Posted on 10/13/2013 11:42:43 AM PDT by Zuben Elgenubi
The idea that every town must have a police SWAT team is relatively new. While just a handful of big cities had SWAT teams 30 years ago, now 80 percent of towns with populations between 25,000 and 50,000 have them.
Now there is one fewer. Quietly and with no public debate, Framingham’s SWAT team has been disbanded. Chief Steven Carl gave the order as he and the SWAT commander left the department for other jobs.
Carl told me the disbanding of the SWAT team wasn’t just something he did on the way out the door. Two years ago he told the Stamps Commission he’d have to disband the unit if the team commander, Deputy Chief Craig Davis, ever left the force.
That civilian commission had been convened by Carl to review the Framingham SWAT team’s worst night, when a team member accidentally shot and killed Eurie Stamps Sr., 68, as he lay face down on the floor of his home.
The SWAT team had been serving a search warrant in a routine drug case and they’d given the Stamps home the full SWAT treatment: A midnight raid complete with battering rams, flash-bomb grenades, and 23 heavily armed officers, who caught Stamps in his pajamas. Stamps cooperated, and there were no drugs or guns found in the house, but he was killed by an officer who said he stumbled and his weapon fired by accident.
Stamps left a large family grieving, a minority community upset and Framingham facing a potentially expensive wrongful death suit.
Carl’s commission recommended a smaller SWAT team with more time devoted to training. The incident strengthened the chief’s opinion that if Davis left the department, there would be no one with the training, skills and responsibility required to supervise the unit. It would take five to ten years to train someone else to match Davis’ qualifications, Carl said.
There’s also the expense. Framingham SWAT team members must train at least 40 hours a year plus 16 hours a month. With 12 to 14 members on the team, that amounts to more than 3,000 officer hours a year in training, much of it charged as overtime, either by the SWAT officers or others brought in to fill their shifts.
Since the situations for which SWAT teams are trained – hostage-takings, armed and barricaded subjects, snipers, etc. – are so rare in a town like Framingham, Carl said, “you’re paying a lot for an insurance policy.”
Barry’s “civilian army” has been screwing up a lot lately. They’ve been murdering a lot of innocent “seniors” coming out of bed in their pajamas in the middle of the night to see what the hell is going on in THEIR house. I guess it gives the ObamaCare Death Panel “navigators” one less case to have to deal with.
Good for them, we don’t often see common sense prevailing in the post-9/11 facism.
This needs to happen at state level around the US. Basically, that for the rare occasions that paramilitarism is needed, it should be conducted by county Sheriffs, under strict guidelines, not police departments.
The state law would first mandate what equipment police departments could use, and who they could obtain that equipment from. The feds have been larding up police departments with all sorts of surplus military gear, which they do not need and should not have.
So if they already have equipment not on the list, it must be turned over to the Sheriff. Any SWAT activities must be carried out by the Sheriff’s office, for situations that require SWAT, only.
Next, the states need to reform the state police academy training, to train officers away from SWAT tactics, to more of a role of peacekeeper, not paramilitary.
is the cop being charged with involuntary manslaughter? (I know the answer by looking into my crystal ball)
Especially around here in MA.
This raid sounds like an appropriate force for an assault on the hideout of Scarface.
I understand the principle of overwhelming force saving lives, but suspect the cops are going overboard.
This story is almost as sad as that of the little girl a couple of years ago killed because the cops were trying to stage a spectacular raid for “reality TV.” Too real for her.
What is left out of these stories is that with this many excited heavily armed men running around, a certain amount of “collateral damage” is inevitable. In military operations quite a number of guys die from “friendly fire,” much less the number of civilians “accidentally” killed.
Sometimes it seems like the Rules of Engagement are more strict in Afghanistan than America.
This raid sounds like an appropriate force for an assault on the hideout of Scarface.
I understand the principle of overwhelming force saving lives, but suspect the cops are going overboard.
This story is almost as sad as that of the little girl a couple of years ago killed because the cops were trying to stage a spectacular raid for “reality TV.” Too real for her.
What is left out of these stories is that with this many excited heavily armed men running around, a certain amount of “collateral damage” is inevitable. In military operations quite a number of guys die from “friendly fire,” much less the number of civilians “accidentally” killed.
Sometimes it seems like the Rules of Engagement are more strict in Afghanistan than America.
What is your reason for believing sheriff’s departments will handle this task any better than police forces?
Disbanded SWAT team ?
Doggies are way safer now...
If not involuntary manslaughter, then negligent homicide.
They probably gave him a promotion instead.
/johnny
the first SWAT team in the area was in Elmira, and on their first outing, they had a blue on blue killing... but they didn't let a little thing like that stop them
SWAT teams are severe overkill in most cases, and they make a lot of mistakes, like getting the wrong addresses. Sheriff’s departments have them. State police have them, as do some of the city police, and there are ATF, FBI, and federal marshals, the EPA, the IRS and others. Sometimes they all get together to throw a house crashing party, cuff some half naked people on the floor, burn down communes, and shoot babies, old people and dogs. And cops wonder why conservative who normally support the police who do their jobs with honor and decency are getting a little Pi$$ed off about abuse of power and thuggish brutality.
Repeat as necessary.
Good. Repeat as necessary.
“I trained for a whole 40 hours, I’m whatchacallit, an expert, dawg.... now...oops! my bad.”
lol
cities are agencies of the states and the states need to put their boot down on this crap.
“if Davis left the department, there would be no one with the training, skills and responsibility required to supervise the unit.”
It amazes me that they can say this with a straight face.
Who was supervising the night Ernie Stumps got it.
Who was supervising during the time that the unit was (per the investigation) too big and not trained enough?
Here we go again.....in this day and age, individual officers are trained in SWAT tactics because in an active shooter situation...patrol officers CANT wait for the time it takes to call out, brief and insert a SWAT team. Hence the issuance of rifles to patrol officers. And what pray tell, is the reason for keeping SWAT relegated to the Sheriff office? SWAT has its uses and purpose...when properly trained and employed...
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