/gets out popcorn

They should also show how much property and money is taken from people that they *suspect* (not proven guilty) are involved with drugs.

Guilty until proven innocent.

A new bill will force Maryland SWAT teams to reveal how often they break down the doors of grandmothers and shoot their dogs while hunting deady marijuana and other vicious pharmaceuticals

I think you mean "Heady" marijuana.

And good. These asswipes are rarely taken to task for their mistakes.

deadly

i commend what they're doing, but if you knock someone's door down, don't be surprised if you end up facing a shotgun.

Big fan of deady pot.

Crabcakes, football, and violation of your constitutional rights baby! That's what Maryland DOES!

Ma'am, just tell us where the marijuana is and no one gets hurt

Good.

Someone's gotta hold these SWAT morons accountable.

And if they "accidentally" get shot and killed in action, don't expect any tears from me.

Map of botched SWAT raids.

It's about time.

When I first read about this particular mayor, and how his mother (or mother in law, can't remember) was bound in a pool of their family dogs blood, I was wondering when the shiat was gonna hit the fan.

Glad to see it!

/doesn't hate cops
//hates police state

ramathorn83: Good.

Someone's gotta hold these SWAT morons accountable.

And if they "accidentally" get shot and killed in action, don't expect any tears from me.

And if guys like you get shot and killed at all don't expect any tears from me.

Just for some background: This is a law spearheaded by the Mayor of an MD town after a Swat team kicked in his door, handcuffed him and his Mother and law and shot his dogs over a UPS package sent to him (most likely by the cops themselves)filled with Mj that was still sitting on his porch during the raid.


Finally it looks like PG SWAT farked with the wrong person.

Y'know, you really want to keep drugs illegal? Fine, make it a fine for possession based on the quantity and destroy what you find. But the rest of this garbage, no-knock searches, SWAT teams, etc.? NO. Stop screwing up lives while you're trying to save us from ourselves.

Hopefully they never find out about Swank. It's half as expensive and twice as addictive as Marijuana.

/mmm swank

Wow, they not only got the wrong house, they got the Mayor's house? Either something very fishy is going on or that has to be one of the worst police forces in the world.

NotLinky: Map of botched SWAT raids.

That was a day ruiner, thanks.

Mrstupid7: They should also show how much property and money is taken from people that they *suspect* (not proven guilty) are involved with drugs.

Guilty until proven innocent.

Ah yes, search and seizure "laws," gotta love 'em.

YixilTesiphon: /gets out popcorn


/hot
//popcorn and link

Magorn

"Just for some background: This is a law spearheaded by the Mayor of an MD town after a Swat team kicked in his door, handcuffed him and his Mother and law and shot his dogs over a UPS package sent to him (most likely by the cops themselves)filled with Mj that was still sitting on his porch during the raid."

biatch set him up.

/original thread was good too

Hey hey hey,

If they are innocent then there should be no issue with anyone looking at it, huh? Am I right fellas?

Right? Comon. You know you guys are stalwart bastions of justice and hono(u)r - there should be no issue at all with this sort of thing.

NotLinky: Map of botched SWAT raids.

Holy Cow! We need protection from SWAT teams! That's just sad.

hitlersbrain: Wow, they not only got the wrong house, they got the Mayor's house? Either something very fishy is going on or that has to be one of the worst police forces in the world.

I would be ok wagering it was both in this case.

On a more serious note, it is a tragedy to me that something like what happened to that mayor had to happen before legislation could be passed on this. SWAT raid records should have already been transparent.

/poor dogs :(

hitlersbrain: NotLinky: Map of botched SWAT raids.

Holy Cow! We need protection from SWAT teams! That's just sad.

And those are just the ones that make the papers.

hitlersbrain: Wow, they not only got the wrong house, they got the Mayor's house? Either something very fishy is going on or that has to be one of the worst police forces in the world.

If you're up for a very long read, this article (new window)explains exactly what happened. Two interesting excerpts:

"I found something," Georgia heard a detective yell excitedly. The woman held a white envelope filled with cash. Inside, was $68. Across the front of the envelope were written two words: "yard sale."

