Posted on 04/19/2014 6:19:28 AM PDT by Sam's Army
Lakeland Police SWAT team officers looking for stolen motorcycles tried out their newest technologies Friday evening while serving a search warrant on a house in South Lakeland.
Police said detectives have been investigating motorcycle thefts in Polk, Hillsborough and Orange counties.
After conducting surveillance and gathering information for a judge to sign a search warrant, LPD called in its SWAT team to execute the warrant at a house on Empress Way in the neighborhood near Kelly Recreation Center, Sgt. Mike Lewis said.
"We did not know if anyone was inside and we had information that the persons involved were armed," Lewis said. "It was a safety issue."
It was an opportunity for police to see how well their newly acquired Lenco BearCat armored vehicle would perform. City commissioners last year approved the purchase of the 22,000-pound bullet-resistant vehicle to replace a 1967 armored vehicle. The BearCat features new technologies, air-conditioning, cameras and seating for 12 officers instead of six.
On Friday, the SWAT team drove the BearCat down Lakeland streets and onto the front lawn of the house. The officers crouched behind and inside the vehicle, unsure of what was inside the house.
The officers used tactical maneuvers to blow out the front windows, leaving curtains lying in the yard, and they gained entry into the attached garage.
After more than an hour of searching, officers cleared the house. No one was inside, Lewis said.
"(The vehicle) completely revolutionizes things because we can bring cover up to a location," Lakeland Police Lt. Mike Spade said. "We went on the assumption that someone could be armed in the house. We needed to be safe."
Detectives were searching the house Friday night.
Lewis said, so far, about 30 motorcycles across Polk, Orange and Hillsborough counties have been identified as stolen. No one has been arrested.
Because they had very little actual information, made assumptions on what they had, lied to a compliant judge who rubber stamps warrants, and then of course found out they were hallucinating everything.
Nothing new about blowing up very small bits of information. A guy buys a can of ether, and cops immediately assume it is a meth production operation. They ignore all the legitimate uses for such things.
Anyone supporting cops today is blinded by an ends justify the means mentality. Or just not paying attention at all.
“Must be damn small motorcycles they’re looking for, if they were searching the house for them for an hour. “
Good catch. They were desperate to find ANYTHING to justify their ASSUMPTIONS that allowed them to play soldier.
Every law officer in the country,fed,state,local, anyone that wears a helmet needs to have their full name clearly visible printed on the side of it.
Cops these days are ridiculous! Everybody is a suspect and everybody is guilty before proven innocent (and your only declared innocent after they bury you)..,,
—
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government, lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”
Patrick Henry
1736-1799
Shaved heads, prone to group-think, below average IQ's, unquestioning, losers who take joy in working out their issues on those who must not respond in kind.
These guys are Kent State every friggin day, and the same hippies who cried over it, now employ and take pride in the same.
Absolutely Weird.
Lol, there are roaches in every FL home... But I digress.
Gotta find an up-side to these situations.....Sure they shot the dog, killed gramps cause he had a cane, shouted obscenities at the children while they were face down in ty-wrapped wrists, but at least the other unwanted guests will be gone.
I caught on to that as well. Must have been a 150,000 sqft home.
Yeah, sure.
I'm just a few miles from there. You don't want to get arrested in Polk county.
So blow the hell out of a house looking for some unnamed suspects. This is insane.
This teaches us that if you have a large yard, you might consider building a “tiger trap” pit that would be like an abandoned cesspool. It is a particular vulnerability of such heavy vehicles.
Imagine if they had driven their little toy over just the perfect place for it to be for their purposes. Then, quite unexpectedly, “crack and sploosh”, as the vehicle exceeds the weight limit of the roof of the pit, and descends perhaps ten feet straight down into foul and fetid water.
Which just does wonders for such vehicles. And even their occupants, if they don’t scramble out fast enough.
The resulting headlines would be hilarious. “Homeowner cited after armored police vehicle falls into abandoned cesspool.”
Hopefully not a palmetto bug, or they’re going to need to bring in some drones.
We mistakenly attacked the wrong village.
Zhivago: Your mistake, their village.
we had information that the persons involved were armed
Expect to see that phrase a lot, true or not, as justification to use this military equipment for basic warrants arrests that were made fine without them previously.
Yep, and it won’t matter whether someone actually reported that or not. Dan Rather’s secret sources will be spying on everyone.
Boiler plate bull$h!+ to justify getting all the toys out.
“The solution is don’t call 911”
Yes, and if you call 911 for a medical emergency, and then find you don’t need it, don’t call and cancel, because the cops will be on your doorstep instantly. And they will refuse to leave unless you allow them to search your home! It’s all done “in the name of your safety.” Eff Em!
Lots of people on here with a lack of foresight..
Most police departments use a risk matrix to decide whether to serve a warrant with a knock at the door by a uniformed officer or using a SWAT.
I know everyone hates to see a truck with armored steel on the sides and policemen wearing black helmets....but typically the SWAT is used when the individuals who live at the location have criminal history that includes credit vocation for violence involving weapons and or ownership if firearms.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.