North Carolina, May 2007 A SWAT team stormed the home of Dennis and Sandra Braswell by mistake while the Braswells' 16-year-old son was hosting a party on the back porch. Police threw two smoke grenades into the home before entering, according to Sandra Braswell. Upon seeing the police, several underage guests tried to run, adding to the confusion. The mistake was acknowledged belatedly and the underage guests were not arrested.
  
• Kari Bailey, 23, and her 5-year-old daughter, Hayley - Stockton, California, May 2007
  An eight-member code enforcement team investigating a complaint about drug use shot the Bailey's dog in the paw, and shrapnel from the bullet injured the Baileys. It was a wrong address.
  
• Betty and Frank Granger - Elgin, Illinois, March 2007
  Frank and Betty Granger, both in their sixties, had their home raided after police received a tip that guns were in the house. Police burst into their home, smashed doors and windows, and handcuffed them and their grandhcildren. On the bright side, city workers came out the next day to fix the damage, and an officer apologized.
  
• Davis Family - Jacksonville, Florida, March 2007
  Masked police officers burst into the Davis family home and ordered everyone to the ground while they ransacked the house looking for evidence of a drug crime. Willie Davis, grandfather of murdered DreShawna Davis, and his mentally disabled son were forced to the ground and watched helplessly as police tore apart the memorabilia from DreShawna's funeral. This show of paramilitary force was in response to the alleged sale of two crack rocks, an amount worth roughly $60.
  
• Daniel Castillo Jr. - Wharton, Texas, February 2007
  Police raided the home of Daniel Castillo Jr., age 17, in search of weapons and drugs. Daniel was awakened by his sister crying "don't shoot." When he entered the room to investigate, police officer Don Falks shot him in the face, killing him. Daniel had no criminal record, and no drugs or weapons were found.
  
• Isaac Singletary - Jacksonville, Florida, January 2007
  As the victim of a botched sting operation, Isaac Singletary was shot to death after reacting to two undercover officers posing as drug dealers. Believing that he was being confronted by armed criminals, Singletary brandished a gun, prompting police to open fire. Singletary was announced "completely innocent" by the Jacksonville sheriff.
  
• Carl Keane and Chieko Strange - Petaluma, California, December 2006
  Carl Keane and his girlfriend Chieko Strange were arrested during a military-style raid and charged with felony possession of marijuana even though no drugs, weapons, or money were found in their house. Charges were eventually dropped when the informant was unable to identify Keane and Strange in a lineup.
  
• Corporal James Dean - Leonardtown, Maryland, December 2006
  Cpl. James Dean, an Army reservist, was killed by a Maryland State Police sharpshooter during a standoff that began when police intervened in Dean's apparent suicide attempt. Dean did fire some shots, so the case is complicated, but had not threatened anyone other than himself until the SWAT team arrived.
  
• Salvador Celaya - Gilbert, Arizona, December 2006
  Police raided the house of Salvador Celaya by mistake, causing a standoff with Celaya, who was 73 years old and suffers from Alzheimer's. Believing his home was under attack by criminals, Mr. Celaya fired on the police. He was eventually driven from his home by the fire which had started from a flashbang grenade thrown into his house by police. While no one was injured, the house did burn to the ground.
  
• Kathryn Johnston - Atlanta, Georgia, November 2006
  92-year-old Kathryn Johnston was killed by police during a raid conducted at the wrong house. Ms. Johnston fired at the police officers as they were breaking in through her living room window. Three officers were injured, but Ms. Johnston was struck 39 times and died at the scene.
  
• Derek Hale - Wilmington, Delaware, November 2006
  Retired marine Derek Hale was targeted by police due to his association with a motorcycle club. When a team of SWAT officers poured out of the black vans they had arrived in, Hale was told to raise his hands, but was tasered before being able to comply, then was tasered two more times and shot three times point blank in front of his friend and her two children. Police claimed he resisted arrest, however, all witnesses testified that he had been attempting to comply with the police but was unable to because of the three taser attacks. He had no criminal record and had served two tours in Iraq.
  
