Posted on 08/14/2013 11:23:23 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Several residents at the “Garden of Eden” sustainability garden in Arlington, Texas, claim that local police raided their farm because they thought tomato plants were marijuana plants.
The police reportedly damaged the garden's property and the crops during the Aug. 2 raid, which included a SWAT team (video below).
“They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana-growing operation. They destroyed everything,” said garden owner Shellie Smith to WFAA-TV.
Apparently, an undercover officer and a helicopter surveillance crew believed there was probable cause that the wrong kind of plant was being grown in the garden and an armed raid was planned.
“They can’t even tell the difference between tomato plants and a marijuana drug cartel," said farm resident Quinn Eaker to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. "That’s just really bad intel.”
According to the Garden of Eden's website, the raid lasted for an estimated 10 hours.
However, the City of Arlington stated: “No cultivated marijuana plants were located on the premises. Narcotics detectives and members of the tactical unit cleared the scene within 45 minutes.”
According to reports, police officers removed legally cultivated plants such as blackberries and okra. Police also removed pallets, tires and cardboard that were used for sustainability projects.
Instead of the damage done to the farm, police spokesman Christopher Cook seemed more concerned about the reaction on Facebook against the police.
“That’s what concerns me about their social media allegations," Cook told the Dallas Morning News. "Yes, they were initially handcuffed, however once it was determined it was secure they were taken out of handcuffs. Typically we wouldn’t do that, but they were compliant."
Sources: Dallas Morning News, WFAA-TV, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, IntoTheGardenofEden.com
Indeed.
Packing jails with people who chose to ingest natural and synthetic compounds, the runaway effects of it on civilization, all have added to the kind of societal undoing we see today.
Remember when most of the FReepers here would have excused the cops and belittled anyone else as dopers and DUmmies?
Heck, 20 years ago, *I’D* have given the cops the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t want to sound too Glenn Beck, but something serious may be brewing.
This was the police, not the noxious weed board right?
I mean we have to stop this illicit growing of blackberries and okra. What morally upstanding youth would eat okra? It is a gateway food that will lead to corruption of the soul!
This is just too much to believe. Don't the police have any common sense?
Around 2007, Civil Air Patrol Cessnas were outfitted with video cameras that could sense the particular shade of green reflected by pot plants and essentially no other plant.
Just sayin.
The truth is we are all potential criminals. With over 10,000 Federal laws alone, over a million regulations pursuant to those laws, and God knows how many state and local ordinances, nobody can know them all. Some laws even make it a crime if some bureaucrat decides you broke the laws of another country, regardless of whether you have ever been there, or if the other country says you didn't (just ask Gibson guitar company).
“...I have never seen such a disrespect for the law Federal, State or Local in my lifetime....”
Appears they kind of brought it on themselves here.
It’s a shame, yes, because there are damned good police officers all over the country, good Sheriffs, folks doing a job which is dangerous and sometimes thankless. And those people get lumped in with the badged thugs.
Not all cops are overzealous steroided-out, trigger-happy thugs.
But I think what needs to happen is that cops need to remember that all Citizens aren’t potential criminals, either. I have no clue where that mindset came from, or when it started, but it needs to change.
Or they will have ZERO support from the public, and that will be an incredibly dangerous position for them and for society at large.
When Citizens stop seeing a difference between a thug and a badge, it’s really bad news.
No, but they have guns and an unlimited supply of ammunition and are not bashful about using their guns and expending large amounts of ammunition on the serfs.
I suppose it never crossed their minds to send someone in there to check it out.
Nah, that wouldn’t be as much fun!
“...The truth is we are all potential criminals. ..”
Yeah, I get that. It’s deliberate too. Selective enforcement, Damocles sword over your head to “keep you in line”.
But your local cops don’t have to see you that way. It’s a choice.
They look identical! They're green! Excepting those big red thingies that hang down on the right....
Actually, reading their website, their views on property are heavily conservative and anti-government. Which is likely why the raid was conducted - can't let anyone stand up to the government.
“I have never seen such a disrespect for the law Federal, State or Local in my lifetime.”
That’s because law enforcement is rapidly becoming another political tool to punish political enemies.
These stupid hippies clearly made the power-that-be mad (read the article) so the powers-that-be decided to trump-up a raid in order to hopefully get a couple of people shot and killed and to shut the place down.
I used to respect the police, as well.
But they are just Obama agents now.
Can’t get to shoot or beat the hell out somebody doing that.
My 52 Years of Experience with Cops:
Cops should stick to their primary responsibility: Raising money for the welfare state from innocent citizens attempting to legally go about their day.
Is it the completion of the humper of the humpee?
I’ve had a half dozen times when I needed the cops, and they DID NOTHING.
I’ve been pulled over by the cops a half dozen times when I was trying like heck to obey all the laws.
I have no respect for them. They NEVER help. They ALWAYS harass.
That’s my experience.
Nice. You used the word "choose" just like a baby killer.
Now I don't care what you do with your garden. /s
I have the most high regard for the Sheriff department. I live in Colorado where two state representatives are under recall. The liberal supreme court and AG are useless. Local city cops take guns away form people even though this an open carry state. I don’t need to mention federal and international corruption on this site.
Let me say again the County Sheriffs are held in high regard. They are also suing the state over unconstitutional gun laws.
APD - Arlington Plant Destroyers
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