tagged w/ SWAT
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The chief of police in Albany, New York says that his department just wanted a “realistic” setting when it frightened residents in a poor, predominately African-American neighborhood with SWAT training exercises that included firing blank ammunition and exploding flash grenades.
On Thursday, Albany’s SWAT team shocked nearby residents when it stormed a public housing complex that was scheduled to be demolished, according to the Times Union. Photos circulated on Facebook over the weekend showed police in tactical gear, spent shell casings and fake blood.
In a statement on Monday, Police Chief Steven Krokoff called the training “insensitive.”
“In light of the ever-increasing threats to communities across the nation, I have directed our department to provide the most up-to-date training in a manner that is as realistic as possible,” the police chief said. “I certainly did not mean to offend the very people that we are training to protect.”
“In retrospect, it was insensitive to conduct this type of training in the vicinity of occupied residences. We will review how we conduct our neighborhood-based training in the future and include the community in evaluating its appropriateness.”
Albany NAACP President Bernie Bryan wondered why police had chosen the housing project so close to a poor neighborhood.
Full Story: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/25/albany-police-swat-used-poor-black-neighborhood-for-training-because-its-realistic/
http://gocl.me/13r4VhSThe chief of police in Albany, New York says that his department just wanted a... more
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BILLINGS A 12-year-old girl suffered burns to one side of her body when a flash grenade went off next to her as a police SWAT team raided a West End home Tuesday morning.
"She has first- and second-degree burns down the left side of her body and on her arms," said the girl's mother, Jackie Fasching. "She's got severe pain. Every time I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes."
Medical staff at the scene tended to the girl afterward and then her mother drove her to the hospital, where she was treated and released later that day.
A photo of the girl provided by Fasching to The Gazette shows red and black burns on her side.
Police Chief Rich St. John said the 6 a.m. raid at 2128 Custer Ave., was to execute a search warrant as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation by the City-County Special Investigations Unit.
The grenade is commonly called a "flash-bang" and is used to disorient people with a bright flash, a loud bang and a concussive blast. It went off on the floor where the girl was sleeping. She was in her sister's bedroom near the window the grenade came through, Fasching said.
A SWAT member attached it to a boomstick, a metal pole that detonates the grenade, and stuck it through the bedroom window. St. John said the grenade normally stays on the boomstick so it goes off in a controlled manner at a higher level.
However, the officer didn't realize that there was a delay on the grenade when he tried to detonate it. He dropped it to move onto a new device, St. John said. The grenade fell to the floor and went off near the girl.
"It was totally unforeseen, totally unplanned and extremely regrettable," St. John said. "We certainly did not want a juvenile, or anyone else for that matter, to get injured."
On Thursday, Fasching took her daughter back to the hospital to have her wounds treated.
She questioned why police would take such actions with children in the home and why it needed a SWAT team.
"A simple knock on the door and I would've let them in," she said. "They said their intel told them there was a meth lab at our house. If they would've checked, they would've known there's not."
She and her two daughters and her husband were home at the time of the raid. She said her husband, who suffers from congenital heart disease and liver failure, told officers he would open the front door as the raid began and was opening it as they knocked it down.
When the grenade went off in the room, it left a large bowl-shaped dent in the wall and "blew the nails out of the drywall," Fasching said.
St. John said investigators did plenty of homework on the residence before deciding to launch the raid but didn't know children were inside.
"The information that we had did not have any juveniles in the house and did not have any juveniles in the room," he said. "We generally do not introduce these disorienting devices when they're present."
The decision to use a SWAT team was based on a detailed checklist the department uses when serving warrants.
Investigators consider dozens of items such as residents' past criminal convictions, other criminal history, mental illness and previous interactions with law enforcement.
Each item is assigned a point value and if the total exceeds a certain threshold, SWAT is requested. Then a commander approves or rejects the request.
In Tuesday's raid, the points exceeded the threshold and investigators called in SWAT.
