Posted on 05/17/2010 8:26:54 AM PDT by MetaThought
A reader who asks his name not be used writes about the drug raid video from Columbia, Missouri:
I am a US Army officer, currently serving in Afghanistan. My first thought on reading this story is this: Most American police SWAT teams probably have fewer restrictions on conducting forced entry raids than do US forces in Afghanistan.
...
Generally, our troops, including the special ops guys, use what we call "cordon and knock": they set up a perimeter around the target location to keep people from moving in or out,and then announce their presence and give the target an opportunity to surrender. In the majority of cases, even if the perimeter is established at night, the call out or knock on the gate doesn't happen until after the sun comes up.
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I've heard similar accounts from other members of the military. A couple of years ago after I'd given a speech on this issue, a retired military officer and former instructor at West Point specifically asked me to stop using the term "militarization," because he thought comparing SWAT teams to the military reflected poorly on the military.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
I am a strong supporter of our law enforcement offers and I believe that we have the finest system in the world, warts and all. I came to the conclusion in 1985 that this country had lost the war on drugs. Nothing since has changed that opinion.
Don’t worry, SWAT will always get plenty of ex-military recruits who love kicking down doors.
I sincerely hope that these goons never attack me for my Spam and egg habit, but I am fearful of that.
I can't wait until the "perps" are flushing their Snickers to protect themselves from the health police SWAT team.
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