MD mayor's dogs killed by SWAT after cops deliver pot

This story is absolutely heartbreaking. There has been a rash of this kind of senseless taking of innocent lives, lately, throughout the country.
PLEASE, PLEASE, police departments, start selecting, training and retraining for officers with COURAGE. Any human being with any of this quality at all would not shoot an innocent, fleeing animal. COURAGE, INTELLIGENCE, JUDGEMENT: Without these, no one should be on a police force.

absolutely disgusting...

WTF!?

regardless of wether or not the marijuana was his does this require the force of a swat team?its like parking in a no parking zone and recieving your ticket from descending paratroopers. just goes to show how truly out of balance our goverments views are. our vice president can shoot people in the face, without repricussions but if u wanna get high live of the grid and wrap your pets in kevlar.

Conveniently, drug terror squads miss the opportunity to seize truly dangerous drugs, in favor of something less potent than cough medicine.

Hopefully the Decriminalization bill in the House right now will reverse these trends, because this is part of a whole, not an isolated incident.

Police Officers are no better than any of you. We are all citizens. No person is above the law. These cops should be prosecuted for slaughtering an innocent animal. Nothing else is relevant. Killing dogs because they frighten you is unacceptable. These cops need to grow a pair.

As for the mayor, we shall wait and see what comes of this. It all seems quite fishy if you ask me.

Those poor dogs... I want to cry...

thank goodness no dogs were killed in my situation..especially shoot a dog while he was trying to run away.i don't know of any aggressive labradors.there should be charges for killing those 2 dogs. anyhow back to my story. i could go on forever about people who harm animals...for no apparent reason after an illegal search and seizure of my vehicle, less than 20 grams of pot was found.officer claims it was in plain view, which is not at all true.he literally had to dig into my console to find it.one of the excuses he used, but none of which is backed up by facts.what is also not right in my case is that after being arrested, placed into the prisoner transport vehicle and in there for over 20 min. the arresting officer and 3-4 other officers opened the door to the van, pulled me out by the arms, threw me to the ground,landing on my back, picked me back up and threw me back into the back of the prisoner transport van.i need to mention i am 50 yr.old female,5ft. 2" tall and weigh 115 lbs., with jaw,neck and lower back disabilities, i have titanium rods, screws and pins in me. at the time i was grabbed out i said in that split second that i was handicapped. i guess my size must have intimidated these officers 20 minutes after the fact that i am cuffed and locked in this vehicle just like they have for any stray dogs they pick up around town. does anyone else see what is wrong with all this, for about a fingernails worth of pot?? i would appreciate any input.

I read recently that some municipalities (like Santa Barbara, if I remember correctly) have new citizen sponsored laws in place that require the police to fill in many extra forms for each marijuana related incident.

The idea is to make the officer's think twice before pursuing any marijuana related offenses.

Pretty good idea. If the marijuana incident involves killing animals, the paperwork load could be increased.

I'd like to consider new laws that would make a District Attorney's pay go DOWN if he successfully prosecutes non-violent marijuana offenders.

Labs . possibly the least aggressive dogs in this world . Yorkies are more likely to go at you . and one was shot from behind while running away . i don't care if the guy was a heroin dealer and had afghanis in his basement making the stuff . disgusting .

http://www.nolanchart.com/article4393.html

Excerpt:

Police later reported that the package had not yet been opened. The package was addressed to the Mayor’s wife, who was not home at the time of the raid.

Calvo stated, "They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don't think they really ever considered that we weren't."

The sheriff’s office stated that Calvo and his family remain "persons of interest." The video, lack of evidence from the search, and Calvo’s background make the likelihood of him being a drug dealer a fairly outlandish claim.

While listening as Mayor Calvo describes the events, I would have been even more upset than he. The actions of the police were unconstitutional, clearly violating the Fourth Amendment.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Sergeant Mario "Bozo" Ellis, claimed the invading officers "apparently felt threatened" by the dogs. "We're not in the habit of going to homes and shooting peoples' dogs," Ellis said. "If we were, there would be a lot more dead dogs around the county." True enough, but delete the word ‘dogs’ from this statement, and we might as well be in Nazi Germany.

People may have a varied range of emotions concerning the dogs and drug crimes, but we can all agree that these dogs were the property of Mr. Calvo and his wife, and the pot inside the home was really not their property, it was planted by the police. Calvo remarks his busted door, the bullet holes, and general mess from the officers’ search and dog’s blood could all be cleaned up, but the dogs, Calvo’s property, were destroyed forever.

just another day on the job.. you guys didn't know that cops can do anything they want?

Devil's advocate time, folks:

1.) NOT entrapment if the Mayor initiated the transaction with the undercover cop "pot delivery" guys

2.) "No crime would exist if pot was legalized" is absolute rubbish. How many annual arrests have anything to do with Marijuana?

3.) If the dogs posed a threat to the safety of the officers, they were justified in shooting them. I sure as hell would not appreciate getting my face mauled by a pair of dogs just for doing my job.

4.) Why was pot being delivered to a Mayor to begin with? Drug dealers don't pick random addresses out of phone books and go "ok, let's send these guys boxes of pot they didn't even pay for".

5.) 32 pounds??? That would suggest intent to distribute/deliver, and if that truly is the case, the corrupt politician deserved to get arrested. Like it or not, public servants ARE kinda expected to OBEY THE LAW.

This is called entrapment, and it is illegal. Some people must dislike this mayor intensely.

umm...legalize it and there will be no more dead dogs shot by bullets paid by our tax money.

Washington D.C. just has no luck with it's mayors. Maybe they needs to add mandatory drug screenings during the elections.

Seriously, who needs 32 pounds of pot? Unless he was going to bake brownies for all those republicans camped out in Congress.

This story was already posted earlier in the week. This is a repeat.

This is a blatant example of corruption. Police posed as delivery men deliver a box of pot to the house, wait 5 minutes the bust in the door, shoot the dogs and arrest the Mayor for possession of said pot. I hear law suit, indictment, jail etc.

I'm actually speechless right now.

Jeez, did they have to kill those two dogs? What crime had these two dogs committed?

Seriously... I hope he sues them and wins millions.

These are the people that are supposed to keep us safe.

"It was comin' right for us!!!"

Who shoots a dog over weed?? ...the same lil' fraidy-cats that used to get beat-up all the time in Jr. High. Once a coward, always a coward. The shitty tribal tattoos, a badge and a gun are no substitute for balls.

I think we need more dogs, more pot and fewer cops. This shit is getting out of hand.