Posted on 06/24/2011 9:28:31 AM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
Officer safety is usually cited as the main justification for the mass proliferation of SWAT teams over the last 30 years. Police say forced entry, flash grenades, and other paramilitary tactics are the only way offers can protect themselves while serving warrants on dangerous people like suspected pot dealers, poker players, optometrists who wager on football games, frail 69-year-old men suspected of selling painkillers, and women suspected of committing fraud on their student loan applications—to give just a few examples.
But what happens when police need to apprehend a genuinely dangerous person? We see this over and over: They don’t always send the SWAT team. And when they do, like they did in Columbine, the SWAT team sometimes waits outside until the shooting is over. So this week we had Whitey Bulger. He’s a suspect in at least 19 murders. He had 20 guns in his home when police apprehended him. So how did they do it? Once again, they didn’t send a SWAT team barreling into his home. Instead, they lured him out with a phone call, then arrested him peacefully.
Perhaps if they thought he had some pot in the house, it might have gone down differently.
It is amazing how well old school, common sense police tactics work when they try them.
he must not have had a dog to shoot.
They (SWAT) only break in and murder innocent people who they believe won’t shoot back.
Great post.
David Koresh in Waco was arrested on a MURDER warrant a few years before the ATF chinese fire drill. He won in court.
The arrest on the murderwarrant was done with two McClennon county deputies in sport jackets, knocking on the door with an arrest warrant.
I’m sure they do it because the love the drama of it all.
How dull is arresting a guy carrying a meal out of McDonald?
But those tactics do not give any joy to the knuckle dragging adrenaline junkies with small d!¢k$ who join the force so they can blow stuff up and carry an M-16 to compensate for their 'shortcomings'.
"We got the toys and by gum we're gonna use 'em! You will respect my authoritah!"
Why not mail this story over to the Mayor and Chief of Police?
No he wasn't. That arrest was on a far less serious charge. "Attempted murder? Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel prize for attempted chemistry? Do they?"
And Koresh was actually arrested by the sheriff phoning him and telling him to surrender. He did.
The sheriff in Waco claimed he could have gotten Koresh to come to town for a sit down at any time. There was absolutely no need for that jackboot operation.
It was my understanding that Koresh and several others made a weekly trip to Wal-Mart or Sams Club for food, like clock work once a week. And the Sheriff tried to tell the ATF they could pick him up then.
Great idea, every FReeper should do it in their home town.
This happened in CA, didn’t it?
I hope there are some red faces at the Boston FBI office. They supposedly protected Whitey for years. Rat ‘em out, Whitey.
You’re right,, it was ATTEMPTED murder. NOt Murder,, but only marginally less serious. The point, is that he was arrested without incident on an attenmpted nurder charge,,,which was far more serious than anything ATF was trying to arrest him for.
For those who want to know what Whitey was involved in.
From noted Whitey / Winter Hill expert Howie Carr.
Koresh was in the habit of visiting the local town markets alone every week. They did not want him. They wanted a show and got it.
In addition, the ATF had an undercover working inside the Davidian compound who told the guy in charge of the raid that it was all blown, that the Davidians knew about the raid. And still they came.
http://reason.com/archives/2011/01/17/justice-for-sal
"Shortly after the release of Rohrer's report, Sal and Anita Culosi filed a federal lawsuit against Bullock, Rohrer, and Fairfax County, charging that Bullock had violated Culosi's civil rights and that Rohrer and Fairfax County were negligent in training and had implemented bad policies that resulted in Culosi's death. The courts eventually removed Rohrer and Fairfax County from the lawsuit—a tough blow because the Culosis told me one of their main goals was to change the way Fairfax County uses its SWAT team. They could not comprehend why an optometrist with no criminal record who was accused of gambling on football games would merit a SWAT team. According to Rohrer's report, 46 percent of all search warrants in the county are served with SWAT teams. (A department spokesperson said shortly after the shooting that SWAT teams were used to serve all of the county’s warrants.)"
"The same year Fairfax County taxpayers paid for the five-month-long investigation into Sal Culosi’s casual wagering, Virginia's government spent $20 million promoting the state lottery."
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