Put An End To Police Raids
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 2 months ago
Dean Weingarten rehearses some additional information on the Breonna Taylor raid in Kentucky.
Many questions remain to be cleared up, and it’s certainly the case that she wasn’t a pillar of the community.
Questions are raised as to whether this was an announced raid, or a so-called no-knock raid, how long the cops banged on the door, who shot whom, where she was when she was killed, etc., etc.
Somebody (or somebodies) are lying, maybe everyone. I encourage you to read this additional information. However, some very important points remain, and we may insist on one very important observation.
One commenter remarks “It also shows the wisdom of not getting involved, in any way, with drugs. It’s too bad that Taylor lost her life, but when you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.”
This misses the point entirely, as does the question of whether she was guilty of anything with which she was charged or thought to be guilty before the raid.
A much more astute commenter says “Anyone can yell POLICE ! I’m not going to second guess who’s breaking my door down. Especially from a sound sleep. I doubt I would even hear someone knocking on my front door. With location of my bedroom. As proven in my past. Which leads to me to ask Breanna didn’t have a DOORBELL ? Or does a NO KNOCK warrant specificaly mean you need to knock ? This case & many others show why we don’t need NO KNOCK warrants. These were Red Coat tactics. And people should install their own video surveillance system. Not from a third party.”
Yes, he’s got it. We’ve documented cases before just like this.
NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk Police Department is looking for two people who impersonated police and forced their way into a Norfolk home.
It happened in April in the 3300 block of Illinois Avenue.
The two victims inside the home heard a knock at the door, someone yelled, “Police!” and moments later the door was kicked in, according to court records.
Records state the two suspects entered the house wearing ski masks armed with handguns.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Police are trying to catch a group of armed robbers who pistol whipped a couple inside their condo while wearing fake SWAT uniforms.
“I think it made us hesitate enough to give them the jump on us,” Brad Ouellette said. “Just oh, SWAT, maybe the wrong house, what are you doing here?”
The masked men got away with three Rolex watches and five guns. They are also accused of inappropriately touching Ouellette’s wife.
“This reminded her of something she would see in Colombia,” he said. “She never thought she’d see it in America.”
On the assumption that anyone who yells “Police” is actually police, you can lay on the floor out of fear of being sent to prison for the rest of your life, or on the other hand, on the assumption that it’s home invaders intent on killing your family, you can defend your home.
You see the dilemma, of course, if you’re a thinking man. If you’re too stupid to see the problem here, it’s only because it hasn’t happened to you, or you haven’t sat and thought about it enough.
So instead of saying that “If you lie down with dogs you get fleas,” you could say something like “If you own firearms when the FedGov has made that illegal …,” or “If you believe in fairy tales and believe that your local home invaders will act like cops to get the advantage …”
It’s all the same thing. Having to disarm, lie on the floor and follow orders when someone shows up and yells “police” effectively extinguishes the God-given right of self defense.
I only need one good reason to demand an end to police raids. This is one. It is the best.
As for your drug evidence – where cops are trying to get evidence before it gets flushed down the toilet – that’s just too bad. Cops can find another way to get that evidence. An exchange of evidence-gathering latitude for the extinguishment of the right of self defense is not a tradeoff I’m willing to make, even if the cops are.
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On September 27, 2020 at 10:21 pm, Bill Buppert said:
19,000 departments occupying America, nearly 30,000 dead since 1 January 2000. As you’ve seen in 2020. the cops will obey their political masters in communist cities to facilitate the wholesale destruction of entire blocks in cities at the hands of approved Marxoid apparatchiks and destroyers.
The police will always keep the pension providers in the first tier of concern in concert with the evil trifecta of police unions, qualified immunity (license to kill) and the risk aversion “get out of jail free card” known as officer safety that allows a cop to maim and kill on the simple pretense of fearing for its life in nebulous circumstances. A ROE I never had during my tours in AFG.
If every cop in America got the blue flu for an indefinite time, things would be dicey for about 24 hours and then private justice would strike the right balance. Perfect? No. Better? Yes.
As I have said before, no man on Earth can be denied his individual liberty and freedom by any politician absent the police.
On September 28, 2020 at 12:18 am, Georgiaboy61 said:
@ Herschel
Re: “As for your drug evidence – where cops are trying to get evidence before it gets flushed down the toilet – that’s just too bad.”
As an aside to your main points, the alcohol ban during the Prohibition Era 1920-1933, should have taught the government that prohibition movements do not work, cannot work, for very sound reasons.
The passage of the 18th Amendment and subsequently the Volstead Act in 1920 ended legal manufacture, distribution, sales, and consumption of alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine and spirits of all kinds. With a few strokes of the pen, the legal right to enjoy alcohol consumption was ended.
However, those Americans who had consumed alcohol did not suddenly as if by magic lose their thirst or their wish to consume beer, wine and spirits. All prohibition did was force the alcohol trade out of the above-board, legal market and into the underworld black market.
Basic law of economics: If sufficient demand for a particular good or service exists, and suppliers who would sell those goods or services, they will find some marketplace or means by which to conduct business, if not in the open marketplace, then in the underground economy and black market. The government can change somewhat where/how these parties do business – but it cannot prevent them from doing business.
Alcohol prohibition did not work. Smugglers became wealthy overnight, thanks to the underground trade in liquor, much of it smuggled over U.S. borders from Canada or overseas. The Sicilian mob – the mafia – went from being a niche criminal organization to an 800 lb. gorilla which took the FBI decades to cut down to size, all thanks to the enormous amounts of money to be made “rum running.” Kennedy family patriarch Joseph Kennedy made his fortune in just such a manner, before “going legit” as they say on the street.
The thirteen year failed experiment in alcohol prohibition, conducted by the U.S. federal government, ended with the repeal of the 18th Amendment by the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed 5 December 1933.
The Nixon-era “War on Drugs” repeated all of the same mistakes made a half-century earlier, but with an even greater cost in lost liberties and damaged civil rights, surrendered in the name of another prohibition movement which did not – could not – work.
The militarization of America’s police forces first began in earnest back in the 1970s during the War on Drugs, a trend which has accelerated into the present.
For those interested in this vital issue, constitutional attorney John Whitehead has written a number of well-researched and written books, including “A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State,” and “Battlefield America: The War on the American People.”
As catastrophic as the “war on drugs” has been at home, it has caused enormous chaos, violence, bloodshed and suffering in places such as Colombia and Mexico. Mexico is today a “failed state” in part because of the war on drugs and what its second, third and fourth order effects have done to that nation and government. And the asymmetric conflicts spawned in Mexico are now moving north of the border.
On September 28, 2020 at 12:59 am, Ben said:
My understanding is this was not a no knock warrant. Regardless of whether it was or was not, it was executed in the middle of the night, which definitely lead to the potential for a violent outcome. Nevertheless, the issue of no knock warrants is tricky. The case for them is less about evidence than it is about safety of all concerned. When the suspect is heavily armed and has a history of violence, moving in quickly is, on balance, safer of everybody concerned, including the suspect. No knock warrants have a place in law enforcement’s array of options, but the problem is that they are used WAY too often and frequently in place of better options, such as arresting the subject when he leaves home. There should be much more scrutiny and oversight exercised by supervisors who authorize use of no knock warrants and judges who approve them.
As to the Breonna Taylor case, under the facts as I understand them, it was a tragedy, not a crime. For better or worse, the police followed legally authorized procedures and only returned fire when fired upon. Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend fired first because he reasonably believed his life was in danger. It appears as though neither he nor the police who fired the shots did anything wrong; Breonna Taylor died because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s something that is difficult for a lot of people to hear and, unsurprisingly, sounds like an unsatisfactory explanation of what happened. Nevertheless, it is what it is. It is probably appropriate for the department to incur civil liability for her death, but that will be cold comfort for her family.
