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Maryland’s Out-of-Control SWAT Teams
Monday, July 13th, 2009That’s the topic of my crime column this week over at Reason.
31 Responses to “Maryland’s Out-of-Control SWAT Teams”
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Ok, I see what happened. Their perspective probably goes something like this: “Back in 2005 when we accidentally terrorized a family, out of the kindness of our hearts, we offered free movie passes as compensation. But, did anyone appreciate that? Nooooooo! We try to be benevolent and you nobodies spit in our faces. So, from now on we’re going to do whatever the hell we want and there’s not a friggin’ thing you can do about it. And if you don’t learn to settle down, you never know what might happen. Understand what I mean?”
Keep up the good work Radley. Once the public becomes aware of it, there will be enough of a sh*t storm to get some action.
Most of my highly educated and politically-aware neighbors in Montgomery County only know minor details about even the Calvo raid and seem to conclude its a rare mistake that will be fixed.
On the topic of informing the public, I caught only the last minute or so, but 60 Minutes had a story about bad eyewitness testimony and the DNA exoneration of Ronald Cotton. They have the video on their website, though.
But, to be honest. I think it’s going to have to get to be a lot worse before the public starts clamoring for cities to rein in their SWAT neanderthals (sorry if that seems like a put-down to neanderthals).
Just compare this to the drug war. Lots of people have a low enough opinion of the drug war to believe it should be stopped immediately. Last time I checked, doors still getting kicked down and harmless people are still being thrown in cages.
Convincing people there is a problem is an entirely necessary step, but anybody who thinks that will be good enough for changes to happen is living in dreamland. Because they’ve got all the guns, and as they’re eager to demonstrate, they’re willing to use them.
I don’t know if anyone else is seeing this, but the google ads I’m looking at to the right read as follows: Become a Police Officer; Be a SWAT agent; SWAT Teams; Police Academy Training; Police Degree. I’m sure the google ads are probably auto-generated based on a few keywords in the text of the website but I think they need to tweak their algorithm – they couldn’t have picked a worse site to advertise that stuff!
@MDGuy — Hah yeah I’ve seen a lot of that too; same on the RSS feed. The irony is precious.
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Great article Radley, thanks as always. You’re my go-to source when I run into the “few bad apples” argument.
#3 Dave: remember, modern humans beat out the Neanderthals (and probably ate them too).
Okay, I’ll have a drumstick please but be careful, the white meat is taited with “roids”, the bad kind…
Even if the police find nothing, Nilson said, the city has no obligation to pay, because, “it may have been the stuff that you’re looking for was there three hours earlier, but somebody got it out of harm’s way.
That last bit says it all, “harm’s way”
As SJE said, unfortunately most people on the “right” side of the tracks live in bubbles (Scalaila). I’ve had conversations with the same type of people who ought to know better but simply aren’t capable of opening their minds to anything other than what THEY see in their daily lives.
Most people don’t get worked up about SWAT team abuses because most people have never dealt with them. By the time that happens, it might be too late. Why can’t Michael Moore do a documentary about this?
First some car insurance company goes around acting like we are morons and now you knock us down another peg on the intelligence scale and compare us to SWAT teams.
For crying out loud, we don’t wet our pants and start shooting every time we see a damn dog!
Dave Kreuger “But, to be honest. I think it’s going to have to get to be a lot worse before the public starts clamoring for cities to rein in their SWAT neanderthals (sorry if that seems like a put-down to neanderthals).”
Hahahaha I got a mental picture of those Gieko cavemen all pissed off about being negatively stereotyped. Do you think they LIKE being compared to cps?
So, when do we start seeing these transparency reports out of Maryland so that we can see just how many SWAT raids are done and how often they actually turn up anything?
Even if the police find nothing, Nilson said, the city has no obligation to pay, because, “it may have been the stuff that you’re looking for was there three hours earlier, but somebody got it out of harm’s way.
Failure to find anything does not imply that a raid was wrongful or illegitimate. Nonetheless, someone whose property is damaged during a raid should be subject to reimbursement unless it can be demonstrated (to a jury) both that the police had sought to minimize damage, and also that such damage as occurred was a result of the person’s decision to regard concealment of criminal evidence as more important than preservation of his own property.
Mattocracy-
Not Michael Moore, that will only solidify conservatives opinions(who are already overwhelmingly authoritarians) that whatever the cops are doing, it must be the right thing to do!
The sad thing is from a ideological perspective, conservatives should be on board with police reform and worried about government agents breaking in doors. But I guess they’re more worried about Obama taking their guns and then inviting Al Queda to take over the country….
http://media.smh.com.au/national/breaking-news/body-checked-cyclist-sues-cops-631938.html
A federal jury found in favour of the police in the Cheryl Lynn Noel case. They accepted that in the volatile situation of these raids the police officer was justified in shooting.
