SWATing means the police are misled by a third party - such as someone calling in a fake hostage situation.
HPD was the instigator here. It’s all on their shoulders.
A distinction without much of a difference, as far as the target is concerned.
BUT a cop systematically SWATing people at random does far more damage than an individual citizen with a single random grudge.
Not just to the people SWATted, but to the trust we the people have in their ‘betters’.
All the more so when the “good” cops close ranks and protect the bad cop.
This whole case stinks to high heaven. When it went down the way Houston PD talked about it made no sense and then their lack of information made it more suspicious.
If it is the middle of the night and you kick my door down, dressed in black, carry weapons and start a rush in my house we are probably going to have a gun fight. If I get woke up by your egress onto my property and you are dressed in black with no clearly identifiable markings I am going to make your house entry painful and costly because I don’t know you are cops.
If I see flashing blue lights from cruisers and you knock on my door I am going to answer the door quickly and try and determine what is going on, unarmed more than likely. No-knock raids are something that should be used once in a blue moon, not as a common practice because too many things can go wrong. You break in and kill my parents because you or your informant screwed up and you offer a pitiful sorry, well that won’t get it with me, someone has to pay one way or the other.