"Every bit of information and intelligence that we have comes together and we determine what kind of risk is there," St. John said. "The warrant was based on some hard evidence and everything we knew at the time."
But Fasching said the risk wasn't there and the entry created, for her and her daughters, a sense of fear they can't shake.
"I'm going to have to take them to counseling," she said. "They're never going to get over that."
A claims process has already been started with the city. St. John said it's not an overnight process, but it does determine if the Police Department needs to make restitution.
"If we're wrong or made a mistake, then we're going to take care of it," he said. "But if it determines we're not, then we'll go with that. When we do this, we want to ensure the safety of not only the officers, but the residents inside."
No arrests were made during the raid and no charges have been filed, although a police spokesman said afterward that some evidence was recovered during the search. St. John declined to release specifics of the drug case, citing the active investigation, but did say that "activity was significant enough where our drug unit requested a search warrant."
Fasching said she's considering legal action but, for now, is more concerned about her daughters.
"I would like to see whoever threw those grenades in my daughter's room be reprimanded," she said. "If anybody else did that it would be aggravated assault. I just want to see that the city is held accountable for what they did to my children."
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/grenade-burns-sleeping-girl-as-swat-team-raids-billings-home/article_71d1f226-1474-11e2-b4b4-0019bb2963f4.htmlBILLINGS A 12-year-old girl suffered burns to one side of her body when a flash... more
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Yesterday was our township’s YOUTH DAY. It’s a terrific event held in a local park. Everything is free, though donations are gratefully accepted to help set up the festivities for the next year.Yesterday was our township’s YOUTH DAY. It’s a terrific event held in a... more
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WATCH -- This footage is so visceral and it shows us all that the police state is alive and well and growing in power. From this footage, one could make the argument that the militaristic police forces in our country are no longer here to protect and serve the community, they are here to use force against it.
http://veracitystew.com/?p=31679WATCH -- This footage is so visceral and it shows us all that the police state is... more
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Note: This video contains graphic images of violence and mature language. Viewer discretion is advised.
"No Knock Raid," written and performed by Toronto-based musician Lindy, is a searing indictment of one of the most aggressive, ubiquitous, and mistaken tactics in the War on Drugs.
Consider only the most recent raid to cause a national outrage: On May 5, 2011, 26-year-old Jose Guerena, who survived two tours in the Iraq War, was shot and killed during a raid on his house by a Pima County, Arizona SWAT team that fired dozens of bullets through his front door. Guerena, married and a father of two, had just finished a 12-hour shift at a local mine. Law enforcement sources claim he was involved in narco-trafficking but have yet to produce any evidence supporting that claim. Officers involved in the death have been cleared of wrongdoing.
Guerena's death is not an isolated incident. As USA Today reports, an astonishing 70,000 to 80,000 militarized police raids take place on a annual basis in America, many of them on mistaken suspects and many of them ending with injury or death for police and citizens alike.
As Reason Contributing Editor Radley Balko and others have documented, the militarization of standard police practice is a direct consequence of the modern-day War on Drugs, started 40 years ago by President Richard Nixon - and perpetuated by every administration since. (For a comprehensive report on the failure of the drug war to achieve any of its stated goals, read "Ending the Drug War: A Dream Deferred," by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.)
For supporting links to all stats cited above, longer clips of raid footage, and more, go to http://reason.tv/video/show/swat-no-knock-raid-lindy
"No Knock Raid" written and performed by Lindy.
Produced and directed by Hawk Jensen.
Performance footage directed by Victor Tavares and Zachary Koski
About 4.50 minutes.
...
