Posted on 06/13/2011 5:30:04 PM PDT by Whenifhow
A dear friend of mine described the horrific scene at her daughter’s home when a SWAT team emerged – based on a false report. A portion of the story is documented here:
"On Tuesday, June 7, 2011, a West Virginia family sat in their living room watching “Deadliest Catch” when a very loud thump was heard at their front door. The children, as previously trained by their parents, immediately fled to their designated safe spot. The young children knew something was very wrong when they heard a sound like that at their front door at that time of night.
When the mother approached and opened the door, she was stunned to find a SWAT team – positioned and ready to open it for her. The SWAT team disarmed her and said they were there because a call came in saying that shots were fired, there was fighting and possibly people had been shot.
The SWAT team grabbed the husband, took him outside and told him to put his arms in the air. He was retained outside with an AR15 and a Taser trained on him and he was told that if he made one move, he would be Tasered.
Inside the home, other members of the SWAT team searched for weapons and the mother gently coaxed her terrified children out of their safe spot.
It was clear that law enforcement didn’t confirm any of the facts of the call they received, didn’t question any neighbors to corroborate the allegations made during that call, and the SWAT team, upon arriving at the home, didn’t see or hear anything that would justify their raid of this home and yet they proceeded to do what they did.
Tuesday night could have proven deadly for any member of this family if the SWAT response had gone wrong. As of today, no known charges have been filed against the person who made the false call/report. In fact, when the victimized family sought help from the State Police Office, they were simply advised to seek a “no trespass” order and the Magistrate Office told them to get legal advice."
What is going on?!
This West Virginia SWAT raid comes on the heels of national news coverage about two other SWAT raids whereby one left an innocent Marine dead in Arizona and the other related to student loans with the SWAT raid being issued by the Federal Department of Education!
The CATO Institute tracks botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids. Analyzing their data from 2007 to the present and focusing solely on the use of SWAT teams, I found two very disturbing trends. In the past 2 years, SWAT teams are being used more frequently in botched raids at family residences across America, and the suspected crimes that SWAT teams are being used for appear outrageously inappropriate. Let’s examine the evolution.
In 2007, there were 3 botched SWAT raids involving:
1) a weapons cache,
2) a criminal fugitive, and
3) a methamphetamine and cocaine drug ring.
In 2008, there were 5 botched SWAT raids – four were drug raids and one was the robbery of a cell phone store.
In 2009, there were botched SWAT raids involving:
1) marijuana,
2) multiple warrantless raids on several homes after 2 officers were shot, and
3) a narcotics warrant whereby SWAT threw a flash grenade that started a fire and destroyed the home.
In 2010, there were 5 botched SWAT raids involving:
1) a drug raid (prescription drugs found in the home),
2) a nightclub raid to check IDs (there were reports of underage drinking),
3) a narcotics warrant,
4) marijuana possession and child endangerment (SWAT team raided while the children were at home and SWAT shot both their dogs, one fatally), and
5) a nursing home raid to check for a caregiver’s ID card (for authorization to provide medical marijuana).
Now here we are in 2011… only half the year has passed, yet 5 botched SWAT raids have already occurred involving:
1) student loans (SWAT raid was issued by the Federal Dept of Education),
2) a false report made via phone (described at the beginning of this article),
3) marijuana (multiple raids with one resulting in the killing of a Marine in Arizona),
4) an illegal poker game (a supposed ‘gambling operation’), and
5) a drug search (SWAT killed a 68 year-old man as he complied by lying on the floor and while doing so, his weapon accidentally discharged and SWAT shot him dead).
There’s something happening here in America… there’s battle lines being drawn which cross right over the threshold of our front doors and into our homes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjSpO2B6G4s&feature=player_embedded
Practically every town of any size has a SWAT team whose primary purpose is to execute warrants in the War on Drugs.
I have said many time and I’ll say it again; the damage to our freedoms far outweighs any advantages of having a “drug free” country.
“SWAT” is the sound when “the man” puts his foot down.
The District of Criminals is pushing the envelope to see how much they can get away with.
There was a case recently a couple miles from my home. Neighbors called police repeatedly about a loud argument between husband and wife. The calls became more frantic when neighbors heard shots fired. Police arrived on scene, spent two hours evacuating neighbors, securing the neighborhood, and removing dogs from adjoining properties.
Finally, four hours after the initial calls were made to police, the SWAT team deployed a robot that entered the open front door and found both husband and wife dead, likely the result of a murder-suicide. In all that time, no further noise or disturbance was heard from the house, and repeated attempts to contact the inhabitants failed.
Shockingly, the local newspaper attempted to get a coroner’s report on the couple, but got back a report that identified the cause of death (husband shooting wife, then a self inflicted gunshot wound), but did not indicate an exact time of death.
Shockingly, I say, because rarely does any of the media around here bother following up on such things. They even questioned if the woman’s life could have been saved had police entered the residence when they first arrived, rather than securing the scene and waiting for a massive deployment of resources. Police simply said it was against policy for officers to risk their lives in such a situation without appropriate backup and the paper left it at that.
Around our way every couple of years there will be a rash of fires, and after a while it will be ascertained that one of the (usually volunteer) firemen had actually been setting fires, just to gin up some excitement and to make it necessary to have the department roll out to fight the fire.
It would not surprise me for one nano-second if we were to ever discover that a member of the SWAT team actually was the one who called in the bogus report which triggered the raid!
Drug Free? you can buy drugs in any town in the US
Columbine - the useless cops milled around outside playing with themselves, waiting for the shooting to stop, while the killers walked around killing more victims. The cops were more concerned about their own safety. We have to turn “to protect and serve” into more than an empty promise.
>Drug Free? you can buy drugs in any town in the US
If that is not the goal of the “War on Drugs” then what is?
>Columbine - the useless cops milled around outside playing with themselves, waiting for the shooting to stop, while the killers walked around killing more victims. The cops were more concerned about their own safety. We have to turn “to protect and serve” into more than an empty promise.
“Empty Promise” is of more honor than the fraudulent phrase.
I did put the words in quotation marks.
I have said many time and I’ll say it again; the damage to our freedoms far outweighs any advantages of having a “drug free” country.
///
i wish more people would repeat that!
yes, i know all the arguments. like we’ll have more addicts.
but normal non-addict Americans have rights also.
the MANY unintended consequences of the “War on Drugs”, is simply many times worse than the original problem.
“If that is not the goal of the “War on Drugs” then what is?”
power and money
Heavily armed police, plus a policy against officers going in when there's any chance the target might shoot back, means that SWAT units will be deployed exclusively to raid middle-class homes over things like suspected possession of small amounts of marijuana.
How often do SWAT units raid drug dens whose residents are heavily armed and post lookouts 24/7?
>>“If that is not the goal of the “War on Drugs” then what is?”
>
>power and money
Indeed so.
And it is with that realization that one should investigate the doings of the police.
This would be a kind of extension of the Castle Doctrine ~ to wit, you try to get in my space with your addiction and your drugs and your problems I get to kill you.
I seem to remember when I was young there were these people we paid to be armed, serve the public good, and yes, risk their lives in harm’s way to protect the citizens of the community. Not sure what happened to them, but there’s some union goons wearing their uniforms these days.
And before others decide to flame away, the exceptions merely prove the rule, not break it. I know there are plenty of fantastic officers out there, who rightly get angry at such statements as mine. And that’s well and good; we should all be angry at the people who have so disrespected the uniform and the code of conduct officers used to be held to.
You have got to be kidding. A swat team was used to raid an illegal poker game ?
The drug war will never stop people from taking drugs. It has eroded our freedoms and turned police int a military force.
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