The War on Drugs and police militarization remind me of the scene where Batman says to the Joker “I made you – you made me first.” In other words, America’s anti-drug laws and our up-armored police’s heavy-handed tactics are a marriage made in Hell. Can one end before the other? It’s doubtful. While some see the growing legalization of marijuana in state law as a step in the right direction on both fronts, there’s no evidence that police are cutting back on drug-related no-knock warrants or easing up on their all-round love for SWAT teams. Meanwhile, the widow of the California engineer murdered by the police – if murder it be – has filed a wrongful death suit against the County of Los Angeles and the police involved with the drug raid gone wrong.
After watching the whole video, it wouldn’t surprise me if he really was shot in his own bed and that he wasn’t even holding a weapon, as apparent officer testimony would indicate.
Of course, even if it is found that the officer did indeed murder this man, I can almost guarantee that he not only won’t be prosecuted at all, but will be promoted and then conveniently transferred just to make it harder to get at him.
The same thing happened after Operation Fast & Furious, the Benghazi fiasco, and the recent IRS scandal.
See also “A death in St. Augustine” on Frontline. The official investigation showed that a cops girlfriend “committed suicide” by taking a gun out of a retention holster she has never used, and shoots herself holding the gun upside down.
I am not making this up.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-in-st-augustine/
At least that SWAT team member got to go home that night…
The only way this no knock warrant BS will end is when every time they do one if the people put in immediate danger from these raids (neighbors, family, everyone put in harm’s way) sue the city/county/state as well as the police departments involved. Keep them in court defending these raids and eventually they will stop. I do not believe it would be a frivolous suet, you are being put in harm’s way by the police for no good reason. I would like to see the ACLU get involved in this.
No, they’ll just raise our taxes to pay for it.
I am so tired of these government fascist thugs (police) going ape shit on an anonymous “tip”.
Another, and I am sure, unpopular way to handle it would be similar to John Ross’ “unintended consequences”. By where the guilty party pays in kind. Like busting down the cops door and doing him in, not with a firearm. In the book ballroom politicians met their demise with a wrench or crow bar etc. A must read for 2A adherents!
Thin ’em out and make sweat about the Bullshite they are trying to pull.
Sounds like the old testament. Eye for an Eye. Cops and politicians do these things because there is no threat of being held responsible for their actions. People file false police reports or give false information to cops causing many of these no knock raids and yet nothing happens to them. Its basically called bearing false witness which is a felony. When I was a Company Commander many years ago many black and female soldiers would falsely file EO complaints or threaten one to get what they wanted. I let my people know the first day to go for it at any time and I would take them personally to the EO office but when I proved it was bullshit there would be a Courts Martial waiting for them as its a Felony (federal Offense type) even in the military. The surety of the punishment stop that behavior in my unit immediately, I had ZERO in two years of my command.
What that translates into is cops who are to careless to bother reading the actual address of the raid, don’t check out sources, ignore standard procedures which would dictate standard warrant serving or make up things to get warrants for the no knock raids should be charged with breaking and entering, battery, murder etc. They should lose their jobs and their pensions as well as their freedom. Cops are not above the law and to many of them feel that way.
This fills me with whitest, purest, most intensely burning rage I can humanly muster.
You and me both.
Everyone involved in the raid from the judge to every officer on site should be subject to punishment ranging from a severe reprimand and suspension to being charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and perjury.
In this case, you may want to give the judge a little wiggle room. The lawsuit specifies the officer lied on the affidavit. What’s the judge supposed to do in that case?
Okay…a judge could choose to NEVER sign off on a no-knock warrant. That’d be a good start.
Maybe this will be a wake-up call to that judge? One can but hope.
The judges KNOW that they lie. They just don’t care.
Hmmm. Maybe that’s true in some cases.
I seem to remember at least some judges not wanting their names to be on warrants that were later thrown out in pre-trial motions by the trial judge, or had the warrants tossed on appeal. It was a pretty strong motivator for the affidavit and facts of the warrant to be in order.
Sounds about right. “Police” thugs with guns, get away with murder again. Shoot first, lie and use others to cover it up. The “police” do not follow the law in any state. They seem more like the SS of Germany WW2 aria then those sworn to “protect and serve”.
Not really. Many of those, though not all, the SS targeted were enemies of the real Germany. The FBstasi, DEA, and their state underlings are the enemies of the people in America.
What this means is….police are scared little people. On the word of an informant and backed up by “expert” a warrant was issue. Dig deeper and I bet they wanted to seize the property and was hoping to fill their coffers.
I have said this before, I will say it again: If at all possible, purchase and install a discrete video/audio surveillance system in your home. Even if you are not a completely law abiding citizen, in case of a raid it will force the police to justify their means. Make sure you have a separate, hidden, dedicated recorder/computer with automatic backup (remote backup and access are recommended).
Ideally, we’d also install steel security doors (preferably ballistic up to .30-cal AP) set in a steel and concrete framework with as many locking bolts as possible, and triple-paned storm glass windows. (I would said ballistic glass, but that has a lot of special care requirements and such.)
Just make it as hard for them to get in as you possibly can.
