Posted on 08/03/2017 3:01:12 PM PDT by reaganaut1
A case just decided by the Tenth Circuit shows how utterly absurd the “war on drugs” has become, how petty and power-mad the police can be, and how blindly deferential some of our federal judges are.
The case, Harte v. Johnson County Board of Commissioners, arose out of an idiotic, military-style raid by Kansas police on the home of Robert and Adlynn Harte in 2012. They were not in any way involved with drugs (particularly marijuana), but a few officers came to the conclusion that they might be. Here’s how.
One August day in 2011, Mr. Harte and his two children (ages 9 and 13) went to Green Circle Garden Store in Kansas City. Harte wanted to buy the supplies necessary for a hydroponics experiment for the kids – growing tomatoes in the basement.
Unbeknownst to the Harte family, Green Circle was under surveillance by Sgt. James Wingo of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, who had made it his “pet project” to take notes on all of the customers, assuming that some of them could be buying materials necessary to grow marijuana. Wingo often spent three or four hours per day on this crucial use of law enforcement time. In March of the following year, Wingo shared his information on all those shady Kansans who frequented the store with Sgt. Thomas Reddin of the Johnson County (Kansas) Sheriff’s Office (JCSO).
Reddin was glad to get that tip because his office was planning a big publicity stunt for April 20, designed to show the effectiveness of JCSO in fighting the drug war. Specifically, Reddin and his fellow drug warriors would announce the arrest of some local weed growers.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Nope. Courts always side with the cops.
I thought it was a potato plant ...which BTW I have in my garden...guilty...
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Is this a different story ???
This is a court of LAW, not a court of justice!
But but but according to some FReepers the cops are never wrong (sarc).
Wow! right here in Johnson County, KS.
NO!
The cop was an ENTREPRENEUR:
Local PD’s get extra money from the feds if they make big drug busts.
The factory manager ponders ways of making widgets cheaper, and this cop DOES THIS.
The solution is to make the incentive go away, not to play whack-a-mole.
“Summing up this astounding case, Judge Lucero states, “The defendants caused an unjustified governmental intrusion into the Hartes’ home on nothing more than junk science, an incompetent investigation, and a publicity stunt. The Fourth Amendment does not condone this conduct and neither can I.”
So the case will go back to the district judge with instructions to pay more attention to the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and its requirement that probable cause be shown before a warrant is issued. Ideally, the officers will be found personally liable and compelled to pay out a lot of compensation to the Harte family. Without that, the police will continue to view people like them as mere collateral damage in their war against drugs.”
Ok, assume the cops made a mistake innocently in deciding they were pot growers. The article details how a SWAT team with assault rifles and battering rams and black uniforms stormed the house.
Was there the slightest evidence that mr. Harte and his family posed any danger requiring such a use of force? Why was this a SWAT raid and not just two men in sport jackets knocking at the front door with a warrant?
“In before the cop-suckers”.
That’s what the courts say. They say they were acting in good faith regardless of killing the family dog, child, wife, sleeping husband at 2am. Remember the case where the cops tossed a flash bang into a baby’s room? Burned her pretty bad. Cops were in wrong house, court absolved them since they were acting in good faith they were in the right place.
How did the dog fare?
Growing up SWAT was something big cities had. Now every little rinky dink community seems to have one.
Because they all needed some training practice and some overtime. And there was that timely little need for a “public media event” to show what a good job they have been doing. SWAT makes the headlines every time.
There are about 200 such paramilitary raids every night in our country
every night
“Why was this a SWAT raid and not just two men in sport jackets knocking at the front door with a warrant?”
Because they are high-speed, low-drag, special operators that have lots of wonderful whiz-bang gadgets that the taxpayers bought them for the American version of a holy war. Somebody has to go down.
Yep. This horse left the barn a looooong time ago.
How many family pets were shot?
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.