tagged w/ drug raid
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Yorkshire cops have apologised after swooping on a suspected Bradford cannabis "hothouse", only to find a couple of pampered guinea pigs languishing by an electric heater.
Six officers in three vehicles descended on Pam Hardcastle's house after a police chopper's dope-busting camera picked up a suspicious infrared hotspot.
Yorkshire's finest also dispatched a plod to request that the 42-year-old primary school learning mentor return pronto from work. She told the Yorkshire Post: "The officer said they wanted me to go home. He said my garage lit up when the police helicopter was out and they believed I could be growing cannabis."
Back at the scene, meanwhile, Hardcastle's mum explained to the anti-drug SWAT team her daughter "had guinea pigs in the garage and would have a heater in there to keep them warm".
The coppers, however, pressed on with the operation, and having gained entry to the facility, "took one look at the guinea pigs, then left".
Hardcastle concluded: "My neighbours told me police were everywhere. Everybody was asking what I had done wrong. It is embarrassing."
West Yorkshire Police Inspector Darren Brown offered: "I would like to apologise for the distress this may have caused. However, I would point out that these tactics are essential in tackling drugs across the district."
He reassured: "I can also reassure the occupants that their details will not be kept on police records and I will be personally visiting them to discuss any concerns they may have."
The guinea pigs - named Simon and Kenny, the Sun helpfully notes - are apparently none the worse for their ordeal.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/12/guinea_pig_farm/Yorkshire cops have apologised after swooping on a suspected Bradford cannabis... more
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A Canadian man is demanding an apology after his home was raided at gunpoint Thursday by police who thought the scent of a skunk living under his home meant he was growing marijuana.
Oliver MacQuat of Gatineau, Quebec, said a team of armed police officers barged into his rural home with guns drawn, on the assumption they were busting a marijuana grow, reports CBC News.
"I opened the door and they all had their guns drawn," MacQuat said. "I was terrified, my heart was probably going 150 miles an hour."
Around 10 police officers swept through his house, MacQuat said, during which time his teenaged son returned home to flashing police lights.
"I was shaking; I was very worried," said the son, Emilio MacQuat. "I did not know what happened to my dad, what was happening up here.
Police found no drugs of any kind on the property.
MacQuat said police confused the smell of marijuana with the scent of a skunk who lives beneath the front of his home.
"A senior officer came in and said there is a skunk... everything is clean," MacQuat said.
"You could see that were all embarrassed and genuinely sorry," MacQuat said. "They all apologized."
Still, MacQuat is looking for a formal apology from the Gatineau police and the Quebec provincial police.
Gatineau police didn't seem inclined the apologize Thursday, telling CBC News they had "reasonable grounds" to conduct a search.
MacQuat wants an assurance from the police that the raid won't appear on his record when he travels in the future.
"If I was to go to the States my name is going to pop up that I was involved in some kind of drug raid," MacQuat said.
"That's going to be great all the rest of my life," he said. "I want that gone."
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/01/police_stage_botched_pot_raid_after_smelling_skunk.phpA Canadian man is demanding an apology after his home was raided at gunpoint Thursday... more
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DEA agents use a U.S. Army helicopter to move into a remote part of Afghanistan on a drug raid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSUGY8qV6JcDEA agents use a U.S. Army helicopter to move into a remote part of Afghanistan on a... more
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The raid cost taxpayers more than $4,000.
Task force members played the video game at various times during the day, for a total of a little over an hour of playing time.
Tampa defense attorney Rick Escobar would argue the moment detectives turned on that video game and effectively seized it, they turned the search warrant into an illegal search.The raid cost taxpayers more than $4,000.
Task force members played the video game... more
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New security camera video shows police officers in Florida bowling on a Nintendo Wii for hours during a drug raid at a suspect's home.
Tampa Bay Online has details:
With guns drawn and flashlights cutting through darkened rooms, Polk County undercover drug investigators stormed the home of convicted drug dealer Michael Difalco near Lakeland in March.
As investigators searched the home for drugs, some drug task force members found other ways to occupy their time. Within 20 minutes of entering Difalco's house, some of the investigators found a Wii video bowling game and began bowling frame after frame.New security camera video shows police officers in Florida bowling on a Nintendo Wii... more
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Just as i posted in the earlier article here:http://current.com/items/89091244_teen_s_lawyer_says_no_lsd_in_cookies_taken_to_cops
There were no drugs in the cookies!
The police field test gave a false positive for Lsd and marijuana!
Be warned because it could happen to you.
Police field drug tests are often wrong and innocent people get convicted every day.
"Lake Worth Police Chief Brett McGuire has dropped all charges against Christian Phillips,18, who was accused of delivering drug-laced cookies to police stations across North Texas.
Tests conducted by the Tarrant County medical examiner indicated the baked goods are free of illegal contaminants despite field tests that initially showed the cookies to be laced with LSD and possibly marijuana.Just as i posted in the earlier article... more
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An attorney for a Watauga man accused of delivering drug-laced cookies to police stations -- says his client is the victim of overzealous officers.
L. Patrick Davis represents 18-year-old Christian V. Phillips.
Davis says officers had very little evidence indicating drugs were inside the treats.
Davis also says Phillips was delivering treats for Mothers Against Drunk Driving as part of community service work after he was arrested last year at a party in Watauga.
Davis says no traces of LSD have been found in cookies taken to police in Lake Worth Village. That's where Phillips remains jailed on $75,000 bond on a charge of tampering with a consumer product.
Davis is asking a judge to lower the bond. A hearing is Monday.
Phillips was arrested this week after Lake Worth officers said they smelled marijuana in the basket of cookies.
--- The kids in jail because his cookies smelled like pot.... Nice to live in the USAAn attorney for a Watauga man accused of delivering drug-laced cookies to police... more
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One armed man was shot and killed and two other suspects escaped on foot into the brush during a raid early today on a marijuana patch in the steep hills south of Saratoga, a Santa Clara County sheriff's lieutenant said.
The shooting happened when five deputies and 15 other officers confronted three armed men at the patch sometime around sunrise, Lt. Ed Wise said.
It was not immediately known if the men fired at officers or how many shots were fired, or by whom, Wise said.
"The deputies started to enter a large marijuana garden and encountered three subjects armed with guns," Wise said. "One subject was shot and fatally wounded and two others fled on foot."
About 50 deputies, including SWAT team officers, were dispatched to look for the suspects. Two helicopters were searching overhead.
The shooting took place near the intersection of Bohlman Road and Canon Drive, Wise said.
"There are still officers stuck on the hillside," Wise said. "It's incredibly steep."
Local residents were urged to be careful while the suspects, described as armed and dangerous, remain at large.
The dead man was not immediately identified.
The raid was organized by the sheriff's marijuana eradication team, along with state officers from the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting.One armed man was shot and killed and two other suspects escaped on foot into the... more
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