Posted on 06/01/2011 9:35:19 PM PDT by Jim 726
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – The raid on former Marine Jose Guerena's home has garnered national and international attention, raising numerous questions about excessive force and proper SWAT protocol, with Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik at the center on an increasingly heated and political debate.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department released limited information on the debate, including yielding hundreds of documents, granting an interview with a lieutenant and raw video on the raid. Meanwhile, Dupnik has refused interviews, citing the need to maintain the integrity of the investigation.
However, the raw video has not quelled the debate over the SWAT raid or stopped questions about Guerena's death, and it certainly has not ended the growing number of calls for Dupnik to come forward and justify what happened.
"It shows they were a bit overzealous. It shows that the Pima County Sheriff's Office has got to readdress their entire SWAT usage," said Richard Mack, former Graham County Sheriff, who is not the only one compelled to speak out.
Brian Miller, chairman of the Pima County Republican Party, said it's not a matter of political affiliation, but the need to examine larger issues surrounding SWAT policies – not just locally, but nationally.
"Are you telling me that after 20 months of looking at this case, this option was the best they could come up with?" Miller asked, adding that SWAT had safer options, including stopping Guerena on the side of the road or serve the search warrant when he isn't home. Miller expects the Sheriff to eventually explain why SWAT chose a more confrontational method.
"I obviously ultimately hold him responsible for this. The buck stops with him. He is the chief law enforcement officer of Pima County. The swat answers to him and so the tactics and techniques are used are eventually his call," Miller said.
Also Dupnik's calls: releasing as stack of documents and disclosing to the Arizona Daily Star that the raid resulted from a 20-month probe, while confirming there is an informant – all the while, stating that more details would jeopardize the investigation. And that seeming contradiction is giving critics more fuel for the fire.
"I think the hypocrisy exemplified by Sheriff Dupnik since the January 88 shooting. Now I find this one absolutely astonishing. I served with the Sheriff and I though he was smarter than this," Mack said. "Now, everything is his fault on this one. He's totally responsible for this entire fiasco."
KGUN9 News requested an interview with Dupnik, but he was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Comments
That SWAT raid should be drawing multiple murder indictments from the Grand Jury.
Dupnik needs to be recalled and stripped of his position and benefits.
Yes, I guess it does. Because we all know that La Raza would be burning the joint down if it had.
It should surprise no one that the sheriff who immediately and without evidence politicized the Gifford’s shooting by blaming his political opponents also runs a bumbling, murderous gang of SWAT thugs that, without evidence, bust into homes with children, fire 71 rounds, and wait an hour before allowing medics to tend to their victims.
He is the exemplar of Democrat politics.
If possible, he should be charged criminally.
BRAVO!
“It shows they were a bit overzealous.”
Classic understatement.
“...the raid resulted from a 20-month probe, while confirming there is an informant – all the while,...”
This is what I have been waiting to hear - that there was an informant involved in this FUBAR. I am willing to be the informant gave some bad intel like has happened in many other police departments many times resulting in innocent people getting arrested or killed by the police.
“Dupnik needs to be recalled and stripped of his position and benefits.”
Not only that he needs to lose his pension to be used to pay the surviving wife and child, arrested for murder, throw in jail, stripped searched, have a full investigation of everything he done in his career as a police officer and sheriff, put him in pink clothing, group him in with a chain gang and do hard labor.
There no excuse to have this little tyrant running a police department.
The SWAT team needs to be held accountable in some way for their part in this. There needs to be an evaluation of the need for them, possibly dis-banded. If it is kept on a whole new policy needs to be adopted on when and where they can be used and the training that is required to have such a team.
If we don’t don’t get these SWAT teams under control all they will become are death squads that third world countries have usually suffered under.
All swat groups need to be disbanded and turn in their military weapons. There are smarter and safer ways to conduct the peoples business.
You're darned tootin'!
Remember, this wasn't ONE department's SWAT TEAM. This RAID was conducted by specific SWAT TEAM members from county departments.
In other words, he took the rookies from each team, and put them together so that just ONE unit or department could not be held responsible, if things went wrong. Also, he could depend on them to be fairly ignorant of the facts behind this raid.
He told them the person in the house (Jose) had been involved in a HOME INVASION with a double homicide.
He didn't tell them that it was Jose's relatives who were the victims of that double homicide.
Now Dupnik says that he thinks the victim “thought he was going to be arrested for homicide.”
Then, why’d he have the safty on, moron?
Ya gotta love government.
The entire operation was planned, run and operated by the Pima County Sheriffs Department. It's doesn't matter who was along for the ride.
One more lie. I believe that they, for reasons known only to them, deliberately murdered the poor guy. And now they are trying [quite successfully too] murder his character. The only thing more repugnant than what they did are the bootlickers who defend them.
Not what really happened but who knows, in time it amy....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.