Great track. Wish this was about another country like East Germany, Stalin's USSR, Mao's China, etc., but it isn't. Its the land of the free, home of the brave. The good 'ol USA. Still don't believe in the New World Order?Note: This video contains graphic images of violence and mature language. Viewer... more
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A Detroit mother lost custody of her daughter after refusing to give her antipsychotic medications, which officials say the teen may not need in the first place. Her mother, Maryanne Godboldo, was accused of medical neglect when her 13-year-old daughter, Ariana, began to have erratic symptoms following a series of vaccinations, and was given an antipsychotic drug by a center for at-risk youth. Godboldo felt that the drug, however, made her daughter worse, and began looking for holistic treatments instead. Child Protective Services then tried to remove Ariana from her home, resulting in a "stand-off" with a police SWAT team during which Godboldo reportedly fired a gun.
http://www.freep.com/article/20110414/NEWS01/104140433/-1/7daysarchives/Officials-Detroit-girl-taken-standoff-doesn-t-need-meds-right-nowA Detroit mother lost custody of her daughter after refusing to give her antipsychotic... more
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As if building a strategy to arrest dangerous gangsters wasn't enough, Dade County's Special Response Team (SRT) must also plan around another common Miami enemy -- tropical storms. SRT fight to execute a search warrant before the storm can overwhelm their efforts.
Ten miles inland from the beautiful beaches of Miami are some of America's meanest streets, where drug trafficking and gang violence threaten the entire community. "SWAT: Miami-Dade" follows the men and women of Miami-Dade's Special Response Team (SRT), one of the best-trained elite police units in the world, as they use tactical precision and state-of-the-art weaponry to take down potentially deadly suspects, one mission at a time.
Watch "SWAT: Miami-Dade" on Wednesdays at 10/9c on Current TV.As if building a strategy to arrest dangerous gangsters wasn't enough, Dade... more
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Rookie officer Dave Rivera is entrusted with the Special Response Team's hammer to perform his first door breach. When the rest of the unit find out that he's nervous, they use jokes and good-natured taunting to make Dave focus on the task rather than the fear of messing up.
Ten miles inland from the beautiful beaches of Miami are some of America's meanest streets, where drug trafficking and gang violence threaten the entire community. "SWAT: Miami-Dade" follows the men and women of Miami-Dade's Special Response Team (SRT), one of the best-trained elite police units in the world, as they use tactical precision and state-of-the-art weaponry to take down potentially deadly suspects, one mission at a time.
Watch "SWAT: Miami-Dade" on Wednesdays at 10/9c on Current TV.Rookie officer Dave Rivera is entrusted with the Special Response Team's hammer... more
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The Special Response Team (SRT) build a strategy before attempting to arrest a suspect who has already shot an on-duty security guard. When the police arrive, will he be brought into custody quietly or panic and resort to a hostage situation?
Ten miles inland from the beautiful beaches of Miami are some of America's meanest streets, where drug trafficking and gang violence threaten the entire community. "SWAT: Miami-Dade" follows the men and women of Miami-Dade's Special Response Team (SRT), one of the best-trained elite police units in the world, as they use tactical precision and state-of-the-art weaponry to take down potentially deadly suspects, one mission at a time.
Watch "SWAT: Miami-Dade" on Wednesdays at 10/9c on Current TV.The Special Response Team (SRT) build a strategy before attempting to arrest a suspect... more
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When a police SWAT team and an FBI anti-terrorism squad showed up Tuesday at a Memphis church where peace activists were staging an event, a scene reminiscent of the turbulent 1960s ensued.
The activists, members of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center who oppose the war in Afghanistan, characterized the encounter as police intimidation and a case of illegal surveillance.
FBI and Memphis Police Department representatives countered it was all a misunderstanding. They said they were there to protect the activists from potential harm by extremists who might oppose their views.
"We don't buy that at all,'' said Jacob Flowers, executive director of the nonprofit center.
"Never (before) have we encountered the situation where we've had eight to 10 marked and unmarked police cars, including tactical units, sitting there monitoring us. We find it too coincidental.''
About 15 to 20 activists gathered Tuesday afternoon at First Congregational Church, where the Peace and Justice Center rents office space, to fill out Freedom of Information requests aimed at discovering if the FBI or MPD is keeping surveillance files on the activists. Flowers said 16 individuals filled out FOIA forms at the event.