• Durrell Jones - Sarasota, Florida November 2006
  Police raided the home of Durrell Jones where he lived with his brother and four year old son. Police barged in both front and back doors with guns pointed. The family was forced to the ground and the house was searched before one of the officers realized they had raided on the wrong house.
  
• Otto Zehm - Spokane, Washington, March 2006
  Zehm, a 36-year-old mentally disabled janitor, stopped breathing and lapsed into a coma after being beaten, shocked with a taser weapon and placed on his stomach for an extended period of time while hogtied by a force of no less than seven police officers. He never regained consciousness and died two days later.
  
• Margot Allen - Sugar Land, Texas, October 2006
  A police SWAT team burst into the Allen home, set off a flash grenade, shot the family dog and arrested Allen's son and boyfriend. In their subsequent search of the house police were only able to find one small marijuana cigarette.
  
• Lupe and Pilar Cuellar - Brownsville, Texas, September 2006
  The Cuellar home was burst into by heavily armed officers who threw Lupe Cuellar to the ground and arrested him on domestic abuse charges. Only after dragging him outside in his underwear at 1:30am did the police realize they had the wrong house.
  
• Anita Woodyear - Brownsville, Texas, September 2006
  A police SWAT team burst into the home of Anita Woodyear, handcuffed her 11- and 12-year old and shot the family dog. Police justified the bust by evidence of the sale of a mere $60 worth of marijuana.
  
• Raybon and Annie Hunt - Brookeland, Texas, September 2006
  Police broke in the door of the home of Raybon and Annie Hunt, and proceeded to trash it -- kicking in two doors, tearing up three lamps, and tearing down the gate coming into the house. Officers confronted the Hunts at the rear door of the home and ordered them down at gunpoint. They left abruptly after realizing they had the wrong house.
  
• Cheryl Lynn Noel - Chicago, Illinois, January 200A police SWAT team raided the Noel family home after finding marijuana seeds in the trash outside their house. They broke into the house at 4:30am in full riot gear after setting off a flashbang grenade. Upon entering the bedroom and finding Mrs. Noel holding her legally licensed pistol, the officer fired three times, killing her in her bed.
  
• Flexton Young - Bronx, New York, August 2006
  Flexton Young, his wife and their four children were asleep when police broke down the door of their apartment on the fourth floor of 974 Anderson Ave at 6:00am. They ripped through the front door, tore off the closet door, and ripped both of the childrens' rooms to pieces. The search turned up one mostly smoked marijuana cigarette in an ashtray.
  
• Arlita Hines - Dale City, Virginia, July 2006
  Police burst into the home of Arlita Hines, where she lives with her sister and nephews. They threw the family members to the ground and handcuffed them, tossed the house looking for drugs, but found none. Police later acknowledged they had raided the wrong house.
  
• Guillermo Urquiza - McKinney, Texas, June 2006
  Based on a tip from a so-called informant, police claimed Guillermo Urquiza solicited a hit man to kill a police officer, and raided his home looking for evidence. Urquiza says he thought his home was being invaded, so he grabbed a gun to defend himself and his mother who was also in the home. He didn't get a shot off until after the raiding SWAT team had shot him multiple times -- two bullets he fired afterwards hit the ceiling. Urquiza was never indicted for the allegation that police claim prompted the raid, but was charged with shooting at the police. He was convicted of assault and sentenced to five years in prison. Urquiza's wounds required him to have several operations and resulted in a heart attack at the age of 27.
  
• Steven Blackman - Fort Worth, Texas, June 2006
  The raid on Steven Blackman's house began when police fired several rounds of tear gas into the house, and the SWAT team officers rushed in and broke down the back door. While they had the right address, they did not know that the man they were pursuing had not lived there for three years. The person they were looking for was suspected of mere possession.
  
• Kenneth Jamar - Huntsville, Alabama, June 2006
  51-year-old Kenneth Jamar, a semi-invalid with severe gout and a pacemaker, was shot several times and nearly killed in a SWAT raid on his home last June. Jamar was holding a gun when the SWAT team kicked down his bedroom door. Police were apparently looking for Jamar's nephew. Despite the fact that the address on the search warrant was incorrect (the address listed was that of the suspect's father), police insisted that the raid on Jamar's home was legal and that his home was the home they'd intended to raid all along.
  
