I woke up in the morning thinking about this senseless act of murder. We could all see it coming. These last couple of years we were concerned about the increased deaths of people and their dogs. Now, the courts are saying it’s fine to enter illegally and you aren’t suppose to do a thing about it. Never mind that they shoot if you even grab for a phone. Unless, we vote in an EXTREME RIGHT WING
president and congress we have no one to blame but ourselves. Look at what the last presidents have gotten away with...illegal wars, homeland terror and so forth.
We have three significant problems. First, the judge who issued the search warrant (as in almost all of these stupid cases where a SWAT team is sent) ought to be personally held responsible....ought to be forced to attend each search himself....and be held responsible for irrational actions of the search he authorized. Second, the SWAT guys have free reign as the system works currently. I would suggest a simple bond having to be required and posted prior to visiting the judge to request the warrant....say $5 million. You, as the police, screw the warrant up and affect innocent people....they automatically get their hands on that bond money immediately, and still have the right to sue for regular damages. The bond would come out of the city budget and go up and down in cost depending how how things go. Finally, the third issue is simply timing of events...night or evening raids. I think each town could run up the votes and demand that only daylight operations be conducted so that no one (especially the cops) could be confused about what they see.
If you look around....no one is trying regulate any of their SWAT teams. They’ve simply allowed them to do just about anything they desire. If you hold political figures responsible and start terminating them at the office...then SWAT would start to dissolve. There was a need in the 1960s with radical groups in LA and Philly for SWAT to be created. The fact that towns with 40k residents now have SWAT teams....ought to worry about the necessity of such tactics in small-town America.
Not so. At least historically, right wingers are just as authoritarian as commies, though sometimes on different issues. And credit does go to some specific conservatives for distinguishing between applying those powers to bad guys vs. doing so to everyone. But cons haven't draped themselves in glory on maintaining proper citizen-state balance either.