Activists grew alarmed when three members of the FBI's local Joint Terrorism Task Force stopped by the church, followed by MPD patrol cars and unmarked, black SUVs manned by TACT unit officers. The police units surrounded the church on South Cooper, and the black SUVs slowly crept through the church parking lot.
"Can you tell me why you're here?'' demanded Flowers, who led a group of activists who approached an SUV driven by Lt. Ernest Greenleaf.
"We're just here to make sure nobody bothers y'all,'' Greenleaf responded.
more at link...When a police SWAT team and an FBI anti-terrorism squad showed up Tuesday at a Memphis... more
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Even before Special Response Team (SRT) hopefuls make it to training, they must first pass several rigorous tests. From endurance exams to strength exercises, each applicant has to excel across the board or risk being sent home. Lieutenant Calvin James reveals that it's a way for SRT officers to get inside the minds of potential trainees and challenge their dedication. How many men are determined enough to make the cut?
Ten miles inland from the beautiful beaches of Miami are some of America's meanest streets, where drug trafficking and gang violence threaten the entire community. "SWAT: Miami-Dade" follows the men and women of Miami-Dade's Special Response Team (SRT), one of the best-trained elite police units in the world, as they use tactical precision and state-of-the-art weaponry to take down potentially deadly suspects, one mission at a time.
Watch "SWAT: Miami-Dade" on Wednesdays at 10/9c on Current TV.Even before Special Response Team (SRT) hopefuls make it to training, they must first... more
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Nearing the end of his trial, rookie officer Dave Rivera does his best to last through a few intense remaining tests given by the three units of the Special Response Team (SRT). With great successes and humbling mistakes behind him, can he work the perimeter for a drug warrant and earn the trust of the team?
Ten miles inland from the beautiful beaches of Miami are some of America's meanest streets, where drug trafficking and gang violence threaten the entire community. "SWAT: Miami-Dade" follows the men and women of Miami-Dade's Special Response Team (SRT), one of the best-trained elite police units in the world, as they use tactical precision and state-of-the-art weaponry to take down potentially deadly suspects, one mission at a time.
Watch "SWAT: Miami-Dade" on Wednesdays at 10/9c on Current TV.Nearing the end of his trial, rookie officer Dave Rivera does his best to last through... more
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In Sweden, a team of cops stormed a couple's home after a neighbor reported that five people were beating the crap out of a woman. Turns out they were all playing boxing on Kinect Sports.
At least I hope that's what Robert Johansson and his five friends were playing; otherwise they should have been arrested for possession of Fighters Uncaged. Anyway, no one was shot, no dogs were killed, no one's grandma was cuffed face-down on the floor. It's Sweden. They had a good laugh about it all.
"Things turned awkward when police showed up and wondered who was getting beaten, we felt rather stupid sitting there in the couch," Johannson said. Police said they regretted the misunderstanding but not their response. "When someone reports domestic abuse, we act immediately," a dispatcher said. "Luckily they were just having fun with video games."
http://kotaku.com/5734943/kinect-boxing-match-ends-in-tactical-knock+outIn Sweden, a team of cops stormed a couple's home after a neighbor reported that... more
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Officers in America wearing riot gear and carrying automatic weapons searched Carlton Washburne School, Winnetka, for almost three hours after the woman, who has not been identified, called 911.
Joseph De Lopez, the local police chief, said the woman reported receiving a call from her husband in which she could hear muffled voices and believed he was being held captive by a man with a gun.
Within minutes a security perimeter was established around the school, whose pupils had left for the day, and officers poured into the building. Three TV news helicopters were circling above.
But while they were still searching the school, and the man's distressed wife remained connected to his mobile phone and to 911, he returned home.
It became clear that while driving back from work, he had called his wife by sitting on his mobile phone, which was in his back pocket, while he listened to hip-hop and talked to himself.
"His wife was the last number he'd dialled," Chief De Lopez said.
Mark Friedman, the school district interim co-superintendent, explained that the music's "gangster-like" lyrics had contributed to the woman's concerns.
The couple were later interviewed by investigators from Winnetka Police. It was determined that no criminal offence had occurred and charges would not be filed against them.
