Who Will Protect You from the Police? The Rise of Government-Sanctioned Home Invasions

The Times Weekly.Com ^ | October 23, 2013 | John W. Whitehead

[Q-ManRN]

Before I go any further, let me start by saying this: the problem is not that all police are bad. The problem, is that increasing numbers of police officers are badly trained, illiterate when it comes to the Constitution, especially the Fourth Amendment, and, in some cases, willfully ignorant about the fact that they are supposed to be peacekeepers working for us, the taxpayer.

Unfortunately, with every passing week, we are hearing more and more horror stories in which homeowners are injured or killed simply because they mistook a SWAT team raid by police for a home invasion by criminals. Never mind that the unsuspecting homeowner, woken from sleep by the sounds of a violent entry, has no way of distinguishing between a home invasion by a criminal as opposed to a government agent. Too often, the destruction of life and property wrought by the police is no less horrifying than that carried out by criminal invaders.

Actually, we may be worse off today than our colonial ancestors when one considers the extent to which courts have sanctioned the use of no-knock raids by police SWAT teams (occurring at a rate of 70,000 to 80,000 a year and growing); the arsenal of lethal weapons available to local police agencies; the ease with which courts now dispense search warrants based often on little more than a suspicion of wrongdoing; and the inability of police to distinguish between reasonable suspicion and the higher standard of probable cause, the latter of which is required by the Constitution before any government official can search an individual or his property.

[Paladin2]

It's actually a People's Republic where I bought into a (former) Republican Ward (One of two of five at the time) before the whole place went progressive 0ne Party.

In the decade B4 2008 we had any number of modest houses torn down (even basements pulled out) and turned into McMansions.

Since my older 'rat neighbors pulled up stakes, they no longer try to attack me using the City attorney and code cops. (After I retired and had more time, I used the courts to repulse their attacks).

Still, it's way past time to move West (SD, Wyo., Mont., E. Wash.)

[Paladin2]

"..Branch Davidians... "

Never neglect that H0lder had his oar dipped deep into the waters there.

[Q-ManRN]

Sensible ideas. Thank you.

[SECURE AMERICA]

As a human being the ONLY person responsible for my protection is me..

[Paladin2]

Never neglect the (Dog) Constitutional rights of Dogs (esp., Labs, Goldens, Pointers, (most) Shepards, Healers, (big) Poodles, most large mixes, etc)

[Political Junkie Too]

Maybe we need to stop calling SWAT team home invasions an "unreasonable search" violation of the 4th amendment, and start calling it an "illegal quartering of soldiers" violation of the 3rd amendment.

-PJ

[Paladin2]

"You are lucky! That sounds like Mayberry."

Twenty+ years ago, we were able to let our young kids run up and down the sidewalks connecting the yards to engage in free-form play (much like my own youth of being gone all day 'till dinnertime).

It could still happen but the neighbors with young kids are into much more structured/monitored little-kid play. (who could complain?)

[Forgotten Amendments]

When the ATF and FBI massacred the Branch Davidians and then a Republican Congress gave them cover, this is what caused be to begin reassessing my support for law enforcement and politicians.

Me too. I remember listening on the radio and just getting sick. Then, right in front of me, cops ran a car off the road and started wailing on the guy. I have no idea what for, maybe he deserved it. But that was a turning point in my life.

Looking back, the MOVE thing in Philly was a turning point. Remember that? We might not have found that group sympathetic. Just like the Left didn't like the Branch Davidians and Randy Weaver. So we didn't object when they dropped a bomb on Americans, killed five kids, and burned down 60 family homes. I knew people who were all for it.

[Q-ManRN]

You have got that right!

[Noumenon]

The Krauts had snappier uniforms.

[Secret Agent Man]

I have a dash cam. Am thinking about getting one facing the rear. They have some units that already have a front/rear pair of cameras on them.

[Paladin2]

"I have a dash cam."

It's the way of the Future.

B4 I got kicked to the curb for being old (no real problem as I now get do the skiing in Mont. everyday the lifts are open that the rest of America doesn't want to do), I was working on collision avoidance systems that included vision as an input.

Reviewing the video data collected during development driving convinced me that it would be a Good Thing ^TM to have on a personal vehicle.

[GeronL]

Apparently in some countries dash cams are almost a requirement to prove what really happened, like Russia

[Paladin2]

"...like Russia....."

The recent asteroid flyover vids were great...

[GeronL]

Yes, those were actually awesome

[GeronL]

well, meteors I think and if they hit the ground they are meteorites

or something

[attiladhun2]

Mabye so. But the MOVE bunch were confrontational from the beginning. The had one of their shills rent a bldg, then they fortified it, began blarring loud, disruptive music from loudspeakers day and night, and then dared the police to shut them down.

I really see no comparison. The fault that 5 kids were killed seems to me to rest on the adults who put them in harm's way, not the Philly police.

[attiladhun2]

I have no doubt Ole Fast and Furious had a big hand in the Branch Davidian Massacre, just as another rodent named Weasley Wesley Clark did as well.

We can't ignore the Congressional cover-up that whitewashed the massacre to, and the wholesale destruction of evidence that took place afterward. A Republican Congress should have held Reno's tootsies to the fire and everyone else involved. There was no outrage, only a desire to exonerate the ATF and FBI for their criminal behavior.

Same thing happened after OKC bombing. Despite the fact of overwhelming evidence that a Palestinian real estate owner, his Iraqi employees, an Iranian who ran a body shop, and others of Middle Eastern origin were involved, along with Terry Nichols and Tim McVeigh, there was no desire on the part of anyone in government to uncover the entire plot. So people with blood on their hands know they got away with murder, and other people who took an oath to take such people off the street also know they got away with murder. But making sure a "vast right-wing conspiracy" got the blame was more politically expedient. The Clinton's could raise no money if the real perps had turned out to be Ali Baba and his 40 jihadis, rather than hayseeds with pitchforks.