Narcotics investigators for the Prince George's police had apparently left that white box on his front step, then sent SWAT officers from the Sheriff's Office to retrieve it. The box contained marijuana. Officers from the two county law enforcement agencies had apparently been parked watching his house all day. Yet they had apparently done so little investigatory work -- they hadn't even taken 30 seconds to Google Cheye -- that they didn't know they were launching a paramilitary attack on an elected official's home until after they'd broken down the door and shot the dogs.

If a swat team "accidentally" busts into your home and you blow a few away do you get charged?

I think that if a raid is botched, and the guy is innocent, the cops should get charged for breaking and entering, assault, murder, etc.

Throw the book at a few and the rest will get their act together. Since they would be common criminals during an unlawful invasion, any action taken against them would be justified under castle doctrine, etc.

I sat on a grand jury one year and heard literally hundreds of cases. Two things I took away from that experience, statutory rape should have the same language as receiving stolen property ("knew or should have known") and US citizens have ZERO 4th amendment rights...zilch, nada, nil, none, bupkus.

You wouldn't believe how many times I heard cops talking about seeing 5 pounds of cocaine on the suspects dashboard. Suuuuuuure, you did. More often it was, "He smelled of da ganja" or "His eyes were bloodshot". As soon as they make that decision your arse is theirs. If you refuse a voluntary search they can detain you until they have a warrant (can take hours) then search you/your car anyway.

/sorry 'bout the rant
//not much sets me off like the violation of the 4th amendment

ptelg: ramathorn83: Good.

Someone's gotta hold these SWAT morons accountable.

And if they "accidentally" get shot and killed in action, don't expect any tears from me.

And if guys like you get shot and killed at all don't expect any tears from me.

If I were to bust into your house for no (or a made up) reason I would deserve to be shot. See the difference?

ptelg:

And if guys like you get shot and killed at all don't expect any tears from me.



/ As hot as ptelg 's mom...

I'm sure it was 100% necessary to shoot his dogs. Not only does the guy get to recover from the trauma of heavily armed men busting into his house and wreaking havoc, he gets to bury his little buddies while trying not to look into their now blank eyes. The dogs probably tried to defend their owner when strangers broke in and appeared to be agressive toward them. Is that what they teach them to do in SWAT training? Shoot all pets on sight?

/bastards

Psumek: Hopefully they never find out about Swank. It's half as expensive and twice as addictive as Marijuana.

/mmm swank

Don't go look out your front window, they're already there

To be fair, this is Maryland. The cops have a better than even chance of being right no matter what house they bust into.

TFA: It'll be interesting to see how the state's police organizations react. Commenters to the Washington Post article who appear to be police officers seem to be miffed at even this small bit of transparency.

hmm, why would that be????
/"obey"

swat....bunch of farking amateurs. let them work with less leather stuff. they're clearly not competent enough to handle deadly weapons.

hitlersbrain: Wow, they not only got the wrong house, they got the Mayor's house? Either something very fishy is going on or that has to be one of the worst police forces in the world.

Go with the second- a more incompetent collection of borderline pyscopaths you'll not find anywhere-znd I consider a fair number of them to friends of mine. The PG Police shoot more people every year than even the LAPD (not per capita mind you, but actual number of shootings) and this is in a relatively small county just outside Washington DC

fredklein, get in here. We have an unarmed suspect, female, approximately 12 years old. We need backup. Bring SWAT.

Madame Psychosis: The dogs probably tried to defend their owner when strangers broke in and appeared to be agressive toward them.

FTA I referenced above:

=====
Georgia stood trembling in front of the kitchen stove. Payton [the dog], who had been stretched out in a corner of the living room farthest from the front door, his head resting near the threshold to the kitchen "turned toward the front door when I turned," Georgia recalled. "He didn't have time to do anything else." Almost instantly, men in black ran forward and shot Payton in the face, Georgia said. "They kept shooting," she recalled. "I didn't know how many times they shot Payton because there was so much gunfire."

"Down on the ground!" Georgia recalled someone screaming at her. She was too terrified to move.

