For what?
A broken door, being handcuffed and about 15 minutes of mistaken identity?
Where they permanently injured, crippled, legs broken?
Jury verdicts and awards are all over the map in part because juries have lost perspective.
If this was done intentially, you are right, 20 million would be a starter. If this was an honest error, then 8 million is probably too high.
Bash the door in at my house in the middle of the night and see what happens.
"For what?"
Let me ask you this.. Do you believe that a man's home is his castle, that he has an absolute right to be free from government searches, except upon probable cause? This is a perfect example of trampled rights and I suspect that the good people of Henry County will pay for the error of the people they chose to "protect" them.
I suppose you are a big defender of the good faith exception as well.
I guess it depends on what one would reasonablly call an honest error. I was in the Air Force, so let's use that as an example. Say I accidently drop a 2,000 lb bomb on a school. "Oops! Sorry. An honest error, 'cause the "bombs' away" button looks just like the map light button on my F-16 flying in the dark."
Now this sounds pretty stupid, and you just never hear of something so stupid happening. One important reason things like this don't normally happen is because our military is a highly trained and disciplined force. No one get to fly an F-16 until they can identify every button, gauge, knob, switch, trigger, lever, etc, etc, in the dark, upside down, and a thousand other possible situations. Another is the pilots themselves take what they do seriously, check and recheck things, know how to follow orders, and aren't reckless. We have a saying in the Air Force, "There are old pilots, there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots."
In those rare circumstances when accidents cause a loss or potential loss of live, an accident review board will convene that often leads to a court-martial. The definition of honest error in these cases is extremely small. Many a good man had his military career ruined because he or a subordinate screwed up. Some say it's not fair but thats the way it works. And it has a profound impact on the rest of us doing the job right the first time.
I have seen too many police officers and other law enforcement types who could use a good dose of military training and discipline. Mistakes that can or do take lives need to be punished, not only by the powers that be, but by our citizens, and the rank and file police corps need to ensure cowboys like that are shunned. "Measure twice, cut once" is an adage used by carpenters that should be applied to every police nightime no-knock raid's map reading and address verifiying protocols.