cannabisnews.com: The SWAT Syndrome





The SWAT Syndrome
Posted by CN Staff on June 20, 2006 at 10:30:01 PT
By John Tierney
Source: New York Times
New York -- Of all the excuses for weakening the Fourth Amendment, the weirdest was the one offered by Justice Antonin Scalia last week in a Michigan drug case. He wrote the majority opinion allowing police officers to use evidence found in a home even if they entered without following the venerable rule to knock first and announce themselves. To reassure traditionalists, Scalia declared that unreasonable searches are less of a problem today because of "the increasing professionalism of police forces."
Well, it's true that when police show up at your home in the middle of the night, they're better armed and trained than ever. They now routinely arrive with assault rifles, flash grenades and battering rams. So if your definition of a professional is a soldier in a war zone, then Scalia is right. The number of paramilitary raids has soared in the past two decades as cities, suburbs and small towns have rushed to assemble their very own SWAT teams. Some police veterans complain about "militarizing Mayberry," and can't figure out why towns averaging one homicide a decade need paramilitary units. But younger cops like the glamour -- our very own SWAT team, just like on TV! Who wants to patrol a beat when you could be playing commando? And who can resist free gear from Washington? Congress encouraged the SWAT syndrome by directing the Pentagon to give local police departments old machine guns, armed personnel carriers and helicopters. The federal government has also helped subsidize drug raids and encouraged locals to be aggressive by letting them keep a cut of the drug dealers' assets. The SWAT teams were originally supposed to deal with extraordinary threats, like hostage situations, snipers and heavily armed drug gangs. Since 9/11, of course, they've been justified for combating terrorists. But such situations are so rare that the teams have had to invent new missions to keep busy -- and to pay for their operations by finding assets to seize. Most of the time they're used simply to carry out searches for drugs, often on the basis of dubious tips from informants, often against small-time dealers and other people with no history of violence. The commandos have a proclivity for going to the wrong address, and they tend to be impatient with anything that gets in their way. In articles about SWAT raids, a motif is the shooting of family pets in front of children. It's hard to know how many botched and unnecessary raids there have been, because police don't systematically track their errors, and the victims often have little recourse. But in a forthcoming report for the Cato Institute, Radley Balko concludes that mistakes have been made in more than 200 raids over the past decade. He finds that overzealous raiders caused the deaths of a dozen nonviolent offenders, like recreational marijuana smokers and gamblers. In a Virginia suburb of Washington earlier this year, an optometrist being investigated for betting on sports was standing unarmed outside his town house, offering no resistance, when a SWAT officer's rifle discharged and killed him. Balko also finds that two dozen people died in raids who were not guilty of any crime, like a Mexican immigrant killed by Denver police raiding the wrong home. Some died because they understandably assumed the masked invaders were criminals and picked up weapons to defend themselves. Some were innocent bystanders, like an 11-year-old boy shot in Modesto, Calif., and a 57-year-old woman in Harlem who had a heart attack when police set off a flash grenade during a raid based on a faulty tip. "Prosecutors typically let police officers off the hook when they mistakenly shoot a civilian," Balko says, "on the theory that mistakes are understandable during the confusion of a raid. Fair enough. But civilians don't get the same deference. My research shows that when someone on the other end of a botched raid mistakes a police officer for an intruder and shoots in self-defense, his odds of facing jail time are about one in two." The best way to avoid these mistakes would be to save SWAT teams for real crises and let police execute search warrants the old-fashioned way. They could find out, for instance, if they're at the wrong address before anyone pulls the trigger. But thanks to the Supreme Court, they now have less reason to knock first and shoot later. They can be more professional than ever. Source: New York Times (NY)Author: John TierneyPublished: June 20, 2006Copyright: 2006 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/Related Article: High Court Backs Police No-Knock Searcheshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21914.shtmlCannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #14 posted by Max Flowers on June 21, 2006 at 10:52:48 PT
Poo-flinger
I like that a lot! Thanks whig!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #13 posted by whig on June 20, 2006 at 23:53:16 PT
FoM
I don't mean to argue with you because I think we're just making slightly different points. I think it's kind of an apple-to-oranges comparison between America (a nation-state) and the Middle East (a region) or even Israel (a younger nation-state than America, if compared like-to-like, or religious/ethnic group). But it is true that people have been fighting over the land there for a long time.It goes back to a family-feud, really. Israel and Ishmael were the Hatfields and McCoys of their day. It just never ended.And really it doesn't have much to do with actual religion. There is no real intention on the part of either to convert the other, or even really to fight over their respective ideas, but over their respective belief in entitlement to this supposedly holy land. Idolatry. Worshipping a piece of dirt.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #12 posted by FoM on June 20, 2006 at 22:27:49 PT