Chase [the other dog], always timid even when there was nothing to fear, did what he did best -- he ran. He ran away from the men in black, zipped past Georgia at the stove, Georgia recalled. The screaming, running men followed Chase, shooting as he tried escaping into the dining room, Georgia said. She watched in horror as men in black rushed the dining room from all directions. "I could hear Chase whimpering," Georgia said. Then she heard someone shoot at Chase again, she said.
=====

So it's even worse than that. They popped the dogs for no good reason.

"deady" pot is the best type!

Madame Psychosis: I'm sure it was 100% necessary to shoot his dogs. Not only does the guy get to recover from the trauma of heavily armed men busting into his house and wreaking havoc, he gets to bury his little buddies while trying not to look into their now blank eyes. The dogs probably tried to defend their owner when strangers broke in and appeared to be agressive toward them. Is that what they teach them to do in SWAT training? Shoot all pets on sight?

/bastards

I think I remember reading how at least one of the dogs was shot while trying to run away from the commotion ...

/bastards indeed

Headso: blow

yes, you get charged with capital murder (new window)

This is a great thing. I'd like to see just how many times that actually happens vs. the "Cops do this all the time!" people.

Even once is too much. They need to have more checks and recon before doing something so goddamn dangerous.

I remember some story from a couple of years ago where a SWAT team knocked on a suspects door, waited about 30 seconds and then flash banged the house. They proceeded to shoot the suspect like 10 or 11 times and flash banged him again for good measure. The second flash bang set his house on fire and burned his body beyond recognition. Good jorb there fellas.

Madame Psychosis: I'm sure it was 100% necessary to shoot his dogs. Not only does the guy get to recover from the trauma of heavily armed men busting into his house and wreaking havoc, he gets to bury his little buddies while trying not to look into their now blank eyes. The dogs probably tried to defend their owner when strangers broke in and appeared to be agressive toward them. Is that what they teach them to do in SWAT training? Shoot all pets on sight?

/bastards

One of the dogs was actually running away. :(

Belltower: Y'know, you really want to keep drugs illegal? Fine, make it a fine for possession based on the quantity and destroy what you find. But the rest of this garbage, no-knock searches, SWAT teams, etc.? NO. Stop screwing up lives while you're trying to save us from ourselves.

Yes...because your illegal drug use hurts no one but yourselves...and those who are killed as a result of illegal drug use. And the families of those killed as a result of illegal drug use. And the people who have property stolen so that crackheads can purchase illegal drugs. It's not just you that the police are trying to save. It's everyone else that has to put up with the mayhem that the drug industry imposes on society.

NYRBill: hmm, why would that be????

My guess is that the police dislike being held accountable for their numerous mistakes, but that just my humble opinion.



/ "Policemen so cherish their status as keepers of the peace and protectors of the public that they have occasionally been known to beat to death those citizens or groups who question that status." - David Mamet

Even this case really has not dented the increased use of para-military tactics on our own citizens. As much as it sucks, Mexico is a perfect example of an even worse impact of the War on Drugs.

Please remember that there are some law enforcement officials who think rationally about this issue and are trying to wake up your elected officials and clueless fellow citizens: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

ptelg

And if guys like you get shot and killed at all don't expect any tears from me.

Yeah, those assholes who don't like cops killing innocents deserve to die.

/lol?

Seriously, WTF is up with cops shooting every dog they see? Trigger-happy blood-lust? WTF???

Madame Psychosis: I'm sure it was 100% necessary to shoot his dogs. Not only does the guy get to recover from the trauma of heavily armed men busting into his house and wreaking havoc, he gets to bury his little buddies while trying not to look into their now blank eyes. The dogs probably tried to defend their owner when strangers broke in and appeared to be agressive toward them. Is that what they teach them to do in SWAT training? Shoot all pets on sight?

/bastards

Actually (I live in the area and followed this from the start closely) the dogs where running away when they where shot - his labs were very gentle dogs with no known history of any aggression.

If you've every known any SWAT guys (and I know several) they are almost to a man psychotic, in a clinically insane way. It's almost a requirement for the job.