But, that’d probably add a couple years to your mortgage. 😉
My dream is to buy a converted missile silo and paint “COME BACK WITH A WARRANT” on the 5 ton blast door.
+ 1000
More like, “Come back with a tank.” 😉
Come back with a copy of the warrant printed in 47 languages engraved on the side of the tank.
I’d say these pigs have become feral hogs. That is all.
I’d be ok with charging the whole team with felony murder, hit the judge with a conspiracy charge.
Yes, I would, too.
No knocks gotta go.
Absolutely agreed.
http://www.cato.org/raidmap
Unacceptable.
Filter the map for “Death of Innocent” and the situation comes into focus. Where are the senseless Mom’s on THIS aspect of gun violence?
Also, look at how many of those raids are over drugs. This is just nuts. Not murderers, not robbers, not rapists. Drugs.
(Hint for those not keeping up: The drug suspects MAY be guilty of any or all of the above, but that’s NOT what the freaking warrants are issued for).
JWM and I agree on something.
Eye for an eye….maybe someday. Sigh
Even if my pops were 80 and nearing the end, I’d be seriously contemplating going Paul Kersey on them, one by one. The Judge too. Just have to accept that each sunrise and sunset could very well be your last and assume the consequences come what may.
The police were just practicing. And used an eighty year old man for target. Was he in bed? There seemed to be a lot of wholes in the wall that would be misses even if he’d been standing. Why don’t they practice this kind of raid in gang land? Fa king gestapo.
Are they Crips or Bloods? I forget which ones wear blue or was it black? I any case another armed gang that continually evades prosecution.
Never say anything bad about police, or the @ss-kissers who comment here will cry about it while they express their everlasting love for jackboots and Sam Browne belts.
So, to spare the feelings of such cop-worshipers, let me admit right now that the old geezer probably made a furtive movement and the only important thing in the world is for the SWATcops to go home safely, even if it means wiping out old people, children and dogs in order to do so. Because SWATcops are special and we suck.
JBTs gonna JBT. Pigs are gonna pig. Good bless the 2nd amendment, for without it, we’d be well and truly fncked.
Used to work in LE, and I vocally said then as I say now: No Knock is crap.
Boot lickers can bend over for an over excited stud horse for all I care. Cops interested in upholding their oath should have no interest in no-knock as it serves no balanced (in the government vs people sense) purpose.
Practice has shown it to be the failure it is and some always knew it would be.
“Drug raid gone wrong?” All drug raids are wrong.
No argument here. I could see a no-knock for maybe a hostage / Dorner situation and not much else.
This is why there should be NO drug prohibition laws. ALL drugs should be legal. Even meth … which is an absolutely horrible drug that is extremely destructive. Even PCP. Even heroin.
The use and/or abuse of all of the above (and more) is very, very bad. But the “cure” of the drug war is destructive to all of society.
Police murders of innocents. Police murders of dogs. Police corruption. Police brutality. Police militarization. No-knock warrants. Endless constitutional rights violations. ALL OF THESE stem from the war against some users of some drugs.
This is absolutely unacceptable in a supposedly free society. It makes me ashamed to be an American when I see stuff like this.
Yes, and Portugal decriminalized all drugs and found usage go down including teenagers. Every metric there is improved after decriminalization.
Ugh! Yuck! Bleah!
An old guy that is hard of hearing; some one in a deep REM sleep that doesn’t hear the initial knock, but is woken up by the door breaking in thinking that a home invasion by a gang is going on; A criminal gang dressed as cops performing home break- ins and after the criminals have gotten all the goods they kill everyone so there are no witnesses.
All to stop consenting adults from voluntarily putting some mind altering chemical in their body. Unlike like Alcohol and cigarettes which are perfectly safe and has no harmful side effects. Oh; sorry, hundreds of thousands die every year from those legal substances; unlike the deadly killer pot which according to the CDC one to two people die a year from this illegal drug and a few thousand die from meth, coke and heroin combined.
I see why it’s worth the loss of freedom, the growth of the police state, the murder of innocent citizens and the continued growth of the narco state because criminals make so much money from the sale of these drugs to willing customers.
The war on drugs must continue.
The police get more funding for the drug ‘war’ but ultimately it’s the politicians that drive it. Fix the laws, folks… and consider that Amsterdam ain’t that bad of a place to live, from what I hear.
How come I’m not surprised you didn’t comment on the incident detailed in the video?
It isn’t just the politicians that ultimately drive it.
There are people that support only the freedoms they like and all out attack the ones they dislike.
There are people that are absolutely wrong about supporting the war on drugs that are completely happy with continuing and even cranking up this disgraceful abuse of power.
There are people that worship law enforcement so much that they do not see it possible that this group of humans can ever do anything wrong or should be held equally accountable for breaking the law.
I’m sure the old geezer made a “furtive movement”; he grew up in a time and place where the people kicking in doors and screaming wore coal-scuttle helmets with swastikas on them.
(Godwin law violation or no?)
There’s no winner on this topic.
Hey, you weren’t there! That old fella was sleeping in a completely disrespectful fashion!
