Posted on 06/03/2007 7:32:12 AM PDT by rellimpank
Last week, we were asking how police found themselves in the bedroom of a naked couple in Lancaster, Calif., in 2001, guns drawn.
This led to a discussion of the problem with "no-knock" -- or even "shout-once-and-storm-in" -- search warrants.
On Nov. 21 of last year, Atlanta police planted marijuana on Fabian Sheats, a "suspected street dealer." They told Sheats they would let him go if he "gave them something." Sheats obligingly lied that he had spotted a kilogram of cocaine nearby, giving them the address of the elderly spinster Miss Kathryn Johnston, who neither used nor dealt drugs, but who did live in fear of break-ins in her crime-infested neighborhood.
Police then lied to a judge, claiming they had actually purchased drugs at the Johnston house. They acquired one of those once-rare "no-knock" warrants, and violently battered down the reinforced metal door of a private home where there were no drugs.
(Excerpt) Read more at lvrj.com ...
What happened in Atlanta was a disgrace and a tragedy. The libs go too far as far as the police are involved, but there’s no getting around what a clusterf**k that was. Here in Virginia last year, a SWAT team member accidentally killed a man while they were serving a warrant on him for suspected online gambling. Online Gambling. SWAT TEAM.
Those cops in Atlanta need to be indicted for first degree murder.
So what would they do if while in the process of searching the home, they found 3 pistols? Would that warrant every officer emptying their magazines in the poor guy?
Too late, they cut a deal for manslaughter and 10 years, probably be out in much less than that.
If it were you or me pulling that crap?
We’d be executed and THEN buried beneath the courthouse!
I believe the word you should be using in place of "accidentally" is "negligently".
Duly noted.
I hardly call a murder an accident, the cop should be in jail, and this swat team crap needs to be done away with.
I think two have pleaded and are in jail, the other is going to trial, should be given life.
Yeah, there’s way too much Barney Fife and way too little Sheriff Andy these days.
Problem is, once Barney gets to be Sheriff, Andy can’t get hired.
Yeah, well..she MIGHT have had some drugs... or improperly labeled prescription bottles.
end/sarc
Not to mention that a “no-knock” search at Oh-Dark-Thirty is pretty the definition of an unreasonable search, and thus is prohibited by the Constitution, warrant or no warrant.
What's needed is for such raids to start falling on the politicians that support them.
—as I have oft commented in the past, IMHO , most SWAT teams should be disbanded, the members issued a .38 Special and two speedloaders, given a pair of brogans with soles about an inch thick and assigned a beat about five miles long—they’d learn a lot more and do more good that way-—
—interesting—
The term is;
JACK BOOTED THUGS.
Do LEO’s want respect? Help from the Citizens/owners of this Country?
Earn it.
We are not the enemy and you guys screw-up a lot.
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