• Joy White - Albuquerque, New Mexico, June 2006
  The home of Joy White and Bob Lazar was raided by a police SWAT team because they ran an online business specializing in the sale of chemicals for scientific activities. They count the Department of Homeland Security and several police and fire departments among their clients. Police handcuffed the couple and held them on suspicion of selling illegal fireworks. Police confiscated all materials and computers from the business, but could not tie White or Lazar to any illegal activity.
  
• Elderly Couple - Horn Lake, Mississippi, March 2006
  A man and a woman - both in their 80s - were injured as TACT team members secured their house although no drugs were found. The woman received a dislocated shoulder and the man received bruised ribs. Both were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto. Police later admitted to hitting the wrong house.
  
• Salvatore Culosi - Fairfax County, Virginia, January 24 2006
  Dr. Salvatore J. Culosi was shot and killed by a member of the county police SWAT Team while being served with what should have been a routine documents search warrant. The officer involved was not disciplined and the county is refusing to reveal the information leading to the killing.
  
• Chidester Family - Springville, Utah, January 2006
  The County SWAT team manhandled a family when it erroneously raided their home. Lawrence Chidester was tackled and his face shoved into the ground and rocks although he was standing with his hands in the air repeatedly saying "I am not resisting." The Chidesters allege SWAT members threw him to the ground and pointed a gun at his head. Upon realizing their mistake the police left without apology.
  
• H. Victor Buerosse - Pewaukeep, Wisconsin, January 2006
  68-year-old retired lawyer H. Victor Buerosse was the victim of a botched raid when a SWAT team burst into the wrong apartment. His continued pleas that the officers had the wrong place were answered by violence. In one instance, Mr. Buerosse was struck on the head with a police shield; he was also thrown into a closet door. This show of force was marshaled in response to a tip that small amounts of marijuana might be in the intended residence.
  
• Edwin and Catherine Bernhardt - Hallandale, Florida, February 2006
  The police broke down the Bernhardt's door in a late-night raid, then threw the two of them to the floor and held them at gunpoint while the officers searched the house. Edwin had been nude, so the police made him wear a pair of his wife's panties. The couple was then taken to jail, and sat there for several hours until the police realized they had the wrong address.
  
• Michelle Clancy and Robert DeCree - Paterson, New Jersey, December 2005
  Police mistakenly burst into the home of Robert DeCree and his girlfriend Michelle Clancy instead of the intended target next door. Before acknowledging the mistake or relenting in their assault, they forced Clancy, her 65-year-old father and 13-year-old daughter to stand in the cold entryway for 20 minutes while they searched the house, and threatened to shoot DeCree and his barking dog.
  
• Utah Rave Raid - Utah County, August 2005
  Over 90 officers in full military gear stormed a legal dance party in Utah County. Claiming that rave parties are hotbeds of drug use, underage drinking, and even sexual assault and firearm violations, the police force burst into the venue and began arresting. Several eyewitness reports describe people being tackled and kicked, though they did not resist arrest. The police allege that the gathering was illegal, but this has not held up to the evidence.
  
• David Scheper - Baltimore, Maryland, August 2005
  Thinking his home was being invaded by criminals, David Scheper armed himself with a Czechoslovakian pistol from his collection of firearm relics. The gun discharged accidentally into the ground before Scheper was seized by the police who had stormed the house. While the police found no evidence of illegal activity and acknowledged having made a mistake in entering Scheper's home, they nonetheless charged him for the weapons discharge. The charge was defeated in court.
  
• Anthony Diotaiuto - Sunrise, Florida, August 2005
  Sunrise police claimed that Diotaiuto had sold some marijuana, and because they knew he had a legal gun, decided to use SWAT. Neighbors claim that the police did not identify themselves. Police first claimed that Anthony pointed his gun at them, and later changed their story. Regardless, Anthony was dead with 10 bullets in him, and the police found a mere two ounces.
  