When are we going to declare war on errant SWAT teams?
Never again let it be said that a .22 pistol can’t kill anyone. It seemed to do a fine job in this case.
The real problem is hiring Police that can’t pass a 5th grade level IQ test and then giving them a gun and almost unlimited power to fuck peoples lives up. Also lets not forget murder them and get away with it.
You want to do away with drug laws? How about reading some REAL history on why drug laws were initiated in the first place. Do we have to go through all of those problems again to figure out why?
Every generation wants to sit around in their old age getting stoned with the drug of choice of their youth.
“How about reading some REAL history on why drug laws were initiated in the first place.”
A group of buisnessmen with the last names DuPont, Mellon, and Hearst didn’t want hemp competing with their timber and nylon buisness.
The government has no right telling people what they can and can’t ingest. It is nothing short of tyranny to arrest and detain people for taking drugs or voluntarily selling drugs to a voluntarily purchasing party. Especially with these bullshit raids on people’s homes and property for NON-VIOLENT “crimes”. Supporting these laws IS supporting tyranny. Congrats.
“The government has no right telling people what they can and can’t ingest.”
Hope you never have kids. The stupid gene is strong in you. Yes the Gov’t does because what you ingest frequently affects others. Drunk drivers killing people, people using bath salts turning into animals and trying to eat people faces off etc etc etc. Go to inner city hospitals and see all of the drug addicted babies. And you honestly expect employers to hire someone that comes to work stoned? Right. How about getting off your bullshit disability and get a real job and support yourself. I’m tired of having to work so you can stay home stoned. And nonviolent crimes ever see what happens worldwide with the drug trade? The thousands of people murdered each year just so you can sit in front of your tv and get stoned.
The cops are abusing the no knock raid statutes and need to go to jail in many instanses but people like you are the ones voting the politicians into office that allow this to happen. Try sobering up and not doing any drugs for awhile.
I use absolutely no drugs except alcohol maybe once a month. I had a hash brownie once three years ago and did not enjoy the feeling. I have friends who get high almost daily and their lives are shit. I know one can smoke pot in moderation but I am just not a fan of how people act when high.
You’re so incredibly stupid I feel bad for you reading your post. Let’s go point by point and dissect the inane dribble that spilled out of your mouth.
People are responsible for their actions whether they take bath salts and kill someone, drink alcohol and beat their kid to death, or smoke weed and fail to do their job and get fired.
The drug trade is violent because dumb pieces of garbage like you think drugs should be illegal. Driving the whole market underground and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people over the years. Just like what was happening when there was alcohol prohibition. Just like if guns were to become completely illegal.
The cops are armed thugs for government officials that enforce fascist laws you support that jail people for owning or trading substances consensually.
Move to damn China or N. Korea, America does NOT need you.
Actually Al the country needs more people like me and less of people like you. You see how people behave when on drugs yet you approve of and support their use. Very sad. Liberals like you have killed the moral fabric in America and led to the increased size of gov’t and intrusions in our life. I am a Moderate Libertarian, I say moderate because unfortunately their are a lot of stupid people in the world who cannot control their base impulses and for a country to survive there has to be some mechanism to control people’s undesirable impulses. In the old days the biggest people with the biggest swords dictated what people would do. They controlled access to weapons so inferiors had no way to challenge them. With the invention of the crossbow and later firearms the power dynamics changed. So did the law because in those old days the mighty could abuse the weak and their was no recourse. This caused blood feuds and wars. In modern societies the laws made the state part of the victim. The crime of murder is actually also a crime against the state to stop blood feuds and insure the actual victim received justice. Because many peoples base desires include slothfulness and the desire to not be bored while being lazy leads to drug abuse. All of this leads to people like me having to support people not willing to work and the need for police to control the druggies and laziest because its easier to steal than to work. People on drugs and booze also display antisocial tendencies that need to be controlled by the police. Then do gooders want to expand control even more and then people to lazy to vote allow gov’t anti freedom people to stay in office. When was the last time you voted?
BTW every society that degrades to a point it freely allows its people to sit around and get stoned on whatever drugs soon falls. Someone has to produce, someone has to labor and just as importantly someone has to be willing to defend the realm. This is where our country is now. Half the country is supporting the other half. Anyone willing to join the military is called a Hero to his face and an idiot to their back. Doesn’t that all sound like ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt etc
throwing Salt in the wound, and adding further to contempt for the public that police have for the public, when these shootings are investigated ( by law enforcment no less) they are almost ALWAYS found to be justified.. giving police the rubber stamp to shoot first and ask questions later.
Fascism is alive and well right here in America.
I wonder what happened to the rat that started this whole thing by lying to the “expert detective.” They need to bring these mutts along on their No-Knocks. If nothing is found, they can leave them in a room with the victim of the raid for some “ethics training.”
When I heard this, it was as follows, supplemented by my thoughts.
>”A California man was shot in his home last night-”
Crap, another robbery?
>”-by police, whom entered his house without knocking.”
Oh. No surprise there, then. Surprised they didn’t kill everyone in the house and say they were giving dehumanizing stares.
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