I’m quoted in this Bloomberg column on SWAT teams and police raids.

Also did an hour-long NPR interview with a reporter in Atlanta yesterday.

Not sure when it will air.

Also did an interview with a FOX television producer in Dallas who’s working on a piece critical of the Dallas SWAT team — or at least of how it’s portrayed on the A&E show. One amusing story: When the Dallas SWAT team raided those underground poker games a while back (the first time, not the second), the officers burst in, roughed the place up, arrested the proprietors, and issued citations to the players. They then apparently asked everyone in the place to sign a release form so they could put the raids on TV.

There was also apparently an incident in which the SWAT team was called to apprehend an escaped gorilla. It ended badly for the gorilla.

Finally, I also spoke with a reporter in New Jersey who’s working on what I think will be a fantastic and critical piece on how SWAT teams are used in her city.

All in all, it’s good to see the media picking up on these themes.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 8th, 2006 at 10:32 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Gambling, Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.