Mr Friedman said of the man: "He's embarrassed – who wouldn't be?"
Chief De Lopez described the incident as "good practice" for his officers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8242008/Armed-police-storm-school-after-man-accidentally-calls-wife-from-his-pocket.htmlOfficers in America wearing riot gear and carrying automatic weapons searched Carlton... more
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Suits filed over dog shootings highlight growing field of animal law
A Maryland couple sues the sheriff's office after their Labrador is shot by deputies. Legal experts say such cases are on the rise as pets are coming to be viewed as more than property — at home and in court.
By Lorraine Mirabella, Baltimore Sun
January 2, 2011
Reporting from Baltimore —
Sheriff's deputies knocked on Roger and Sandra Jenkins' front door early one Saturday to serve a court paper to the couple's teenage son. Within minutes, a chaotic scene unfolded, and the family's chocolate Labrador retriever had been shot by one of the deputies and had collapsed bleeding in the snow.
The dog survived, but its owners say it is permanently disabled. The couple sued the Frederick County Sheriff's Office in October, alleging reckless endangerment and infliction of emotional distress.
The case highlights the rapidly evolving field of animal law, which is growing as people insist that pets are not property, but part of the family.
"The common law is that a dog is just chattel — a piece of property that's easily replaced," said Rebekah Lusk, an associate attorney with the Thienel Law Firm in Columbia, Md., who handles animal law cases and represents Roger and Sandra Jenkins. "People focusing on animal law are saying the courts need to see animals as not just a replacement piece of property."
Maryland lawmakers approved a measure in 2009 allowing pet owners to set up trusts for their animals. An owner can designate a trustee to oversee the care of the animal upon the owner's death in the same way that a parent would create a trust for children.
Custody cases involving pets have been filed too. In July, a Calvert County Circuit Court judge ordered a divorcing couple to share custody of their dog.
And law schools are seeing greater interest in the animal law field. Seminars address animal welfare, pet trusts, veterinary malpractice, endangered species protections, 1st Amendment issues, pet-custody disputes, the link between animal cruelty and violent behavior, and animals' legal standing.
"Judges are no longer laughing these issues out of court," said Alan Nemeth, an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore who teaches a seminar in animal law. "It's become more legitimate, even in divorce cases. That's a big change, and it has been happening across the country."
Courts in some jurisdictions have begun to make a link between domestic violence and cruelty to animals, said Susan Hankin, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. "If someone goes to court to get a protective order, it includes not just the victim and her children, but her pets can be included."
Hankin, who teaches an animal-law seminar that includes estate planning, custody and service animals, said interest in the topic was growing.
"There's an increasing recognition that animals play a role in our life that's different from property," she said. "It really includes a wide range of legal territory.... You can learn a lot of the areas of law by looking at the relationship between people and their companion animals."
In the Jenkins' case, according to the lawsuit filed in Frederick County Circuit Court, two deputy sheriffs went to the family's home in Taneytown, Md., in January to serve a court paper on their 18-year-old son, who no longer lived with his parents and was facing a drug-possession charge.
Roger Jenkins says he told a deputy that he needed to put the family's dogs away before he allowed him in the house. The lawsuit says that while Jenkins was letting the dogs outside to put them in a kennel, his Labrador, Brandi, noticed the unfamiliar vehicles in the driveway and began barking.
That prompted an officer to shoot the dog in the leg and chest without warning, according to the lawsuit. "Characteristic of the Labrador retriever breed of dog, Brandi is very friendly, not aggressive, and posed no threat to the deputies," the lawsuit states. "Her natural instinct, as is any dog's instinct, is to announce the presence of unfamiliar people on her property by barking."
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office denies liability and says the actions were legally justified, according to a document filed with the court in December.
The incident followed the July 2008 shooting deaths of two Labrador retrievers in Prince George's County, Md., during a raid by a police SWAT team and county narcotics officers at the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo. Police mistakenly thought his wife was involved in drug trafficking.
