I gotta concur. If there is no pressing need to serve the warrant (someone being killed, raped, etc.) it would be safer for the police and the public to serve these warrants by different means. Wait for the suspect to leave the home and arrest him in the drive, etc. Then get his keys and search the property.
Announcing that you are the police outside of a closed door at night and then breaking it down within seconds is just bad head work if it doesn't have to be done to protect someone (a balance of risk and reward). If someone bangs on my door at night and then I hear a sledge hammer against it, I'm responding in an armed fashion. And it would appear that the real bad guys would get a out-of-jail-free card by claiming reasonably that they had no idea that the invaders were police.
I'm just amazed that the police departments that are very cautious about confronting criminals when danger is known are so cavalier about charging into the unknown.
I'm not a crusader against the WOD, just some of the tactics that have become common.
Even if the police announced who they were, you'd better not believe them. The bad guys know this and have been known to shout "Police" as they are doing a home invasion.
“I’m just amazed that the police departments that are very cautious about confronting criminals when danger is known are so cavalier about charging into the unknown.”
Around here the SWAT team is made up of a bunch of military washouts with Rambo fantasies. Most appear to be pumped up on steroids.
They are probably too stupid to understand the inherent dangers.
Given reported incidents of home invaders yelling "police!" to make defenders hesitate to resist, if any police want to discuss anything with me I would be more comfortable seeing a marked police car in my driveway and a uniformed cop outside my door handing me a warrant in a civilized way.