Whig
I only meant that we are a young country compared to the Middle East. I also believe the Dome of the Rock is very important since the Jewish people are suppose to rebuild the Temple on that spot but Muslims built The Dome of the Rock on top of the destroyed Temple. Someday on the news I think we will see the destruction of the Dome of The Rock. I hope it doesn't happen but I unfortunately believe it will happen. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #11 posted by whig on June 20, 2006 at 22:03:19 PT
FoM
Countries are just legal fictions anyhow. Some ideas are older than others, and some organizations have lasted longer, but we are all just people here. Some older and some younger, some more open minded and some more brainwashed.Tradition serves a useful role of preserving customs that have given a group of people some advantage in surviving. To that extent Jewish traditions have certainly proven themselves durable.But in modern history America is actually not a young state. It is one of the oldest, after Great Britain. The French had their Revolution after ours, and of course Russia, Germany, China, Japan, all are very young. The modern state of Israel is one of the youngest, having been created after WWII ended.In the end no state endures and every empire falls. It is the rare empire that survives as a republic, again Great Britain is the only example I can think of. America has yet to see what happens to it when it loses its empire.But for how much longer, and for what purpose, do we preserve the modern state at all? What will we replace it with, and how?One thing endures. Faith.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #10 posted by FoM on June 20, 2006 at 21:42:27 PT
Dominance
Flinging poo Whig. Oh my that's different. I understand the war in the middle east. It is an ancient war. It's about who has the rights to the Holyland. Jewish people and Muslims say God gave them the land. How can you stop warring between two religions if they really believe what they are saying? You can't in my opinion. I look at this war as two wars. One is a religious war and we are involved because of the oil. One is for money and one is for their religion. No one will win so why do we even try to fix it? We act like we are the saviors of the world and yet we are a very young country compared to the birthplace of civilization and they have the experience because they have been around since recorded time began. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by whig on June 20, 2006 at 21:12:12 PT
FoM
Psychological Desire for Dominance.I understand it well enough, and it's a pretty common thing that leads people to behave like any tribe of apes if they give in to their baser nature. As humans we have the capacity to think for ourselves, but institutional schooling and employment tend to beat that out of us from an early age.So if we revert to our animalistic selves then we start doing animalistic things. Flinging poo. Fighting and killing.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 20, 2006 at 20:55:28 PT
Had Enough
I can't believe some of the negative comments about Living With War and Neil Young on Amazon. This is a link to the reviews of LWW. I don't understand some peoples love for war and killing like they do.http://tinyurl.com/hvy3t
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by Had Enough on June 20, 2006 at 20:34:47 PT
Looking for museman, again
Living With War will bring you back home.To where we once belonged!!!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by museman on June 20, 2006 at 16:09:58 PT
Had Enough
Cool! Now I know when to be looking for it. Looking forward to it. Got your trade right here.Thanks
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by billos on June 20, 2006 at 15:31:06 PT
              Scalia 
as with Bush.............is mentally ill
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Had Enough on June 20, 2006 at 15:30:11 PT
Looking for a museman
Your Living With War album is on its way. Dropped it off at Post Office today. 2 day mail, that probably means 3 days.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 20, 2006 at 12:26:35 PT
Sam
I think it will get worse before it gets better too. This could become and issue for 08 but I'm sure it won't be an issue until the lines are drawn in the sand and we know who is running. I figure late next year things will start moving very fast. I actually feel that 08 is going to be the most powerful and heated election campaign I have ever seen.My husband told me police around here have equipment that Swat Team people have but I have never heard of Swat Teams busting down doors but life is different in very rural America where we are living. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on June 20, 2006 at 11:59:47 PT
thanks for posting
good article! Now, wouldn't it be nice if one of the two political parties made this an issue? (i.e., the American police state)  Barring a major economic collapse, this stuff is going to get worse before it gets better. Hardly anyone is even speaking out in the media. Reform happened in the 60s and 70s because this stuff was on the front page every day. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 20, 2006 at 10:34:44 PT
Swat Teams
I am so pleased that we have never had any swat teams in our area. That would make everyone so afraid of the police. Most people locally think the police are ok folks. 
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment