Topic: SWATout of control?

Wow. You know what? That was some crappy police work.
The fact that seems to be the big deal in this is that the cops shot a couple dogs in the process of a raid. That part, I don't really care about. Sometimes, dogs need to be put down. In this case however, I don't think the suspects or their family pets looked all that dangerous and warrented such heavy handed action. My problem is that the whole situation could have been handled much more effectively - without violence - had it been the subject of actual police work instead of a Mud Hole Stomping Party.
Instead of handing this over to a Swat Team, they should have handed this over to a Grand Jury.
B-hoff is right - heads should roll. The DA should investigate the guys who made this call. This is now how you handle a guy that buys some weed and posses no immediate danger to others.
The crap should be legalized anyways.

Seems like every warrant is a no-knock warrant any more... There was a time when those warrants were properly used to apprehend especially dangerous criminals. Now-a-days judges just issue no-knocks as a matter of course. This is an issue that started during the Clinton administration when he made a concerted effort to militarize the country's police forces. If every podunk has a SWAT team, then they'll have to find excuses to use them.

"If every podunk has a SWAT team, then they'll have to find excuses to use them."
And that is when mistakes happen.
I'm of the opinion that SWAT should only be used against armed violent and immediate threats. SWAT should be the Final Option not the First Choice.

The issue is that Clinton found Posse Commitatus too restrictive... How else was he going to deal with the throngs of pissed off Americans that were arming themselves, preparing to overthrow him... So he started militarizing the police forces. Billions of dollars of surplus military goods were practically pushed off on police forces. Suddenly officers Cletus and Billy Bob in Podunkville Georgia have an M113 armored personnel carrier armed with a Ma deuce and a pair of M60's. Each has an M16 and a bulletproof vest. Get this this went so far that documents have been found where the police forces were issued 200,000 bayonets by Clinton's Justice Department... What the hell does a cop need a bayonet for? Obviously to protect themselves in those drive-by bayonettings that caused the bayonet lug ban. Seriously I don't have an issue with competent police forces using an appropriate level of force to apprehend legitimate criminals. But the Constitution is supposed to protect us from unreasonable search and seizure. busting into a law abiding citizen's house, endangering that citizen and his family's life by gunfire and destruction of their property and pets is ABSOLUTELY inappropriate and unconstitutional. Heads should roll! Unfortunately though this sort of thing happens all of the time these days. If this guy hadn't been a mayor, then this probably would have been buried and we would have never heard a word of it.

My late brother-in-law was a county deputy. He considered himself a PEACE OFFICER. Given a stack of warrants he would drive out to the person's house or farm. He would inform them they needed to report to the county jail. He would always ask if they had child care; someone to do their chores; bail money, etc. Most would show up at the jail within a day. They knew if they didn't the next visit wouldn't be as pleasant. He didn't need a SWAT team.
He handled riots, drunks, biker gangs and politicans. On the one occasion when force was needed he double tapped two into the ten ring. He used common sense; something I rarely see in many policemen. The police are becoming paramilitary which is bad. The military job is to kill and lay waste; that is the mindset. I agree the mindset got a big boost during the Clinton years.

Sounds like your Brother In Law is a good man. ( I believe in the eternal spirit of man)
That's the type of police we need.
I am not against SWAT teams or the use of SWAT teams. But I believe in the right too for the job. I believe that if you have a nail, you need a hammer. If you have a screw, you need a screwdriver... and if you have a madman with a gun, shots fired, hostages... then of course you need a SWAT team. Other times, you just need Police to do some police work. That thinking. That means planning. That means using something other than the SWAT team all the time.

Wow man that really pissed me off. The biggest issue that I have with the whole thing is that Spencer the Inspector General looked like he thought the whole thing was funny. He seemed like he was trying to keep from laughing as he answered the reporter's questions. The "undercover" detective that delivered the package should have been aware that their was no need for SWAT when the little old lady answered the door. Shoddy police work. WTF?!

I personally know 3 police chiefs that were given a crap load of M-16's (Full Auto M-16's) for their officers by the Feds.

Do you have any links to this?

http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/balko_whitepaper_2006.pdf

These TWATs deserve to be bitchslapped hard and sacked.