I spent most of my adult life as a police officer, my primary objective in getting out of bed in the morning was to protect and serve. That was drilled into me in training and reiterated all through my career as a police officer. I like to think I did a pretty good job matching the expectations of the police credo “protect and serve”. Most of my colleagues thought the same way and yet we are all condemned my mistakes like this. Go figure.
Breaking and entering is not a “mistake”.
If you’re going to bust into a house like you’re looking for Khalid Sheik Mohammed, you think you might check the address first?
Also, why is ATF doing drug busts? (just curious, I really don’t know)
Yes, because we, the public, would rather a few criminals get away, and keep our civil liberties, than live with this ever-expanding police state. If you are worried about not getting condemned for this type of behavior, then you should rally against it along with the rest of us and help us end it. We are not about to find it acceptable any time soon.
Ah, now your earlier comment to me makes sense. Sadly, while most LEOs still serve as you did, far too many don’t these days. It’s later than most think.
Which is why many professions clear their own ranks of those who make a bad name for them. By the time they are senior enough to lead a raid, they ought to be able to read a warrant well enough to get the address right.
This time, at least, no one got killed.
Maybe it is time for the police to police their own ranks.
As someone with an inside perspective, do you think these sorts of events are becoming more common?
I think the general public is happy that my profession is not as mistake ridden as your.
Since you have walked the walk...I have a question...
At one point not that long ago...when a warrant was issued by the courts...the LEO walked up to your door and knocked telling you they have a warrant...
If a mistake was made... Sorry Sir..we have a wrong address...have a nice day...
Instead today in far too many cases they break down your door with a battering ram, do an dynamic entry with guns, flash bangs and a half dozen "cops" point their red dots on you, your children, in many cases kill your dog...
My question is why....???
The problem is that these exact kind of mistakes happen far too often. Often times with deadly consequences.
When you have people's lives in your hands, you better be 100% sure. This was not a split-second decision in the streets. This was a planned raid and the police had all the time in the world to be 100% sure. Absolutely NO excuses. Everyone that has their name on this should be charged with the same crimes as an armed burglar breaking and entering a home.
I used to work in nuke plants and also designing building structures. If I made a “mistake”, I knew it could result in a building collapse or nuclear incident. If I was ever found negligent I would be crucified by the media, never work as engineer again and probably do jail time. Everything has to be checked to death before a single bolt is touched. We've only had one nuclear accident in this country and the last US building collapse due to a design mistake was decades ago.
The job of the police is arguably even more important. Not only to protect and serve, but also to encourage a good society. When people constantly see these “mistakes” and dirty cops getting away with everything, it encourages crime and rot of civilization. These botched “raids” and dirty cop stories are reported every single week. How many do we never hear about?
We hear about outrages like this all the time. This cop below got a slap on the wrist. Most likely a deal to not expose the vast corruption in the NYPD. IMO, dirty cops should receive the death penalty. Especially if they endanger people's lives and liberty like in this case:
Most of my colleagues thought the same way and yet we are all condemned my mistakes like this.I don't think ArrogantBustard wasn't condeming all LEO's as "bad", just the one's who *are* "bad" and/or incompetent. These guys demonstrated their incompetence by not correctly identifying the location for the warrant. After all, some Barney Fife SWORE AN OATH OR AFFIRMATION BEFORE A JUDGE regarding the *EXACT* location to be searched in order to get the warrant issued. There is no excuse for mistaking the location. Period. The location was either well & clearly known by Barney or Barney lied to the judge. It's one or the other.
Barney was responsible for clearly identifying the location to everyone involved. If it was a location that could be easily confused, then Barney was solely responsible for removing any & all confusion before the warrant was executed or insuring terminally confused/idiot officers were excluded from the team. You should know this. "Oops, sorry" is not enough to absolve for this particular mistake. It is inexcusable.
Mere civil liability is insufficient as far as I am concerned. If you don't want to also hold LEO's criminally liable for their Mis/Mal/Non-feasance in the official performance of their duties (which I personally have no objection to), then terminate their employment with prejudice against any future employment as an enforcer of laws or regulations. These sort of mistakes must not be tolerated at all.
If they can't accept that responsibility as a local, county, state or federal LEO, then they need to look for another line of work.
Opinions may vary.
I respect your professionalism, yet these “mistakes” are happening more and more frequently.
Perhaps, if the good LEO’s pushed for checks and reforms to prevent these “mistakes” , they would stop occurring.
I don’t see any real shock from the LE community at the deaths and trauma these no-knock raids and “mistakes” cause.
As a former police officer try to get your head around this scenario. 3-4 uniformed officers (like you used to be) do the job they are hired for by knocking on the door and telling the resident they have a search warrant. Thats the way it was always done until recently. So if they get the wrong address it gets resolved in a calm rational way.
Now the SWAT team has to go out and break down doors and shoot all the dogs for every freakin warrant that gets issued. Its ridiculous!!!! SWAT is supposed to be used in the event of a crazed killer holding hostages or some other extreme event not to serve search warrants and arrest warrants.
And in Indiana and Texas the cops had better be right when they serve a warrant because if they bust into a home without a warrant the homeowners have the right to kill them just the same as they have the right to kill any other armed intruder in the commission of a crime.