[html]So I'm looking through news articles the other day when I come across <a target="_blank" title="this" href="" http://www.kgun9.com/story/14644269/swat-entry-questioned-in-marines-death">this</a>.<br><br><p>Reporter :" <a href=""mailto:jowaldman@kgun9.com">Joel" Waldman</a></p>
<p>TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) - A decorated Marine's family cannot believe
their loved one, who served two tours of duty overseas, is gone; never
expecting him to die here at home at the hands of law enforcement.</p>
<p>A Pima County Sheriff's Department SWAT team shot and killed Jose
Guerena eight days ago; it was executing a search warrant. Four days
ago, in a news conference, a sheriff's deputy said the department makes
it clear when SWAT is about to enter a home. Lt. Michael O'Connor says
SWAT says it never wants to be mistaken for other people, "We had our
large armored vehicle there with the markings on it. It also has lights
and sirens. It was going. So we do everything we can to try to portray
the image that we're law enforcement, we're not home invaders."</p>
<p>But, Guerena's wife, Vanessa, who hid in the closet with her youngest
son while 71 rounds were fired her husband's direction, said she heard
nothing. At any point did you hear them yell, ‘police" or ‘SWAT'?" KGUN9
asked. "No, no!" answered Guerena.</p>
<p>A neighbor who heard the shooting corroborates the wife's account,
"The only sirens I heard out here were like maybe 20-30 minutes into the
entire ordeal," said David Watson.</p>
<p>Watson is very familiar with gunfire and stressful situations; he's a
Vietnam combat veteran, "I want to make this as clear as possible: you
only heard the announcements after you heard the gunfire?" asked KGUN9
reporter Joel Waldman. Watson quickly answered, "Yes!"</p>
<p>Raising questions about this assertion: "This was not a "no knock"
warrant. We come in very high profile with lights and sirens. We go to
the door. We pound on the door. We wait 15 seconds, and, then, we breach
the door with a heavy tool and open the door," explained O'Connor.</p>
<p>Today, KGUN9 also learned SWAT Guerena's neighbor's house. "When I
came home, the whole house was searched. All the doors were open. And,
(our house) was searched through; it was like an invasion of privacy,"
said Carissa Franco.</p>
<p>SWAT says it was concerned about a hole in the Franco's home, worried
someone else could've been wounded. So, it said it did what they needed
to get inside.</p>
<p>Pima County released a statement about that breach, saying in part,
"The Regional SWAT Team made entry into two additional residences very
soon after the deadly force encounter. This was done in order to ensure
that there were no injured persons in those residences as a result of
the shooting. These entries were made without warrants due to the
exigency of the circumstances. No one was home at either residence when
entry was made.</p><br>This story seems to be part of a trend I've been noticing over the past several years regarding media about SWAT teams; lack of self-control, itchy trigger fingers (seriously, 71 rounds?), <a target="_blank" title="getting their initial stories wrong" href="" http://www.kvoa.com/news/pcso-swat-incident-suspect-did-not-fire-at-deputies/">gettin g" their initial stories wrong</a>, <a target="_blank" title="seizure of property" href="" http://reason.com/archives/2010/05/19/pre-crime-policing">seizur e" of property</a>, and, the two most disturbing things to me, <a target="_blank" title="getting" href="" http://www.wsbt.com/news/wpix-dea-raids-wrong-house,0,7475906.story">getting</a> ;" the <a target="_blank" title="wrong" href="" http://reason.com/archives/2007/02/01/shaq-attack">wrong</a> ;" house and - as a result - killing innocent <a target="_blank" title="people" href="" http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20110107cop_on_leave_in_grandpa_shooting/">people</a> ;" and <a target="_blank" title="pets" href="" http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2010/06/18/news/national/doc4c1aecf2ba8c8314550205.txt">pets</a>.<br><br> I" do think that there is a legitimate use for SWAT teams. For example, hostage situations. Actual gang activity. But a small little bag of pot?<br><br>There's always the catch where police are usually vilified and they have the instinctive urge to <a target="_blank" title="protect" href="" http://www.explorehoward.com/news/72401/police-defend-swat/">protect</a> ;" their own, I get that. In general, I've been of the opinion that police do get a bum rap a lot of times, and that the bad stories are going to catch substantially more attention than the good stories where everything went right.<br><br>But why are SWAT teams being utilized for situations that don't warrant such firepower? Why is the common thread being the threat of force without an actual imminent threat? And would it be too much to ask that they <span style="font-style: italic;">check the address before going in?</span><br><br>Seriously.<br><br><br>[/html]
Sounds more like the old german storm troopers.
I heard of a similar story a while back about a raid on a Missouri family based on a tip saying they had drugs. I'm inclined to agree with the way they put it when they attributed it partly to the War on Drugs:
"... send it to the drug warriors in your life. This is the blunt-end result of all the war imagery and militaristic rhetoric politicians have been spewing for the last 30 years"
Of course society has warped priorities these days, that's WHY the "War On Drugs" (or at least, the current stubbornly dogmatic variety of it) has lasted this long in the first place! If society had its priorities straight, it'd have stopped fighting this stupid pointless uphill battle against soft drugs like marijuana years ago!
But at the same time, obviously it can't be attributed SOLELY to that. These kinds of cops are morally questionable, at best, to carry out such warrants in such ways in the first place. Even if they were following someone else's orders, that still wouldn't justify it, because orders this horrible should not be obeyed.
