Over the last twenty years or so, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with the proliferation of no-knock raids and all of the intendant overwhelming force that accompanies them.
Police supporters say these tactics are necessary because druggies are so well armed and that proper safeguards prevent mishaps and wrongful identifications, but that is obviously not true.
This review is a good step, and long overdue.
Funny, how it took 3 FBI agents getting hurt before law enforcement finally admitted what people have known for years and lowly civilians have sued unsuccessfully for years over. Before something is finally being do or addressed with the use of these things.
I personally feel they have a place in the law enforcement arsenal. But as with all tools the courts give LEO's to work with, they quickly begin using them on situations and scenarios of less and less urgency or less and less danger. So, finally the right case ends up before the right court and the tool it taken away from LE. And the entire community has no one to blame but themselves and their eagerness to employ a given tool on society at the drop of a hat. The same thing is happening with Tazers. Cops are using them more and more on situations of less and less resistance, till we now have cops tazing 11 year old school children for talking back. A 77 year old Grandma who can't get out of a car fast enough on a traffic stop and a 67 year old man in the throws of a diabetic induced episode.
That's what got the BATF agents shot in WACO. That's why the BATF had a grocery sack full of video tapes they were unwrapping the day before, so they would have plenty of cool video showing how neat their SWAT team guys were. It's why they went in shooting; why they immediately killed all the dogs (which were penned). It's why they invited the press and TV stations to cover the raid, and why they had to go through with the raid, even after they knew it was compromised.
If you're a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
BTW, almost all the BATF video disappeared after the raid (it was embarrassing to them). Only the video shot by the news media folks remains.
But you're cool with the practice of using them on Americans who are suspected of non-violent crimes?
Maybe if you had a couple more go off in your lap, and maybe a few thrown into your living room with your family some evening, you'd feel a bit differently about them yourself, agent!
Uhhhh.
I hope not.
Where can WE get some for the 4th of July? Worse than a quarter stick?
Cops shouldn’t be able to possess any weapon or gear that I can’t own for myself.
Better to legalize drugs and end the excuse for these fascist attacks.