• John Simpson - Nampa, Idaho, June 2005
  Police threw a flashbang grenade through the window of John Simpson's home, stunning him and his wife. The intended target for the raid was the duplex next door. No one was injured in the raid but the Simpsons are currently seeking counseling for the trauma. The intended culprit was found with four ounces of marijuana next door.
  
• Sharon and William McCulley - Omao, Kauai, March 2005
  Police officers entered the home of the McCulleys -- grandparents -- whom they suspected of marijuana dealing. One officer grabbed Sharon McCulley and threw her to the ground, handcuffed her and pressed his gun into her head, leaving a mark, while her grandchild was forced to lie near her. William McCulley, who walks with the aid of a walker, was also thrown to the floor, after which he began to flop on the floor due to shocks from an electronic device implanted in his spine to alleviate pain. Police searched the house and found no trace of illegal activity. The McCulleys sued the officers involved in federal court.

Isn't it possible that maybe, just maybe, my friend might be telling a story pretty close to the truth? Second, do some of these occurrences warrant entering with force? - Of course. Do all situations warrant this type of over-the-top, near maniacal tactics - I don't think so... What about you?

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

I honestly don't believe that they busted through her window SWAT-style on ropes. That is, to my knowledge, utterly contrary to every operations manual in any jurisdiction I've ever heard of.

What gated upper-class community do you live in that you can possibly express such a naive attitude about the fucking goddamned pigs in this country??? Where have you been for the last 45 years, when we first started calling them pigs, which is an insult to swine? Do you honestly think they give a flying fuck about "operations manuals"? These people are cowboys. Many of them are arguably genuine sociopaths. They have no respect for us, and for them "collateral damage" is something to be maximized just for fun. (Yes, there are surely thirty-seven or thirty-eight really good, honest cops somewhere in America. I'm just talking about the rest of the bastards.)

Unless I'm completely wrong about standard procedure, the only circumstance I can think of this making sense in is if they had reason (maybe good, maybe bad reason) to believe your friend was a more significant player in the drug trafficking arena than you think she is.

You're not wrong about standard procedure. What's wrong is your belief that the cops care about it. They don't NEED a reason to be assholes. They were born that way. Here in the Washington region the behavior of the cops is just pathetic. They walk around smoking joints. They beat up people they get in personal arguments with. They shoot people and claim it went off "by accident." They zoom around, running red lights, without sirens, and kill people they run into. One moron actually tried to chase a motorcycle in his car, on the Beltway in rush hour traffic. He catapulted over the divider and smashed a car head-on, killing all the occupants. When one cop found his mini-bike had been stolen, instead of reporting it he called his buddy and they rode around the neighborhood until they found a young teenager riding it (by which time there's no telling who actually stole it), and just shot him.

And if this could possibly be worse, these civilian-hating jihadis NEVER GET BUSTED. They're put on paid leave for a couple of months, and then the task force exonerates them. Then they get their guns back and are right back out on the street.

Read on for the worst example further down.

Yes Oxy/Roxy are extremely addictive.

So are alcohol and nicotine, and they cause far more deaths. We give caffeine to our children, when what they really need these days is MORE sleep.

While nothing has hit the papers (as yet) regarding my friend, here are a few related articles for you to chew on...

That must be an old list, because it omits the one that has the entire state of Maryland in an outrage.

The standard way for traffickers to ship drugs cross-country is by FedEx and UPS. The person at the other end stakes out a house until he's sure no one is ever home during delivery hours, and the package is then addressed to that house, where the accomplice will pick it up before anyone gets home.

The Prince George's County sheriff department got a lead on a shipment coming out of a Western state. They KNOW about this scam. They KNOW that 99.999% of the ship-to points are dummy addresses. THEY KNOW that the people who live there have NO IDEA that it's being used as a drug drop.

Nonetheless, they sent a SWAT team to stake out the house. One of their guys drove the UPS truck, and when he delivered it a lady was actually home and came to the door. The dickhead tried to hand her the package, because in order to bust her she must physically take possession AND carry it indoors. But she refused. "I'm just staying here with my son and his wife. I'm not the maid. They can carry it in."

