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The police raid on the home of the Mayor of Berwyn Heights leads to this story being written....makes you wonder if we would have known if it hadn't been the Mayor and just some regular person.
Quote:
Prince George's police originally obtained a warrant to search Calvo's home after intercepting a package of marijuana sent to the mayor's address. Calvo and his family were innocent—the package was intended to be picked up by a drug dealer. But instead of first investigating who lived at the residence, or even notifying the Berwyn Heights police chief, the county police department immediately sent in the SWAT team. In addition to having his two dogs killed, Calvo and his mother-in-law were handcuffed for several hours, and questioned at gunpoint.
Quote:
Eleven days before the raid on Calvo's home, Prince George's police raided the home of a Secret Service agent after receiving a tip that he was distributing steroids. They found no drugs or incriminating evidence.
• In August 2007 police raided the home of a Prince George's County couple to serve an outstanding arrest warrant for their son. The parents were handcuffed at gunpoint. Police later learned that the couple's son had already been in police custody for 12 days.
• In November 2007 Prince George's police raided the wrong home of a couple in Accokeek. Though the couple presented the police with evidence that they were at the wrong address, the police still detained them at gunpoint, refusing even to let them go to the bathroom. The couple asked the police if they could bring their pet boxer in from the backyard. The police refused. Moments later, the police shot and killed the dog.
• In June 2007 police in Annapolis deployed a flash grenade, broke open an apartment door, and kicked a man in the groin during a mistaken drug raid. When they later served the warrant on the correct address, they found no drugs.
Actually this story is several years old, and it is true.
It reminds me of all those innocent civilians we kill in Iraq and Afbumistan when someone provides a "tip" that bad guys are in such and such a house. We bomb it first, then investigate to find out it was just a jealous / hateful neighbor who wanted to whack someone he didn't like, not really a house full of bad guys.
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The argument is that SWAT teams and no knock warrants are needed to preserve evidence. My counter argument is that if the drugs are of such limited quantity that they can be flushed down the toilet then perhaps these aren't the dealers that we really need to be concerned with in the first place.
This is what happens in extremely conservative societies. Respect for privacy and individual rights takes a back seat to "security" and the authority of the state. How many times have you heard a conservative use the bogus logic "Well, if you don't have anything to hide ..."?
The "war on drugs" is an abject failure, but nobody can change it because conservative philosophy won't allow it. We are stuck with it because the "soft on crime" label will be used by every GOP candidate (and some conservative Dem candidates) to slam anyone who makes a move to fix it.
What leftist politician is for ending the war on drugs???
Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke was one, but no major "leftist" politician would ever dare to attempt to end the war on drugs because of the political stink that the right would raise over such a proposal.
Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke was one, but no major "leftist" politician would ever dare to attempt to end the war on drugs because of the political stink that the right would raise over such a proposal.
Or they aren't that concerned....
I believe Ron Paul favors ending the war on drugs.
Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke was one, but no major "leftist" politician would ever dare to attempt to end the war on drugs because of the political stink that the right would raise over such a proposal.
As were former Republican governors of both Massachusetts and New Mexico.
Quite franky, neither side advocates treating narcotics as a medical problem. So the stink is hardly restricted to the Right.
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