The best that can come of this, in all likelihood, is to use it as an opportunity to revamp procedures for how warrants are executed. The focus should be directed toward warrants being executed in a manner designed to minimize danger to lives, such as, under circumstances when violent resistance is expected, arresting people when they leave home and executing search warrants when nobody is home. Under normal circumstances, warrants should be executed only during normal business hours and after police announce their presence. If police want to use a no knock warrant or execute a warrant in the middle of the night, they should face intense scrutiny and be required to provide ample justification for such procedures. The so-called drug war has done great violence to civil liberties and has militarized police and turned them away from community policing. Things like police tactical teams and no knock warrants are sometimes necessary to use, but police now use them far more often than they should.
On September 28, 2020 at 7:37 am, Bram said:
Middle of the night by plainclothes police officers. That alone will (and did) get people killed. It also conveniently means no body cameras.
People also overlook the fact that they missed the guy with the gun with 10 shots while killing somebody else. That right there should be grounds for firing whether everything else was justified or not.
On September 28, 2020 at 8:24 am, Ben said:
Not to defend the police too much, but it is important to understand why they went in when they did. My understanding is that the ex-boyfriend was a violent and dangerous felon who was still engaged in the drug trade. The police timed the Breonna Taylor raid to occur simultaneously with other raids on locations believed to be used by the ex-boyfriend, judging that to be the best way to get him and the evidence without undue danger to the officers and the community. That decision can be second guessed, for sure, but it was a reasonable decision. You cannot get a criminal conviction of a police officer who has acted reasonably, although you may be able to get civil liability. The real issue here is police procedure, not the actions of individual officers.
On September 28, 2020 at 8:33 am, SGT.BAG said:
Finding merit and character in today’s LEO is a toss of the coin.
‘Fate only picks on the coward’s and quitters, so give them both barrels and aim for the eye’s”
Grantland Rice
On September 28, 2020 at 8:48 am, Sargent Hulka said:
Das Radio stated that the former boyfriend was using her address.
She needed to police that activity up.
Bad things happen when you tolerate little things that are a lapse in discipline.
On September 28, 2020 at 8:57 am, George 1 said:
@Ben
What you say is true. However when we look at the results of these raids over time we have too many innocents killed or maimed. These type of actions also are cover for the outright criminal cops such as those in Houston who murdered the innocent couple in their home a few years ago. It was only good fortune in that case that the criminal police unit was exposed.
We see numerous occasions where the police went to the wrong address and on some occasions harmed or killed innocent people. There were three such incidents near where I live just this past year. Fortunately no one was killed near my town. If the police are too incompetent to serve a warrant at the correct address, then why should they be trusted to serve warrants at all hours of the night. Increasingly police don’t seem to universally possess good judgement or a knowledge of Constitutional law.
These raids are ultimately for the purpose of expanding the budgets of police departments. More crime stats and more arrests mean bigger budgets. In the 21st century the police have not demonstrated that they are worthy of such trust. The police need to be reined in.
On September 28, 2020 at 8:57 am, Ben said:
LEO’s are no different than the average person. Some are good, some bad, and most just want to put in their time until retirement. There is no justification either for demonizing all of them based on the actions of a few or for treating all of them as virtuous heroes because some of them are. We need to stop generalizing about groups of people based on the actions of a few and start looking more closely at the systems and incentives that cause them to act a certain way. For example, police are overly aggressive and militarized today not because most of them naturally want to act that way but because we have created a set of incentives that make that sort of behavior attractive. We are not going to fix the problem by hunting for perfect people; rather, we need to create systems and incentives that make better behavior the norm.
On September 28, 2020 at 9:09 am, Ben said:
I don’t disagree with your diagnosis of the problem, George. I’m just saying that we need to put systems in place that enable police to do their jobs effectively while minimizing to the extent possible the chance of foreseeable accidents and bad behavior, understanding that there’s no such thing as perfect. The inevitable result of personalizing this and turning it into open season on all LEO’s will be to drive out the good ones and bring in even more bad ones. We need police to be able to function as a society, and they need to be able to do their jobs properly. The focus should be on driving out the bad ones and creating conditions that make the rest of them better. No matter how good the systems or police are, however, tragedies will still happen, and we need to be mature enough to recognize that. As long as people are involved, accidents are guaranteed to happen.
On September 28, 2020 at 9:13 am, Chris Mallory said:
“It appears as though neither he nor the police who fired the shots did anything wrong;”
Jeff Cooper’s 4 Rules.
1) All guns are always loaded.
2) Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3) Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.
4) Identify your target, and what is behind it.
Walker fired one round at 3 armed men who did not belong in the apartment. The cops shot an unarmed woman who was not a threat.
Is it too much to ask that cops not do mag dumps and not fire until they see the actual threat?
It sounds like that if government employees must be armed, then a contract with Ruger for 5 shot 38 Specials, like the French Railroad Police carry, would be the way to go.
On September 28, 2020 at 9:42 am, George 1 said:
Ben,
You say “Police are overly aggressive and militarized”. OK. This discussion is about the use of police raids. Since the police are “overly aggressive and militarized” these types of raids should be significantly reduced. It does not matter that some police don’t “naturally want to act that way”. There are too many innocents harmed by them.
So, while other actions are needed to reign in police we can start by limiting the number of and hours of the day for raids like this. And, we can hold police accountable for unlawful actions. I am not talking about the case above. We don’t have all of the facts regarding that case yet. But history shows that police being held accountable for outrageous acts is not the norm it has been the exception.
You are correct in that “we need to create systems and incentives that make better behavior the norm”. That comes first from proper training in Constitutional law and deadly force application. It seems that the police are at present being taught that because they “think” someone my possess a weapon and they “think” said weapon might be used on them, then it is A-OK to shoot first and find out later.
That is not the way I proceeded when I worked as an LEO. After all, no one made me take the job. I volunteered. So I understood that the job can’t be made perfectly safe but that is no excuse to violate people’s constitutional rights. until we “create” these systems and incentives I am for limiting as many of the harmful outcomes as we can.
On September 28, 2020 at 9:44 am, Ned2 said:
Whatever happened to a polite knock on the door?
Or surveillance? Watch the guy for a few days and pick him up at an opportune moment, away from any chance of endangering innocent bystanders.
On September 28, 2020 at 9:51 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Sargent Hulka,
“Bad things happen when you tolerate little things that are a lapse in discipline.”
Absurd.
The prophet rhetorically asks “Why do the wicked prosper.” Good things happen to bad people, good people get SWATTED and have their homes invaded with wrong-address police raids.
believing that bad things happen when you tolerate little things is believing in superstition. You may as well believe in astrology.
The main point remains. In order to effect the right of self defense, a man must believe that all home invaders are there to cause them harm.
All you did was parrot superstitious nonsense – you didn’t engage the main issue.
On September 28, 2020 at 10:54 am, Brad said:
There have also been 2 or 3 cases where the homeowner/occupant has shot and killed an LEO while they’re breaking down their door at 3:00 AM. Each time the occupant has been found not guilty. I don’t care if they are identifying themselves as Police Officers. Early in the morning out of a sound sleep most people are going to view that activity as a major threat.
On September 28, 2020 at 12:48 pm, Bones said:
Retired LEO here. Drug war veteran, (if that is actually a thing), Special Response Team member.
Yes, you can get a no-knock warrant, but it’s generally a bad call both for the LE people as well as the suspect and innocents in the dwelling. As is noted above, imagine going into someone’s house in the dark, sneaking in… you’re asking to be shot.
There’s only one reason to get such a paper, to prevent destruction of evidence. That is, to keep them from flushing the dope, or whatever down the commode. That’s it. Thinking that you’ll “get the drop on them” is just dumb. You won’t.