The shit-for-brains sheriff hadn't bothered to even look up the owner of the house. Turns out it's Cheye Calvo, the mayor of Berwyn Heights.

[A little digression for local info: Prince George's County is majority Afro-American ("black"). It's where all the highly-paid Afro-American federal employees went when they moved out of Washington after freeways and subways were built, making commuting possible. Sheriff Michael Jackson (no relation) is Afro-American. Berwyn Heights is a little Euro-American ("white") ghetto in the middle of all these middle-class Afro-American neighborhoods, and mayor Calvo and his family are all Euro-Americans. If you're sensing some racism here, you're probably right. We're just not used to seeing the colors reversed this way.]

Naturally the guy who was supposed to pick up the package was sharp enough to notice the stakeout so he never showed up. Losing 30 pounds of marijuana occasionally is just a cost of doing business.

The mayor and his wife came home, picked up the package, opened the door and took it inside. The mom was upstairs by a window and saw the SWAT team mobilize, thought they were terrorists (there really isn't any difference, is there?) and screamed. The cops used the scream as an excuse for saying, "We've lost the element of surprise, my fellow sewer-rats. They're going to start shooting at us, so rush in there with all guns blazing."

They broke down the door, grabbed the people, handcuffed them and threw them onto the floor.

Now here's the part that gives nightmares to every dog owner in Maryland. The Calvos had two Labrador retrievers. If you've even met a Lab, you know that they are the pussiest dogs in the world; they're afraid of mice. They were in the room and simply RAN AWAY.

The fucking goddamned may-they-rot-in-hell pigs SHOT THEM IN THE BACK and let them bleed to death on the floor. These were trained assassins in bullet-proof vests, gloves, boots and helmets, and they claimed that they were worried that the dogs would HURT THEM! The County Medical Examiner, who was not in on this plot, certified that the dogs had been shot in the back.

The Washington Post runs an article on Mayor Calvo's story every few months. They won't let it fade away. A local breeder gave him a new dog for free. His mother moved away. There's a huge public outcry.

So what happened to the motherfuckers, you're wondering? NOTHING AT ALL. They were not disciplined, never taken off duty. Sheriff Jackson has never apologized to mayor Calvo and his wife. He says, "My guys were just doing what they were trained to do, and sometimes things go wrong."

They were trained to shoot dogs in the back for running away? They were trained to not bother looking up who lives in a house they plan to turn into a war zone? They were trained to ignore the law of probability, which said that that package was almost surely not meant to be picked up by those people?

These are the worthless assholes that Faure is defending! They have no brains, no skill, no honor and no respect. Incompetent, unaccountable, swaggering thugs with badges.

 

[Asguard]

as i said last time this story was posted, you need to look at how your organisations coperate in high risk raids. In australia even the RSPCA has specially trained personal who go in with the STAR (in SA, called something different in each state) group along with SOT paramedics and elite firefighters. Whats there job? to safly subdue guard dogs without harm to themselves, the STAR group officers, the dogs or the operation.

 

[joepistole]

A lot of cops are big on the power and machismo stuff...not to mention media hounds. Look at what happened what happened to the Branch Davidians. They could have chosen a more peaceful, safer, way of arresting David Koresh/Howell. But no they decided to make a dramatic staged event for the media. This is a real problem for law enforcement, in my opinion.

They need to use more brain and less ego when going about their work.

 

[nirakar]

crashing through the windows of her third floor apartment on ropes. For real.

My question is, why execute the warrant in this fashion?
Thoughts?

Your training guess might be the answer.

Haven't got a clue what they were thinking but here are a few wild guesses:

The CI may have built your friends up into serious crazy armed dealers in order to impress the police with his usefulness to them.

Related to that the police hate putting themselves at risk and do bizarre things to minimize the risk to themselves. Police are trained to not risk their own lives. If the police thought they were safer crashing through the window then that is what they would do.

If police knocked on the door that what give your friend time to flush her pills down the toilet and the drug bust would be a failure.