A lawsuit filed by Calvo against the state of Maryland is pending.Suits filed over dog shootings highlight growing field of animal law
A Maryland... more
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Two Oakland police officers apparently mistook an electronic scale commonly used to weigh drugs for a handgun when they opened fire on the owner of a hair salon Monday night, killing him, police said Friday.
Derrick Jones, 37, of Oakland also had marijuana in a glass jar in his pocket when police shot him on the 5800 block of Trask Street in East Oakland, said Officer Jeff Thomason, a department spokesman.
The two officers, who had responded to a report of a domestic dispute, shot Jones numerous times in the chest when he reached for his waistband, a police spokesman said.
The officers thought Jones was reaching for a gun, police said, but none was found. The scale Jones was holding was silver-colored and measured 3 by 5 inches, Thomason said.
Police declined to identify the officers who fired their weapons. But sources identified them as Officers Eriberto Perez-Angeles, who has been with the department for three years and is a member of the SWAT team, and Omar Daza-Quiroz, who has four years on the force.
Jones was on parole after serving nearly five months in state prison last year for a gun conviction, records show. He had previous arrests for drug possession and domestic violence, police said.
Police officials had initially declined to specify what the object was, citing concern for how that would affect Jones' family.
But on Friday, Jones' sister Tonya Saheli, 34, of San Leandro blasted police for killing her brother and for withholding that information. If anything, she said, news that police had killed Jones "because he had a scale and some weed" was damaging not to her family but to the department.
"My brother is gone over the fact that he had weed," Saheli said. "And they said they didn't want to reveal what it was because it would be embarrassing to my family? Are you serious?"
Saheli said, "It just magnifies my sentiments on the fact that they should not be given a pass. The fact that it was an electronic scale, it just really hurts."
Police said Jones, who owned a hair salon on Bancroft Avenue, had been the subject of a 911 call by a woman who said he choked and beat her. But Saheli said the woman, with whom Jones had a previous relationship, had "cried wolf" and made a "bogus call."
Jones ran from police because he believed he would be unfairly blamed for an incident in which the woman damaged his hairstyling shop, Saheli said.
Police said it was too early to say whether the shooting was justified. The officers who killed Jones are on paid administrative leave pending investigations by police homicide and internal affairs investigators and the Alameda County district attorney's office. An internal review board will determine if the incident warranted deadly force.
Asked by reporters this week about the incident, Police Chief Anthony Batts said he was reserving judgment.
But Batts said, "I do want to focus on the fact that we need to better ourselves in dealing with people who are going into waistbands, going into clothing, going into different aspects. We want to make sure that we give officers the proper training to address these things."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/12/BA8U1GB8VB.DTL#ixzz159zWQm1gTwo Oakland police officers apparently mistook an electronic scale commonly used to... more
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Police stopped protests and dispersed a small group of individuals this morning from central Seoul. The demonstration by Labour Union JEI against the G20 was quickly broken up by police and people were moved on. Seoul, South Korea. 10/11/2010Police stopped protests and dispersed a small group of individuals this morning from... more
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An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents"
"If a widespread pattern of [knock-and-announce] violations were shown . . . there would be reason for grave concern."
—Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in Hudson v. Michigan, June 15, 2006.
An interactive map of botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids, released in conjunction with the Cato policy paper "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids," by Radley Balko.
What does this map mean?
The proliferation of SWAT teams, police militarization, and the Drug War have given rise to a dramatic increase in the number of "no-knock" or "quick-knock" raids on suspected drug offenders. Because these raids are often conducted based on tips from notoriously unreliable confidential informants, police sometimes conduct SWAT-style raids on the wrong home, or on the homes of nonviolent, misdemeanor drug users. Such highly-volatile, overly confrontational tactics are bad enough when no one is hurt -- it's difficult to imagine the terror an innocent suspect or family faces when a SWAT team mistakenly breaks down their door in the middle of the night.
