Here’s the story. In September 1994, 16-year old Lisa Rene called 911 as armed men tried to break down her door. While on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, one of the men told Rene he was with the FBI, and persuaded her to open the door. He wasn’t, of course. And Rene was raped and murdered.

The point, of course, is that it’s awfully easy for people other than the police to claim they’re the police in order to get into your home. Which is why paramilitary forced entry tactics should be reserved only for extremely rare and volatile circumstances where the target fo the raid is a clear and imminent threat to others. That would include scenarios like hostage situations, prison escapes, robberies, terrorist attacks, and, for example, school shootings. It would not include routine search warrants for nonviolent drug offenders.

I’ll have a few other examples of criminals posing as raiding cops in my forthcoming paper.

I found a transcript of Rene’s phone call on Lexis, but I couldn’t track down a copy anywhere that wasn’t firewalled. Here’s the relevant bit:

911: Arlington 911.

Rene: Yes, hello. They’re trying to break down my door.

911: Who is trying to break down your door, ma’am?

Rene: I don’t know. Some people. Hurry up, Ma’am, please.

911: OK. Stay on the line with me, please. You’re at 1526 (censored), apartment (censored)?

Rene: Yes.

911: How many are out there?

Rene: Three.

911: White, black, or Hispanic?

Rene: Yes. Black. Hurry up!

911: I’m getting the call in, ma’am. Calm down, OK?

Rene: OK.

911: Have you seen them before?

Rene: No, ma’am. Hurry up.

911: Ma’am, stay on the line, OK?

Rene: OK. (To the intruders) You have the wrong house. Nobody lives here. I’m calling my sister. I’m….

Unidentified Man: (Unintelligible)

Rene: Huh?

911: Ma’am, are you talking to them?

Rene: Yes, they’re out there.

911: OK. Who do they say they’re looking for?

Rene: Who are you-all looking for? She wants to know who you-all are looking for?

Man #2: I’m the FBI.

Rene: Oh. They’re the FBI.

Man #2: Open the door and we’ll talk.

Rene: OK. They’re the FBI. They say they’re the FBI, ma’am.

(Screams)

911: Ma’am? What’s going on, Ma’am?

(End of transcript)

Thanks to Matt Hogan for the heads-up on the Rene case.

UPDATE: Several readers write to that they’ve heard the actual audio of the tape, and that hearing the call makes it even clearer that Rene lets down her guard after the man says he’s from the FBI. One reader also said I should pass along details of the brutality of Rene’s murder: She was bound, raped, and beaten with a shovel over two days. She was murdered by being buried alive.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2005 at 2:01 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.