If you think that they’ll flush evidence, maybe you need to do more street work and develop evidence that way.
LE is required in the execution of a warrant, absent this no-knock exception, to knock and announce. We would knock on the door LOUDLY, and announce, “Police with a warrant, open the door.” We would wait for them to open, and if an appropriate amount of time had passed, e.g., time for them to get up and open the door, and they hadn’t responded, we would force entry.
We would be marked, blatantly, obviously, in many places, with placarding showing “POLICE”, so there would be no doubt who we were. If we didn’t, we might be fired upon, and the suspect would have a legitimate reason to open fire, since he might have thought we were burglarizing the place.
Warrants can be dangerous. Especially at night. We would have to specifically ask for a warrant to be executed during the night, say from midnight to 6 a.m. But why do that? You are just adding to the danger factors inherent in the activity.
Ned2, you are absolutely right. That’s what we would do in most cases. Take the subject out of the equation, and search the premises with no one around, leaving our inventory of items seized in the residence and a copy to the guy you arrested away from all his guns, etc…
On September 28, 2020 at 12:58 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Bones,
But if you want your evidence, doing it when no one is there makes too much sense. And it wouldn’t allow SWAT teams to “get some” before they go home safely for the night.
On September 28, 2020 at 1:03 pm, Bones said:
That’s why SWAT, SRT, ERT, etc… has to be crewed by and led by adults. It’s not about “getting some”, and high-fiving each other, and being wanna-be Delta Force or ST-6. It’s about the mission, and doing it with minimal impact, minimal to the team, public, and yes, even to the subject.
I did every job on the team, from driver to Team Leader. We had mature leadership with good oversight so that these things wouldn’t happen. In 23+ years, I never shot anyone. That’s because we did it right, and smart.
No cowboys allowed.
On September 28, 2020 at 1:13 pm, Sisu said:
I am glad I recently came across this blog. The comments above are spot on. … In addition or summation I add – too much government; too many laws attempting to protect individuals from their own stupidity; and perhaps most important – the role of “police” in a community / our society needs to be rethought and limited.
On September 28, 2020 at 1:38 pm, Bones said:
Sisu- Sir Robert Peel, the father of modern policing noted:
“Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”
If we truly acted this way, we’d have fewer problems, I think.
On September 28, 2020 at 1:54 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Bones,
Except to confiscate weapons (something that I think may LEOs would do regardless of oath), if a police visit is in the daylight hours, I can see a vehicle clearly marked with my local police insignia, I see UNIFORMED officers, not tacticool officers, at my doorway showing me a warrant through the window, I would act quite a bit differently than tacticool guys trying to bust in my door in the middle of the night, whom I must assume are criminals bent on doing my wife harm.
On September 28, 2020 at 2:13 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
@ Ben
Re: “Things like police tactical teams and no knock warrants are sometimes necessary to use, but police now use them far more often than they should.”
Back in the 1970s when Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams were first-created, they were found only in certain very large cities, such as Los Angeles, municipalities where there were large-enough numbers of serious violent crimes being committed by high-risk offenders to justify their existence.
Today, those units have grown like Topsy, and every back-water town and city seems to have such a team. And since SWAT teams cost additional revenue to have in the first place, if they aren’t used often-enough to justify their existence, they come under intense scrutiny and possible disbandment. The Mayor starts asking why the city needs a special unit, and so forth. The “cure” chiefs have come up with is arguably worse than the problem: Making greater use of special ops police units for routine police matters, such as serving warrants.
This is playing with fire, and a grossly irresponsible use of police powers.
The aforementioned “War on Drugs” and the federal program seconding used/obsolete military equipment and vehicles to police departments nation-wide has also worsened the problem of cops seeing themselves as soldiers. When Officer Friendly gets geared up Tommy Tactical-wise and rolls up in an MRAP, is it all that surprising that he begins thinking of himself in a different light?
