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Prince George's Police Clear Mayor, Family (New Update)
The Washington Post ^ | August 9, 2008 | Aaron C. Davis

Posted on 08/09/2008 5:36:06 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner

Police said yesterday they have cleared Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his family of any wrongdoing in connection with a package of marijuana that police intercepted en route to his home, leading to a violent raid in which deputy sheriffs killed the family's two dogs.

Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin C. High delivered the news in a telephone call Thursday to Calvo, saying police and State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey determined that Calvo and his family were innocent victims caught up in a drug-smuggling ring.

High exonerated the mayor and his family and expressed regret that they were victimized by drug dealers and that their dogs had been killed. High stopped short of apologizing for any action by law enforcement, police and Calvo said.

Sheriff Michael Jackson said yesterday in his first extensive interview since the incident that he was extremely upset that the Calvos had called for and been granted a civil rights review by the FBI.

(snip)

Jackson reiterated his explanation that it was a scream by Calvo's mother-in-law, Georgia Porter, who saw officers running toward the house, that changed the calculation of officers conducting the raid.

"At that point, they see you, you don't see them, and you don't know where they are. . . . That's dangerous," Jackson said. "You really don't have time to deal with that dog, you really don't have time to deal with that person. You have to secure and go.

"It is unfortunate that those dogs were killed," he said. "That would be the case whether it was the mayor's house or anyone else's house. A loss of life is always unfortunate. That is not our goal."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: District of Columbia; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: banglist; cop; donutwatch; jackboot; jackbootedthugs; jbts; policestate; raid; rapeofliberty; streetganginblue; swat; thug; thugswithbadges
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To: csvset

“Less than a year ago, the same agency raided the wrong house and shot the homeowner’s dog. These a-holes are an “ accident” waiting to happen.”

I did not realize that it was the same agency. You would think the reporters would be asking about this in their questioning. I wonder what happened in this earlier investigation?


41 posted on 08/09/2008 6:27:38 AM PDT by exhaustguy
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To: libstripper

Maybe that’s why they shot the dogs, they once got bit trying?


42 posted on 08/09/2008 6:30:08 AM PDT by magslinger (A politician who thinks he is above the law is actually beneath contempt.)
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To: Jack Deth
Jack, are the county sheriffs there elected or appointed?

I'm just curious as to how this Sheriff Jackson has remained in office for 19 years with so many big problems on his force and so many debacles on its recent record.

43 posted on 08/09/2008 6:31:05 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("We must not forget that there is a war on and our troops are in the thick of it!"--Duncan Hunter)
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To: GAB-1955
Rather, the lawsuit-happy environment in American courts makes apologizing impossible, because it sets up BIG damages in court.

True, but this isn't a case where an apology is enough. Not even nearly.

44 posted on 08/09/2008 6:36:13 AM PDT by Fundamentally Fair (If given a choice between a POW and a POS, I'll take the POW.)
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To: pnh102
You would think that the police would use their resources to go after real criminals instead.

Real criminals fight back.

45 posted on 08/09/2008 6:39:33 AM PDT by Fundamentally Fair (If given a choice between a POW and a POS, I'll take the POW.)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner
"You really don't have time to deal with that dog, you really don't have time to deal with that person. You have to secure and go."

From that statement it would have been OK to kill the mother-in-law also......how did i end up in this parallel universe.........

46 posted on 08/09/2008 6:40:19 AM PDT by is_is (VPD of Sgt Daniel, Formerly with the 2/5 - "Sleep Well America......Our Marines have your Back")
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner
he was extremely upset that the Calvos had called for and been granted a civil rights review by the FBI.

And I'm extremely upset that your officers shot a dog that was running away in the back 

47 posted on 08/09/2008 6:42:26 AM PDT by grjr21
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To: Jack Deth
I hope the Mayor goes ahead with his civil rights investigation and nails some hides to the wall.

Civil rights? The Mayor is white. Civil rights do not apply here.