 

[C.GoyimWake]

Reasons?

There have been many asking why this raid would have been done the way it was, and I believe I have an answer to that question - if not a couple.

The "Powers That Be" have been ramping up there hard-line tactics with respect to all Police Powers in an incremental approach to instituting a Police State throughout the world. Many of you may have heard of the New World Order that all the biggest politicians have been talking so much about lately; Henry Kissinger, Zbigenew Brezinski, GW Bush, GHW Bush, Al Gore, Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, etc. You can search YouTube and see the hundreds of videos showing this being talked about in various speeches and on various talk shows (Charlie Rose), if you need proof of this. They want us gradually getting used to this idea and they are getting us used to it by these sorts of tactics. Another example is the Airport non-sense going on now, too.

Also, in their preparation for the above mentioned topic they have been expanding their SWAT Teams and their equipment and they have to justify the expense in some way, lest they lose support for the existence of a SWAT Team in many jurisdictions where they have currently been operating them, and never had them before. They have chosen to do this by making use of SWAT Teams in the most ridiculous ways, such as the topic of this thread.

Certainly, they could have knocked on the door and made the arrest without any drama and the children would not have been so traumatized, but that would not have the same dramatic effect when it goes to court and it would not have given them the opportunity to display their new methods for the neighbours, either. After enough of these sort of overkill approaches to arrest has taken place and become common knowledge to everyone it will be more easily accepted by the public and make the transition to the NWO less of a shock to the masses.

One man's opinion.

 

[Believe]

One more of a gazillion threads on drug use / abuse, I know, but...

One of my friends (female) got busted. Busted for trafficking Oxycontin. Apparently she sold five (5) (yeah, count 'em, 5) pills to another "friend" who turned out to be a CI. (Confidential Informant, technically on the police "payroll") Six months ago. So what, right? Happens every day...

However, that's not my issue here, although I could go for days bitching about the underlying "Drug War", so much that it makes me puke.

My issue with this:
They waited almost six months, then came f*cking crashing through the windows of her third floor apartment on ropes. For real. She has three kids, which of course got scared to death and were promptly taken into Child Services custody.

Now, I understand that what she did is against the law of the land (USA), plus you can take whatever moral stance regarding this that you like.

My question is, why execute the warrant in this fashion?

I mean, it's not like she was squatting in a boarded up crack-house, likely to be surrounded by armed thugs. She is just your normal, average late thirties housewife type. The cops knew this. They had her under surveillance for 5-6 months. They knew they weren't busting some drug king-pin, just a low level user of prescribed medication. Yes, she occasionally sold some of her prescribed pills for extra money. This may be "wrong", but do we need the drama scene with vice cops literally swinging in through the windows armed with M-16's? Is that really necessary? Of course, as I said earlier, this traumatized her children - more than a little.

They did this in broad daylight, not even waiting for a time during which she was having a party or even entertaining a couple of guests - they might have found someone else with a joint or something on them had they timed their "Spiderman" arrivals a little better. As it is, they got jack - except what they already had on her from six months ago.

As she said afterwards to her boyfriend: "They could have just knocked on my door - the results would have been the same".

So really - what is the point? Training exercise, maybe? That is the only "logical" (and I use that word hesitantly) possibility that I can come up with. I guess we are determined to increase the percentage of people incarcerated for drug violations, so as to achieve / maintain our number one rating on the number of people behind bars for minor drug offenses.

And don't try to tell me that maybe she was involved more than I know - I ain't buying it, I know her too well. But if this defense makes your sleep less troubled, fine. Whatever works for you, but I know the extent of her involvement in the "underworld". Smoke some pot and occasionally sell some of her prescription for extra money. Period. Is all this Oorah necessary? How would you handle a situation like this, even assuming you are charged with upholding the law? A bit overboard, don't you think?

Thoughts?

The way they did it is only BS if they actually watched this person prior to the encounter. If they did not (i.e. you are just assuming that they did) then they have every right to protect themselves by coming in hot. If they had been watching the mom then a knock and search should have been enough.