On September 28, 2020 at 3:47 pm, Bones said:
@Herschel…
Agreed. We would try to get a Police/Sheriff marked unit outside if possible, for the benefit of those inside, as well as for the neighbors. We also left guns in the home, if the person wasn’t prohibited, or to be arrested, or if the gun wasn’t part of a charge or potential enhancement on the case, e.g., trafficking drugs and possessing a gun.
I want to address some of the thought process that occurs when we discuss “Militarization of Police”. As a 2A full-blown supporter, I take issue with those who manage to “blame the gun”, for any sort of bad shooting that occurs. Blaming the tool is a ridiculous response to such happenings.
And so, I take the same opinion to complaints about the issuance of military surplus equipment to police. It’s not the tools that are the problem, it’s the training and attitudes of the people that are the problem.
Yes, I agree, giving the carpenter a hammer, may set him off to find a nail everywhere he goes, but it’s the responsibility of police trainers, managers and ultimately elected officials bearing oversight responsibility for LE that has to step up and keep people using equipment wisely.
Here in Washington State, the Criminal Justice Training Commission started a program at the academy to change the focus. From an “us versus them” mentality to a “Guardian Ethos” program, the academy seeks to train officers to engage with the community. Talk to people. Listen to them. Seek to deconflict before escalating, and doing this while maintaining officer and public safety. I was doubtful, believing that this was just another Left-wing feel good hippy-dippy program. But it seems to work.
I do have a problem, with LE using military uniforms for their operations. Now you see everyone wearing multicam, with subdued markings. How do you know who is who? How can you identify them as police while wearing camo markings? This gets back to the “tacticool” element. Bad idea. Cops need to look like cops, Tac team or street officer.
On September 28, 2020 at 7:32 pm, GomeznSA said:
I’ve refrained from commenting on this case since all I have had to go by were the ‘news’ reports……………
I had an epiphany of sorts while reading this latest blog commentary – isn’t it ‘interesting’ that the only person that got hit after boyfriend shot first (fully established by the state AG) was Taylor.
On September 28, 2020 at 8:05 pm, Wes said:
The notion of militarization (and often who they hire) is something I can’t let go, noting that Philip (“You’re F**ked” ejection port cover) Brailsford was found Not Guilty of the murder (on irrefutable cam footage) of Daniel Shaver. He was fired; but then was briefly rehired to an unpaid position so that he could be on the rolls to file for his disability pension, which he now draws. Further, because of his bankruptcy filing, the civil suit proceedings against him by Daniel Shaver’s family pretty much have the glide angle of a B-24 with 2 engines out.
Go find that video again. Watch it again. Then process Not.Guilty.
Think hard on that one.
On September 28, 2020 at 8:39 pm, Randolph Scott said:
@ Wes, If Brailsford is still breathing then someone is not doing their job. very well.
On September 28, 2020 at 8:43 pm, Danny said:
OK Freefor, what will you do when the PoPos kick down your door? I live in an APT and have gotten troubling mail notices from previous rez of my Apt from IRS, bill collectors… Not me but the PoPo know no diff apparently. The only contraband in my abode would be the CDB oil I use to sleep. Perfectly legal but they knock down my door and shoot my dog or me and justify the raid because CBD oil. Again, I read lots of chest beating but what will YOU do when they kick your door down at no dark thirty?
On September 28, 2020 at 8:46 pm, 15Fixer said:
Go to “The Free Thought Project” for some of the early reports about Breonna Taylor’s killing. Then check the references, follow-up on LOCAL news accounts, apply your own critical thinking skills, ( like why would the city pay out $12 million dollars for a wrongful death suit if the cops were in the right????) Here is one of the earliest stories that I keyed in on.
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/innocent-emt-working-the-front-line-killed-in-her-bed-by-cops-raiding-the-wrong-home/
On September 28, 2020 at 10:36 pm, JB said:
To use the commies words…
Raids are Antiquated.