48 posted on 08/09/2008 6:57:38 AM PDT by pnh102 (Save America - Ban Ethanol Now!)
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To: GBA
I hope the mayor is able to sic the nastiest, most aggressive bunch of lawyers on all involved and makes them hurt. There have been many of these raids all over the country and it’s doubtful this will be the last unless public outrage, prison time and an extremely high monetary settlement makes the price too high for this war on the Constitution to continue.

I agree, but the settlement will come out of the several thousand dollars that I pay in PG County taxes each year. I would ordinarily be glad to take that bullet for the cause, but when does it stop?

49 posted on 08/09/2008 7:00:56 AM PDT by jimfree (Freep and Ye shall find.)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner
And how would the Sheriff feel if the tables were turned, and an armed homeowner unknowingly shot two deputies?

"At that point, they see you, you don't see them, and you don't know where they are. . . . That's dangerous," the homeowner said. "You really don't have time to deal with that gunman, you really don't have time to deal with that person. You have to secure and go."

"It is unfortunate that those deputies were killed," he said. "That would be the case whether it was the Sheriff's intruders or anyone else's intruders. A loss of life is always unfortunate. That is not our goal."

50 posted on 08/09/2008 7:10:30 AM PDT by Sender (Never lose your ignorance; you can never regain it!)
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To: t1b8zs

I hope that the couple and the wife’s mother are not looking for a big bucks settlement, which penalizes the taxpayer, but to file criminal civil rights charges against the officers participating in the raid and those who authorized it.

The JBTs have to be personally liable or they will not stop.


51 posted on 08/09/2008 7:21:15 AM PDT by heartwood
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

>”At that point, they see you, you don’t see them, and you don’t know where they are. . . . That’s dangerous,” Jackson said. “You really don’t have time to deal with that dog, you really don’t have time to deal with that person. You have to secure and go.

“It is unfortunate that those dogs were killed,” he said. “That would be the case whether it was the mayor’s house or anyone else’s house. A loss of life is always unfortunate. That is not our goal.”<

Which is it, buffoon? You don’t have time to deal with a pet Lab, so you shoot it, or a loss of life is unfortunate?

If this Mensa candidate stays in office, no resident of PG or their pet will ever be safe.


52 posted on 08/09/2008 7:28:12 AM PDT by Darnright (A penny saved is a government oversight)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner
Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin C. High delivered the news in a telephone call Thursday to Calvo, saying police and State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey determined that Calvo and his family were innocent victims caught up in a drug-smuggling ring.

Oh, no, they weren't caught up in a drug-smuggling ring, they were caught up in out of control LEO situation. The time has come to call a halt to swat teams except in cases of terrorism. They knew where these drugs had gone, they could have arrested the Mayor anytime without a break in of his house.

Jackson reiterated his explanation that it was a scream by Calvo's mother-in-law, Georgia Porter, who saw officers running toward the house, that changed the calculation of officers conducting the raid.

As far as this idiotic statement goes, what does this guy think she should have done, say "Look son there are a bunch of armed men running toward the house, what do you suppose they want?".

To bad she didn't have an AK47 handy, she could have just shot them full of holes, and they would have deserved it. I guess they forget that Americans have the right to shoot armed people storming their house especially when the armed a**hats don't identify themselves.

53 posted on 08/09/2008 7:37:07 AM PDT by calex59
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To: csvset

Out of control! We all need to stop this crap NOw and stop the militarization of our police forces.


54 posted on 08/09/2008 7:38:23 AM PDT by commonguymd (A de facto single party country is nigh. The partisan bickering is a mere bilking mechanism.)
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To: commonguymd

Big time BUMP!


55 posted on 08/09/2008 7:43:48 AM PDT by beltfed308 (Heller: The defining moment of our Republic)
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To: DJ MacWoW
If I saw armed men running at my house, I'd be screaming too!!

The problem is the tactical nature of the "raids".

There is no way in a democratic society we should have police forces behaving like this.

