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.
Republicans,dogs,and domestic terrorists be on notice!
In a few years they will have Abrams tanks to deploy in such situations, then they can flatten the house “to be safe in case someone has a firearm inside”. Of course that justification can be used anywhere as there are supposed to be 200+million firearms in the hands of the public so any home theoretically could have firearms. This would be a more novel approach. Surveil the home, wait till someone shows up with a or more than one motorcycle and then serve the search warrant.
probably found a roach in the home so that will justify all this.
This is the problem with the feds giving away these vehicles to local LEOs.
Everyone is looking for an excuse to take it out to play.
Neighbor hears a scream next door, calls 911, and hear comes the war machine....to find a couple relaxing after an intimate moment....
Well....when the roof lines in the area are 8 feet apart....
Those fellows in the photo look like they’re just itchin’ to protect and serve the public!
After more than an hour of searching, officers cleared the house. No one was inside, Lewis said.
Lewis said, so far, about 30 motorcycles across Polk, Orange and Hillsborough counties have been identified as stolen. No one has been arrested.
Oops...maybe they conveniently forgot to mention whether there were ANY MOTORCYCLES recovered. I'm sure this wasn't just the police joyriding and using this as intimidation against any "domestic terrorists".
They mention no people inside. They mention 30 motorcycles recovered across Polk, Orange and Hillsborough counties. But not one mention of motorcycles found in the house or garage after an hour of searching.
Must be damn small motorcycles they're looking for, if they were searching the house for them for an hour.
Yep. No motor-sickles, no arrests, but by golly the local economy got a boost by ensuring a glass company and interior decorator are gonna get some business.
Also boys with video game controllers in their hands, old men with walking canes, the homeless, Old Mexican ladies delivering newspapers, teen agers going surfing. They [police] have these new toys and they intend to use them.
“We needed to be safe.”
Bullsh1t!
It looks like more like a bunch of gear-queers wanting to play Navy SEAL with their toys. Go after bangers in Chicago, MS-13, or the cartels and I’ll buy this safety excuse.
Nothing found, nothing reported, no indication if anything incriminating at all was found. So to serve a search warrant, they brought up an armored car and detonated explosives before entering. Just wow.
Geez...whatever happened to a megaphone and “Come out with your hands up “
From Dr. Zhivago:
Offical: We mistakenly attacked the wrong village.
Zhivago: Your mistake, their village.
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The solution is don’t call 911, don’t see this, don’t hear that. At one time it was well and call the police if one heard a scream or if one saw something suspicious. Sadly, that time has came and gone. The cure is now worse than the disease.
Tiny Washington, Iowa just took delivery of a Mine Resistant Military vehicle that probably gets 5 miles per gallon. Why ?
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.
There will be information developed on how to exploit the weaknesses of these monstrosities using simple methods and materials.
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