I was sent a link to this article in Slate, along with a one paragraph excerpt, and my first thought was, "I should send this to Radley Balko, he's been all over this issue of SWAT teams and the problems they cause." Then I followed the link and found that the article was written by Balko. Guess I don't need to send it to him, eh? He's been writing about the militarization of law enforcement for months now, and it really has become a problem. More and more, local police have SWAT teams that they use to execute even routine warrants. The results have often been tragic.
It was a SWAT team in Fairfax, Virginia, serving a warrant for gambling on optometrist Sal Culosi after an undercover operation in which a cop placed bets on football games with him, that ended up killing this unarmed man who had hurt no one. Balko points to a current Supreme Court case, Hudson v MIchigan, that involves "no knock warrants". Over the last 11 years, since the courts last addressed the issue, the narrowly drawn exceptions allowing no knock warrants have been expanded dramatically by law enforcement. We need the Supreme Court to put a stop to that and to the slow erosion of our 4th amendment rights.
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Most of the examples Balko cites are raids (accurate or mistaken) for drugs. And I guess what disturbs me most is that with the rhetoric of the "drug war," you have a military-esque context. And in that context, the idea of people charging in shouting with masks and guns makes sense.
Now, how sad is that? A military action for a victimless crime-- whether it's drugs or gambling?
The trend that I find most disturbing is the idea that the police officers life is somehow more important than anyone else's. The military has increasingly embraced a similar doctrine. The problem with it is that they are here to serve and protect the public at large - not shoot them. Increasingly they take the tack that if it is a choice between the slghtest danger to them or endangering a citizen, they don't even consider protecting the citizen - which is in fact their job. I understand that they are people too, that they have a right to protect themselves but they took the job and put on the badge and the gun. They made the choice to put themselves in harms way - it's time they acted like it and quit shooting non-violent offenders and the innocent in the name of their safety.
Great article. Speaking of police idiocy, if you haven't heard about Cory Maye it's another case of wrong door raids. Balko was also key on getting this into the public eye, but it still has a long way to go.
My student organization is hosting an event with David Moran, one of the lawyers from Husdson, as well as being a Dean and Professor at Wayne State College of Law, so I have to thank you for the link to the article.
Amazing how small of a majority that basic rights of the accused are maintained through. I have a lot of respect for my fellow students that are planning on going into criminal defense as public defenders, because in essence you are often defending someone who is guilty all the way to the supreme court to protect the rights of that one person out there that may in fact be innocent.
spot on nailed by Treban.
If this becomes more widely known, the swatters had best be concerned for their own safety. The potential targets--and that may include everyone--might arm themselves and make use of their arms.
It strikes me as a bit silly for law enforcement to do "no-knock" entries for searches for drugs, etc. All they would have to do is wait for the suspect(s) in the dwelling to exit, pick them up as they do, and then perform the search. It really isn't unusual for the law enforcement agencies to work hand-in-glove with the media for public-relations purposes. That was the background of the initial raid on the Koresh compound in Waco.