I don’t think they realize the implication of this position. It means that if you have a gun in hand when the police break in you can justifiably presume that they will shoot you if you don’t shoot them first. The option of putting down your gun may not be available. That is, even if you know that they are police you may still have to shoot them to save your life or the lives of others.
Lemme see if I can get the reasoning correct: If they go in and they don’t find anything, then that (probably) means that if the evidence was there (and of course the assumption is that it was), it was removed before the cops showed up. Therefore, they’ll need to go in harder and faster the next time. Which means less time checking minor details like, oh, house numbers and property ownership.
Well done, Radley. It isn’t even 7am and my blood is already boiling.
It means that if you have a gun in hand when the police break in you can justifiably presume that they will shoot you if you don’t shoot them first.
Yep. The same people who wet their pants every time someone threatens to confiscate their guns are 100% behind allowing the cops to break into homes and shoot anyone near a privately owned firearm. I guess if you die a gun owner (they shoot you THEN take the gun), everything is OK.
There was a story on NPR today about the NAACP putting up a website to allow people to upload video of police misconduct. There’s a Baltimore Sun article about it here.
I like that because it could become harder to legislate against people recording cops if it’s seen as a civil rights encroachment. I know it seems like a First Amendment issue, but the First Amendment isn’t all that popular anymore because it allows offensive speech and porn (stuff they couldn’t have foreseen back when the Constitution was written.
On second thought, they apparently only plan to track misconduct when there is video to support it. That kind sounds a lot like, “If there isn’t any video, then it never happened”. What they really shoud be doing is like what Radley does. They should track video AND press reports of misconduct.
@ SJE (comment 2):
I gave you a thumbs up, but I think I was wrong. I don’t believe that if the general public knew what was going on that they would be for change. I think they’re cool with SWAT teams kicking ass as long as they’re going after drugs. The public has a serious bootlicking fetish.
@ Mattocracy (comment 11):
Because Michael Moore sucks?
#24: if you portray SWAT as gung-ho action figures who kick down doors and fight baddies, then the public will support them. If you portray them as ill-discplined thugs who raid innocent people, smash up their homes, kill them and their pets, and refuse to be held accountable, the public will not support them. I don’t think either characterization is 100% accurate, but instances of the latter contradict the widely-held belief in the former.
#26 SJE,
The public wants to see SWAT as action figures rather than thugs. Now some of this is creditable prefering not to think ill of people, some of this is vicarious excitement of people identifying with someone doing something exciting and some of this is wanting the sense of security that the SWAT teams offer. A lot of people switch off their empathy and sense of proportion if they can label someone as a “bad guy” no matter how trivial the supposed wrongdoing is.
The public’s fear and self righteousness enables the self righteousness of the drug warriors.
It’s pretty easy to understand why people so readily accept violent police action — just turn on your standard cop show or movie. They glorify that stuff without restraint. Quick camera cuts, cool rock music, careful coordination, and surgical precision — and our heroes have taken down another baddie. I mean, it’s perfect for TV.
As usual, The Wire is about the only show to get it right. In season 4 there is a great scene in which Lt. Marimow acts on bad information in a desperate attempt to get “dope on the table”, and turns up essentially nothing in a widespread west side raid.
Thanks as if I need to be even more paranoid living in MD. What’s sad is I’ve been reading this site for a couple of years now and have read about each case you point to in the article, I just haven’t lined them all up on one page like that.
Rhayader “It’s pretty easy to understand why people so readily accept violent police action — just turn on your standard cop show or movie. They glorify that stuff without restraint”
Absolutely! People need to understand that they’re being propagandized to accept the police state by that kind of TV and movies.
SWAT No-Knock Raid Teams serve a long-term, hidden agenda:
By their very wide-spread usage, and concommitant publicity in police videos, news articles, etc. of violent SWAT Team No-Knock Raids, the public is being conditioned to:
BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID.
Your home is NOT your castle….
The police can knock the door down unannounced in the middle of the night, storm in, and kill you if you show the slightest hesitation or resistance to their surprise attack…… Or, kill you for no reason at all.
With NO CONSEQUENCES.
It is pure and simply:
Obediance Training. The public is being conditioned…….
Today, the militarized, helmeted, and jack-booted police are using tear gas and flash bang grenades when they make their surprise entries.
Tomorrow, will they be using REAL hand grenades??
It is the logical and probable progression of their tactics.
Unless something RADICAL changes the the police tactics.
Like, ONE sympathetic judge who rules for the victims of a violent SWAT team No-Knock raid.