Then, “most of” you are easily placated.

I’m not.

There were 15 of them (most of whom did double duty as members of the “SWAT” team), they were heavily armed, wore helmets and vests, and conducted the raid in standard SWAT formation and procedure – BUT, because they were dressed in civilian clothes which did not have “SWAT” emblazoned on it, front and back, and they weren’t wearing ski-masks, it wasn’t a SWAT raid…

Please…

The real question is how to get some accountability to the cops to deter the pointless application of these raids.”

Exactly! Its gotten to the point where these legislative acts are nothing more than mere symbolism. Nobody’s gonna hold the police accountable.

What about personal property, like doors, windows, furniture. What about children traumitized? How about kids slapped around or wives abused by the entry? How about erroneous locations?

They’re worried about pets?

Symbol over substance again.

On The Agitator? Credulity? I think you’re overstating your case a little bit. Acknowledging small steps doesn’t equal credulity in my book, Billy. I don’t think anyone here believes this kind of law is a panacea. I certainly don’t think I sounded all that credulous in my first comment (#6).

I think most of us are just happy for Calvo and glad that these issues are being raised more often in legislatures and in the media. There is a whole lot of grey area between silly credulity and utter despair. I’m sorry if you are too far gone to realize that, but there is no need to insult a group of reasonably well-informed citizens who probably share many of the same goals that you do.

Is there is any measurement of how many Maryland residents are killed or injured in a given year by such aggressive police raids?

I suspect that even if residents are not killed outright, when police grab and body slam residents to the floor, severe orthopedic and soft tissue injuries ensue.

I see video recordings of police routinely STANDING with their heavy boots on people’s necks and backs. How many severe, permanent injuries result annually from these hyper-aggressive police “procedures”?

The police will likely ignore it entirely.

The real question is how to get some accountability to the cops to deter the pointless application of these raids.

The credulity in this place very often astounds me.

It would seem the vote count, 126-9, would make the question of the governors signature kinda moot. Even if he comes out against it, they’ll override. This is great news and hopefully start a trend. Mayor Calvo, if he’s up to it, could turn his misfortune into something very good.

No doubt. What’s needed is an independent, “civilian” office in charge of monitoring and reporting on police activities, SWAT or otherwise.

If there’s one area in which the police actually should be more like the military, it’s accountability to a civilian leadership. It seems like in most cities the police unions/lobbyists have more political power than the elected leaders they supposedly answer to. Obviously you have that problem with the military too, but that’s more a product of the massive spending that goes into it than it is personal celebrity or union clout.