Pre-Dawn No-Knock SWAT Raid For Minor Drug Charge Ruled Unconstitutional
BY Herschel Smith
8 years ago
A Hennepin County (Minn.) drug squad — known as the Emergency Services Unit (ESU) — conducted a pre-dawn no-knock raid on a house in North Minneapolis one morning in November 2015. They were looking for Walter Power, who they suspected of being a marijuana dealer. To search the home they believed Power to be sleeping in, they brought a force of between 28-32 officers, most clad in riot gear and carrying rifles, accompanied by a sniper seated atop a Ballistic Engineered Armored Response (BEAR) vehicle.
Why did law enforcement officials feel they needed to display a show of overwhelming force that would be intense even in a foreign occupied city? Because the primary resident of the house, Michael Delgado, was a registered gun-owner with a license to carry.
Convinced of the potential danger posed to officers when raiding a house with an armed occupant, Hennepin County District Judge Tanya Bransford signed off on the no-knock raid, but later told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that she did not know a platoon of up to 32 officers would be deployed to search the house, or that they’d throw flash bang grenades through the windows in addition to knocking down doors.
The raid resulted in the arrest of Power — the suspected marijuana dealer — for “fifth-degree drug possession,” the lowest possible drug charges on the books. Even this modest charge would be dropped after Judge Bransford declared the raid unconstitutional in a ruling last summer, arguing that Delgado and Power had been subject to unreasonable search and seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Bransford wrote in her ruling “that the types of militarized actions used in this case seem to be a matter of customary business practice,” which she found troubling.
Like most of the U.S., Hennepin County has increasingly relied on SWAT teams to serve warrants. According to the Star-Tribune, its ESU deployed 71 times last year, which is more than double its annual usage from a decade prior. A 2014 study by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found that on a national basis, SWAT teams were only used “for hostage, barricade, or active shooter scenarios” in seven percent of all deployments, while 62 percent of SWAT raids were to search for drugs.
The executive director of the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association, Jim Franklin, was quoted by the Star-Tribune as saying of Bransford’s ruling, “My question to her is: Are you going to attend the dead cop’s funeral?” Franklin’s argument is essentially that without the use of such violent and destructive tactics, officers’ lives would be at risk.
Why didn’t uniformed officers go up to the door in the day time and knock? Oh yea. They wanted that “evidence.” Okay, so why didn’t they stake out the home and wait until he left, go into the home to get their evidence, and then arrest him in the driveway?
Because they wanted to be all tacticool and bad ass. They wanted to play soldier-boy without the commitment. As for the judge, she knew. She knew everything. She’s throwing a red herring in your face now because it looks bad. She could have asked the same questions I’m asking. It makes no difference whether they used 30 officers or three. They conducted an armed invasion of another man’s home and are at a minimum guilty of breaking and entering, as well as reckless endangerment.
Jim Franklin is also lying. If he was concerned about officer safety, he wouldn’t be advocating these kinds of ridiculous raids to begin with. He would be advocating exactly what I did, i.e., stake the home out and arrest him in the driveway.
Both judge Bransford and Jim Franklin are liars.
On October 12, 2016 at 7:28 am, Duke Norfolk said:
Yeah, she’s totally covering her ass after the fact. Of course she knew ahead of time how she would distance herself from this if it went bad. Snake.
And yes, the notion that raiding a house where they are truly worried about being shot at (a dubious notion) is the safest option is risible. But it plays well to the public.
On October 12, 2016 at 12:18 pm, Archer said:
A raid on a house where you’re worried about being shot is possibly the most dangerous option.
Here’s the safest option, as Herschel indicated: stake out the house, stop and arrest the suspect in the driveway (or at the store, or on the sidewalk three blocks away, or anywhere NOT in the house), and enter the house when nobody is home (if they have it staked out, that should be easy enough to tell).
If you’re worried about being shot at, go in when there’s nobody there to shoot at you. Or are those big bad SWAT cops as clueless as the Brady Campaign, and worried about all the “dangerous guns” that shoot people all by themselves?
Sure, it’s not flashy or tacticool, but it’s a Hell of a lot safer for everyone involved. That they don’t do it this way shows that they don’t give two shakes about safety; they just want to bust down doors and throw flash-bangs and point their rifles at people, all with zero repercussions.
On October 12, 2016 at 7:49 am, UNCLEELMO said:
“Why didn’t uniformed officers go up to the door in the day time and knock?”
I’ll take a stab at answering that question. There might have been federal grant money involved, and the head of the department that conducted this raid might have wanted to get his ‘men’ some extra overtime. (Overtime pay seems to be a handy way of doubling the regular pay of many government enforcement agencies these days. Even fire agencies are doing it.)
On October 12, 2016 at 8:51 am, Douglas Mortimer said:
“the primary resident of the house, Michael Delgado, was a registered gun-owner with a license to carry.”
Are people required to “register” firearms in Minnesota?
On October 12, 2016 at 3:53 pm, Fred said:
I see this all the time. It’s preconditioning psychology designed to get us used to the idea.
On October 13, 2016 at 7:05 am, Haywood Jablome said:
Exactly! Spot on Fred. Tie the completely unrelated, legal gun issue with a suspected crime. It is why they discipline a child who bites a pop tart into the shape of a gun. Suspend children for finger guns, etc. They’re playing a long game. That is also why Herschel is so spot on when he rallies against ANY NEW GUN LAWS.
Speaking of preconditioning, can you imagine on 9/10/2001 having some snot nosed kid with a fabric “badge” tell you to take off your shoes and pull you out of line for “random screening” before letting you on a plane? Now, that Orwellian police state is all our kids know!
On October 13, 2016 at 6:43 am, Haywood Jablome said:
You actually have to register and have paperwork to buy a handgun and then get another license to carry. The Peoples Republic of Minnesota has become California Central.
On October 12, 2016 at 10:12 am, Blake said:
“Why did law enforcement officials feel they needed to display a show of overwhelming force that would be intense even in a foreign occupied city? Because the primary resident of the house, Michael Delgado, was a registered gun-owner with a license to carry.”
Nice to know cops are being indoctrinated to believe gun owner = violent shootout waiting to happen.
On October 12, 2016 at 12:09 pm, Archer said:
Yeah, apparently they never got the memo saying that CCW licensees are statistically an order of magnitude more law-abiding than the cops themselves. Including that SWAT team. And that judge.
On October 13, 2016 at 7:06 am, Haywood Jablome said:
Damn you and your facts!