Comments on: Georiga Senate Committee Passes (Mostly) Useless No-Knock Bill

By: Loren

Loren — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:53:32 +0000

Why can’t they shut off the water before knocking to limit the amount of evidence flushing that could be done?

By: supercat

supercat — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:53:27 +0000

IMHO, what’s needed is an explicit statement that any time a cop conducts a forced entry (be it a no-knock raid or an entry of a seemingly-unoccupied building), that cop is responsible for ensuring that anyone who might be present knows he’s a cop; further, the burden of proof will be upon the cop to show that he in fact met that responsibility (video rigs are pretty cheap).

If a cop acts in a manner that’s indistinguishable from a robber and gets shot, the blame should be placed on the cop who acted in such manner. While this might seem unfair to the cops, I would expect that the existence of such a rule would result in many cops making more effort to be clearly identifiable as cops. Consequently, both cops and citizens would be made safer.

By: TC

TC — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:32:49 +0000

Do any cops know the difference between “reasonable suspicion” and “probable cause” ?

By: Dave Krueger

Dave Krueger — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:55:30 +0000

I think there is an unwritten rule. Any law written in direct response to an embarassing incident cannot in any way affect the outcome of said incident had it been in effect when said incident occurred. For example, if someone gets shot with a handgun, it would be completely acceptable to pass a law banning assault rifles. At least they didn't name the bill, The Kathryn Johnston Be Safe from Lyin' Corrupt Cops in Your Own Home Act.