Technology, has rendered them useless.
On September 29, 2020 at 2:03 am, brentg said:
from a comment above:
“We would be marked, blatantly, obviously, in many places, with placarding showing “POLICE”, so there would be no doubt who we were.”
It’s logic like this that solidifies the idea that cops are just smart enough to follow their master’s directions, and no more. Just imagine how stupid the criminals must really be…
-brentg
On September 29, 2020 at 5:57 am, DrDog said:
“As for your drug evidence – where cops are trying to get evidence before it gets flushed down the toilet – that’s just too bad. …”
That is a feature, not a bug.
To my mind no knock drug raids are at best a tactical stop gap. It rarely leads to stemming the flow because most of the people caught in such dragnets are street suppliers. Those types can be replaced. Fact have to be in carnage of a place like Chicago. A more strategic mindset would want to go after the next layer up, the wholesalers.
So why not go strategic? ID the wholesalers and their street distributors. Request standard warrants on the street vendors to the wholesaler. Ring the doorbell, knock on the door then just wait….. for the flushing sound of evidence being lost. If the LEOs have done their homework they know how to contact the wholesaler — “Just want you to know you lost $75k tonite. We will be back tomorrow.” Rinse and repeat, night after night. Eventually the losses mount and the cartel provide the love tap to the wholesaler on a more permanent basis.
* No forced entry.
* No gun battles.
* No wrongful deaths.
On September 29, 2020 at 7:34 am, Michael Collins said:
I’ve had an issue w no knock raids, qualified immunity, for some time, and the militarization of our forces, automatic weapons, mraps, you name it, they get it..
First off, it should be VERY difficult for anyone to bust into your home so easily..
Laminated full glass view doors w piano hinges and multi point locks front and back..
Door jamb armor on strike plates, reinforced hinges, additional dead bolt or floor wedge/bolt.
All of the things will make it damn near impossible for bad guys and/or LE to simply bust in and drive in.
This will buy time to armor up, gun up, call 911, seek cover inside room or counter assault if need be…Nothing will fuck an assault team up more than when they receive effective, accurate fire from AP rounds as it slices thru vests, armor, hips and heads…
A monitored alarm system, to hit panic button to get LE and Fire response, fire arrives in <3 minutes to my location..Hard to be tommy tactical when fire engines roll up and firemen are about as witnesses..
Make sure you have cctv outside at entrances, and elsewhere if possible, and a unit or two inside as well.
On another note, i dread the day when LE is lured into ambushes by experienced, hardened men, who have no qualms about using over whelming fire power and tactics to assault the element as they stack outside, have over watch to engage from afar, then disappear into the night.
In addition, LE live amongst us, and they and their families are legit targets if the time arises..
As we progress down the totalitarian road, this will happen, mark my words..
Look no further than El Salvador, Argentina, and elsewhere for this kind of activity.
Remember, LE is NOT your friend, they WILL go home at end of shift no matter what, and most WILL accept the Kings Schilling…
On September 29, 2020 at 7:50 am, Chris Mallory said:
Bones, saying that government employees should be limited to either no weapons or limited capacity weapons it not “blaming the gun”. It is saying that as a class government employees have proven themselves to be unable to enjoy the privilege of being armed while on duty. Yes, government employees have privileges, not rights. Citizens have rights. Governments have privileges that the citizens have every right to remove from them.
If your toddler finds a hammer and starts pounding holes in the sheetrock, you take the hammer away from them. You are not blaming the hammer, you are removing the tool from the hands of one not mature enough to have access to it.
On September 29, 2020 at 10:07 am, CT Ginger said:
Given all that’s been said on all sides of this issue let me just add one point. Any civil liability decision arrived at via a fair trial should be paid out of the local police pension fund and NOT the general fund of the municipality or state. Such judgements must cost the people actually involved so that their behavior is modified. Police malfeasance that affects pension payments or, perhaps overtime budgets, will drive the change desired. Paying judgements or fines from the general funds will produce nothing.