But even more disturbing are the number of times such "wrong door" raids unnecessarily lead to the injury or death of suspects, bystanders, and police officers. Defenders of SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics say such incidents are isolated and rare. The map below aims to refute that notion.
How to use this map
Click on each marker on the map for a description of the incident and sources. Markers are precise in cases where the address of an incident was reported. Where media reports indicate only a town or neighborhood, markers are located at the closest post office, city hall, or landmark. Incident descriptions and outcomes are kept as current as possible.
Other map features:
--Using the "plus" and "minus" buttons in the map's upper left-hand corner, users can zoom in on the map to street-level, as well as switch between street map and satellite views. In some large metropolitan areas, there are so many incidents in such close proximity that they tend to overlap unless viewed on a small scale (try zooming in on New York City, for example).
--Users may isolate the incidents by type by clicking on the colored markers in the key (see only "death of an innocent" markers, for example).
--The search function just below the map produces printable descriptions of the raids plotted on the map, and is sortable by state, year, and type of incident.
Key-
Death of an innocent.
Death or injury of a police officer.
Death of a nonviolent offender.
Raid on an innocent suspect.
Other examples of paramilitary police excess.
Unnecessary raids on doctors and sick people.
http://www.cato.org/raidmap/An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents"
"If a widespread pattern of... more
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A man shot a doctor and then barricaded himself inside a room at Johns Hopkins hospital, where he remained holed up two hours after the shooting Thursday, police said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRGTT06nAvEA man shot a doctor and then barricaded himself inside a room at Johns Hopkins... more
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I’m sitting in PDX waiting to fly out to Las Vegas for Netroots Nation (watch my presentation at http://live.norml.org at 1:45 pm Pacific) when I happen upon a Las Vegas story by Mike Meno at the MPP Blog. Remember the story we brought you about the Las Vegas man shot and killed by police in front of his pregnant fiancée?
Turns out, the police shot the wrong guy.
(Las Vegas Review-Journal) Las Vegas police say they thought Trevon Cole was a hard-core drug dealer with a long record of arrests in Texas and California when they broke down his apartment door and pointed a gun at his head last month.
They were wrong.
Cole, 21, was unarmed when he was killed by a single rifle round fired by Detective Bryan Yant, who a week before the raid swore under oath that Cole had a “lengthy criminal history of narcotics sales, trafficking and possession charges” in Houston and Los Angeles.
But Cole’s record in his native California was limited to a conviction for misdemeanor unlawful taking of a vehicle. He probably never even visited Houston.
Investigators might have confused him with another Trevon Cole — one with a different middle name who is seven years older, at least three inches shorter and 100 pounds lighter, records show. That Trevon Cole has several marijuana-related arrests in Houston, all misdemeanors.
So not only was the dead Trevon Cole not the guy they were looking for, but the guy they were looking for had only a misdemeanor marijuana record. Some “hard-core drug dealer”.
But surely they must have had some evidence that the dead Trevon Cole was involved with drugs, right?
Undercover detectives had bought marijuana from Cole four times over five weeks, a total of 1.8 ounces for $840, according to the affidavit. Both Yant and the undercover detective positively identified Cole as the dealer, the document said.
But Yant, in the affidavit to Judge Diana Sullivan in support of a warrant to search Cole’s apartment, gave the impression that police thought they were going after a serious drug dealer. He noted that “almost all” people who sell drugs maintain “sophisticated and elaborate” records and that police expected to find those records, with guns and other drug paraphernalia.
Police found no such records. Nor did they find any weapons. They did seize an unspecified amount of marijuana and $702. Cole’s fiancee, Sequioa Pearce, said the cash was rent money. She recently had pawned her jewelry for $350, according to a copy of the EZ Pawn receipt.
So, based on four purchases of less than a half-ounce of marijuana totaling less than a thousand bucks and cops who don’t check middle names and who shoot at “furtive movements” made by large black men in their own homes, Trevon Cole’s pregnant fiancée will be raising his child without a father.I’m sitting in PDX waiting to fly out to Las Vegas for Netroots Nation (watch my... more
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