Absolutely spot on.
SWAT are specialists, and so they should be. Got a friend who is a SWAT sniper. 95% of the time she works as a normal cop with her regular partner who is also her spotter.
She has said that they are being called out more and more often for things that would ordinarily be done by the regular cops.
She is mega peeved at it - compares it to using Marines to break up a playground fight, plus it throws their shifts all to hell.
Mostly it is political. Mayor wants to look tough on crime? Use the SWAT team. Budget appropriations due? Use the SWAT team to keep the funding.
I agree with you and the original poster...these SWAT teams are special teams for a very special purpose...serving search warrants when no threat is perceived should not be one of them. Also, it seems now every force just has to have one.
One more thing, no knock middle of the night raids are misused IMO. Storming into one’s home in the middle of the night over a non violent crime perceived to be taking place or evidence thereof on the premise should not be sufficient reason for knocking down someone’s door and storming in like some kind of commando attacking enemy HQ. Compounding that by handcuffing a 76yo person who did not seem to be a risk seems beyond the pale. FWIW, I have served quite a few SWs in my time both as a team member and leader. NOTHING like this ever happened because the activity was planned and the degree of force was designed for the event. No one shot, no dogs killed and no mistaken addresses either on my watch. “4 in 16 years” like that is something to be proud of. Seems indictable.