On September 29, 2020 at 10:13 am, DWEEZIL THE WEASEL said:
In reply to Mr. Mallory above, one of the things I saw as a Peace Officer is most are marginal shots. After the bank robbery fiasco in North Hollywood by the two armed-up Romanians some years back, my agency changed their qualification protocols to include five shots inside an eight-inch paper plate at 25 yards. And, you did it over and over again until you got it right.
The bigger issues, however are Qualified Immunity and no-knock warrants. Both of these need to end, immediately. I served several search/arrest warrants in my career. If I and my partner were in plain clothes, we had at least one uniformed officer with us. The California Penal Code was complied with via “knock-and-announce”, and entry was demanded. If someone opened the door, credentials were presented for inspection and the presence of the uniform left no doubt who we were.
Yes, dope got flushed down the toilet sometimes. So what?! The end result was for the prosecutors, defense attorneys, juries and judges to sort out. Agencies lost sight of that during the bogus “War on Drugs” due to the lucrative nature of Asset Forfeiture. It devolved further as society has devolved, since “law enforcement agencies” recruit from society. Note well what Michael Collins posted above. The badge-wearing, camo-clad, tatted-up, ‘roided-out Orcs and Orcettes will always serve their paymasters. Their oaths are meaningless. Plan accordingly.
On September 29, 2020 at 10:38 am, Bones said:
@ Chris Mallory
My “blaming the gun”, comment was directed at the anti-2A people who blame the tool any time there’s a mass shooting. But I see your connection to the militarization argument.
Most departments purchase long guns from manufacturers, and not from military surplus give-away’s. I’m familiar with a couple of departments which have obtained surplus M16A1 rifles, which have been rendered semi-auto. Most departments purchase better, more modern carbines than you can get from surplus.
And yes, if the kid has the hammer and misuses it, take it away. If LE misuses i’s authority, take it away.
and also, what Dweezil, said. I agree.
On September 29, 2020 at 12:10 pm, Milton said:
Dr. Dog- I like your strategerem. Friendly, peaceful visits. Major success in raising the price of the now reduced volumes.
Brilliant!
On September 29, 2020 at 12:32 pm, Ryan Shelton said:
Missed the point! Cops only do as ordered(first whammy), by incompetent, sociopathic, politically corrupt, management (2nd whammy), then using only what they are (not) trained for, in the force continuum. Until we hold LE management, and their political communist overlords responsible, nothing can change. Holding street cops fully responsible, while giving a pass to management, and politicians, is like getting up to bat in the majors, and using a putter and golf rules, instead of baseball rules.
On September 29, 2020 at 12:47 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Ryan,
Who missed to the point?
On September 29, 2020 at 5:17 pm, Jimmy the Saint said:
@Michael Collins: “On another note, i dread the day when LE is lured into ambushes by experienced, hardened men, who have no qualms about using over whelming fire power and tactics to assault the element as they stack outside, have over watch to engage from afar, then disappear into the night.”
Then expect repeats of things like Loughgall and Gibraltar (or just John Dillinger Film Festival/Ma Barker room service) to take the place of serving warrants. Or Mount Carmel/MOVE rowhouse firebombings. Escalation will beget escalation.
On September 30, 2020 at 8:38 am, Michael Collins said:
@JTS:
I expect reprisals on both sides of the aisle, just like UK/Ireland during the “Troubles”, except on a much larger and more violent scale, as we here in the US have a metric shit ton more firearms and other explosives, in the hands of .civ, than existed/exists in the UK…
I would suggest get up to speed by reading, “Fry The Brain: The Art of Urban Sniping and its Role in Modern Guerrilla Warfare”
https://www.amazon.com/Fry-Brain-Sniping-Guerrilla-Warfare/dp/0971413398
They spent a lot of time analyzing the IRA’s methods to counter a superior force, to great effect.