Posted on 11/27/2011 2:17:58 PM PST by Slings and Arrows
You can say that again! :-)
For starters a place at least at minimum a two minute required knock {5 at night} with a loud speaker announcement every 30 seconds after the first minute before forced entry EXCEPT where there is obvious life endangerment inside such as hostages, someone being beat, shot, etc. ALL cops who are not detectives or undercover should wear their departments uniform and I include that uniform should be worn carrying out raids also. Uniform should not be a Black Tee Shirt or Ninja type garb but a traditional recognizable police uniform with badge visible. All cars making routine traffic stops should be marked, have light bar on top, and be driven by a uniformed officer. Civilian Law Enforcement except for Border Patrol needs to be demilitarized. That includes not using military type uniforms in typical duties.
Any officer obtaining a search warrant should also be required to execute it in person. No Exceptions. In event of wanted person officers should make efforts to arrest a suspect away from home. There was no sense in raiding the mans home when they could have served warrant much safer elsewhere. These type of bust in John Wayne tactics need to end NOW except in emergency.
Too any Cops reading this. I support LEO's. I realize they have a difficult and often thankless job. I also have a job and a GOD GIVEN RIGHT which is self and family protection. My home should be considered safe for my family and myself. I should have the right to believe someone knocking down my door is coming too shoot or kill me or family members and I should have a right too respond accordingly too that threat. If I busted down your door a zero dark thirty yelling and screaming like a junkie hyped on PCP you would shoot if you did not recognize me. It was zero dark thirty to the man who was killed BTW. He was a day sleeper.
I have a door in which to knock on, a phone which too call me on {BTW most LEA's have landline numbers too all homes via 911 system data}, and like you I sleep close to immediate protection. Simple changes in allowed search warrant procedures would save many lives including other innocents as well as officers.
If as a LEO you feel it is too dangerous too do your job in the safer for all more traditional up till the last couple of decades manner listed above perhaps you need too change careers. Yes I know some drugs or other evidence may get flushed etc. BIG DEAL!!! and I am not pro-legalization of such BTW. Law enforcement needs to reestablish some creditable distance between property forfeitures {the driving force behind many raids of today} and the money it rakes in for the local government and work too regain public trust.
If that was their basis for arrest then likely half the USA is suspect after their activities of association with other family members during the past four days. LOA's are doing sloppy police work because they know they can get by with it. Biigest punishment is usually job termination. Big Deal another agency job is just a county or election away.
“During this investigation, extremely little evidence, if any, was found to raise even a suspicion that Jose Guerena was involved in any possible drug trafficking ring,” the notice says.
Scileppi said the fact that Guerena had been fired at 71 times and hit 22 times was “grotesque,” and “almost a caricature of an overly excited group of poorly trained law enforcement agents.”
Kastigar sharply disputed that, calling the Pima County SWAT team one of the best of its kind in the nation. “We’re not a bunch of country bumpkins in southern Arizona with big bellies and cowboy hats,” he said.
The shooting was justified, he said, because Guerena pointed his AR-15 at the SWAT officers and said, “I’ve got something for you,” before they opened fire.
The five SWAT team members who shot Guerena believed that he had fired his weapon first, he said. Subsequent investigation revealed that the gun’s safety was on and hadn’t been fired.
They sound pretty incompetent to me — big bellies or not.
It Stinks! They could have served him as he pulled into his driveway. We have way too many agencies running around in military type gear and tactics looking for any reason and chance to use it.
Is it too late to change my recommendation?
I want prison time for the top management.
Dupnik. That about tells me everything I need to know. The man is the perfect amalgam of arrogance and incompetence.
You are 100% right.
:O( i think 6 is a record...yikes..
I’m not a techie, but I think that John Robinson must have set up some kind of barrier to deflect some of the hits on the site while some of the servers were down, being fixed, to prevent the site from being overloaded and going down.
I finally figured out that if you tried to post, and instantly were denied access, then you could try again. But if you tried to post, and access was cut off after some delay, then probably the post got through, but not the second stage, the return to the thread where you could see the post.
Interesting to know, although I haven’t seen this happen very often.
And before any of you chime in with but...but....but:
1)It was a search warrant not an arrest warrant.
2) They had the right house. It was not a wrong address.
3)SWAT had been briefed that Guerena was potentially armed and dangerous.
4) It was not a no-knock warrant. They were in marked, lit, vehicles with siren. All officers had POLICE stenciled on their vests.
5)The affidavit used to get the search warrant suggested an elaborate ongoing criminal enterprise possibly tied to one or more murders.
It's unfortunate an ex-marine had to die this way but all indications are he was a criminal and made very poor choices.
http://www.wsfa.com/story/14901148/swat-shooting-of-guerena-ruled-reasonable-and-justified
Oh some person will post it latter.
No arrests as of yet. Just a dead Marine who was not the target of the warrant. And some fatherless little boys and a widow. What a shameful day May 5, 2011 was in Tucson, AZ.
In the same spirit as the "innocent until proven guilty" doctrine we depend upon -- even though some guilty people will get away -- I believe it's far better to wait and get the bad guy later, in some other way, than to allow police officers to gun down the people they have sworn to protect EVER AGAIN.
I agree 100%. Also it makes NO SENSE to serve a search warrant on someone while inside their home. Serve warrants where the persons are visable outside or at another location.
I agree.
When I first posted “fire”, I then changed it to “prison time”.
And you’re right, if anyone dies in a botched SWAT raid, the Chief of Police and any other high-ranking officials who signed off on it should get the death penalty.
That's for sure. A bumpkin sheriff with a big belly and cowboy hat would have probably handled this competently.
Okay then. How bout the cops are lying PsOS, and you're no better for your selective recitation of circumstances.
That any better?
BTW, Ayoob’s blog entry is a joke.
I’ve seen better writing and balance come out of MSNBC.
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