The problem seems to have started in LA in the late '70s or early '80s. Gang bangers had crack houses that were essentially fortresses. The cops would show up, bang on the door. The gang bangers wouldn't answer, the cops would kick the door and since it was about two inches or reinforced steel nothing would happen. Bottom line is it would take about 10 minutes for the cops to get into the crack house, by which time all of the evidence would go down the cloaca. No arrests would be made, liberal judges and the press would question the probable cause for the warrant and everybody except the drug dealers would go away unhappy.

The chief Gates of the LAPD said screw it and went out and got himself an armored car and had a 20 foot battering ram mounted on the front. This solved the entry problem but it had some limitations. First, you needed a good run at the door with the ram, second, it was expensive and third, it was a bit conspicuous - drug dealers tended to see it coming.

The ultimate solution seems to have been the "tactical raid". Lots of well armed cops with hand held battering rams would show up at odd hours and just start yelling and smashing in the door. This generally got the cops in the door before the drugs where all flushed and it made for great TV.

The problem is, it relies heavily on the element of surprise which has lead to several tragedies over the years.

The only solution I can see is for law enforcement to change the way they deal with barricade situations.

The courts need to loosen up on probable cause. If police serve a search warrant and no contraband is found, too bad they flushed it. No expensive trial, no expensive incarceration and the perps are out the cost of the drugs.

Agencies should place more emphasis on buy/bust operations and less on forced entry.

Agencies need to remove the emphasis on the big, photogenic, drug bust. If you catch a dealer with a marketable quantity of drugs it should not make any difference if it's ten grams or 200 kilos. Courts should treat them the same and put the perps away for a long time.

Eliminate "no knock" warrants in cases where someone's life is not suspected to be in immediate danger. Implement a 60 second rule, allowing the home owner a full minute to secure their pets and get to the door before they break it down. If the perps flush the drugs, good, let them. It cuts into their margins.

One word about dogs; I love dogs and I agree that what happened in this case was tragic and unnecessary. But if I were a cop and some drug dealer's pit bull was coming at me that sucker would be real dead real fast.

56 posted on 08/09/2008 8:21:20 AM PDT by InABunkerUnderSF ("Gun Control" is not about the guns. "Illegal Immigration" is not about the immigration)
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To: Gilbo_3
also this 'we lost initiative, so everything is now a target' is nothing less than tactics of a domestic military, no conscience of the citizenry and their sovereignty...

There is a lot of wisdom contained in this short, phrase, not even a sentence. Well said.

57 posted on 08/09/2008 8:24:38 AM PDT by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
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To: InABunkerUnderSF
I understand all that. BUT, this was not a crack house. These uber cops never talked to local law enforcemnet. That's right, it was county that sent Swat and never informed the local police . THAT could have ended up a mess all it's own.

Secondly, these yahoos never checked whose house they were raiding. They delivered that package and waited for it to be taken inside. The mayor came back from walking his Labs, not pit bulls, and took the package inside never knowing what it was. The original article stated that the 4 yr old Lab was running AWAY from them when it was shot. They handcuffed Granny and laid her down next to the 7 yr old dead Lab.

They were alerted to the package by Arizona and it never occured to them that this was a setup situation where someone snatches the package off the porch? Freepers know that's a ploy, they didn't?!

There was EVERYTHING wrong with this raid by overzealous yahoo Leos.

58 posted on 08/09/2008 8:47:34 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW ("Make yourself sheep, and the wolves will eat you" Benjamin Franklin)
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To: jimfree

Take heart. Maybe they won’t be able to afford paramilitary swat teams anymore, making all citizens and their fluffy pets safer. :/


59 posted on 08/09/2008 9:14:24 AM PDT by Politicalmom (I've left the Grand Ol' Plantation. / GOP '08,- NO Soup for YOU!)
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To: InABunkerUnderSF
One word about dogs; I love dogs and I agree that what happened in this case was tragic and unnecessary. But if I were a cop and some drug dealer's pit bull was coming at me that sucker would be real dead real fast.

Thanks for sharing, but that is completely off the point and irrelevant.

60 posted on 08/09/2008 9:23:31 AM PDT by Fundamentally Fair (If given a choice between a POW and a POS, I'll take the POW.)
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