One of the platitudes I hear from people unwilling to fight against prohibition is that "it's not like people go to prison for pot" (which itself is a lie of monumental proportions), but isn't killing people like this even worse? _________________________________________________________________ Law Enforcement: SWAT Run Amok http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/540/swat_chicago_pembroke_pines_florida_vincent_hodgkiss Two recent incidents involving SWAT teams are adding fuel to the fire in the emerging controversy over the routine use of such paramilitarized police units to prosecute the drug war. In Chicago, the Chicago Police Department has been hit with a $10 million lawsuit over a September raid on a social club. Meanwhile, in Florida, the Pembroke Pines Police Department Special Response Team, a SWAT-style unit, shot and killed a 46-year-old homeowner in a dawn raid June 13 that netted a whopping three-quarters of an ounce of mar1juana. (There is even more trouble on the SWAT front. Read StoptheDrugWar.org blogger Scott Morgan's post about the murder prosecution of raid victim Derrick Foster and the killing of raid victim Ronald Terebesi, Jr., here . StoptheDrugWar.org is committed to ending these abuses. Sign our online petition here .) In the Chicago raid, raw video of which is available here (part one) and here (part two) , Chicago SWAT team officers dressed as if heading for combat in Baghdad hit the La Familia Motorcycle Club as it was being used for a birthday party. Officers exploded stun grenades, pointed assault weapons at people cowering in hallways, and, according to the attorney who filed the lawsuit, did so without producing a search warrant. Attorney George Becker said police also stole $1,500 from amusement machines and $1,000 from a safe they broke open during the raid. Becker also said five women at the club were strip-searched by female officers in front of male officers and club patrons. Becker said those parts of the raid were not recorded because officers pointed surveillance cameras at the ceiling. "It looked to me like the Chicago Police Department is engaging in military-type activity," said Becker after showing the raid video. But police are unrepentant. "We believe the officers acted within department guidelines in executing the legal search warrant," Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond said. Although police said an informant had told them a shipment of drugs was destined for the building, they seized only a small quantity of drugs and one hand-gun. Two arrests were made -- one on a bond forfeiture warrant and one for reckless conduct. Police in Pembroke Pines, Florida, are also unrepentant about their SWAT raid that left Victor Hodgkiss dead. Police have released few details about what exactly went down during the dawn raid, except to say they he was shot and killed after confronting them as they entered his home on a no-knock drug search warrant. The raid netted one arrest -- of the girlfriend of Hodgkiss's son, who was charged with possession of less than 20 grams of mar1juana. "We use SRT for all narcotics warrants," Pembroke Pines Deputy Police Chief David Golt told Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel columnist Mike Mayo, who wrote a scathing column denouncing the reflexive resort to SWAT-style tactics. "You never know what you're going to encounter." As Mayo noted in his column: "In this case, a 46-year-old man with a concealed weapons permit and no record of violent crime encountered his demise in his home of 14 years." Police did not say whether Hodgkiss was armed when he was shot, but they did say they recovered a weapon from the home. The Hodgkiss killing bears eerie similarities with another Florida SWAT killing, the 2005 shooting death of Philip Diotaiuto , a 23-year-old bartender shot 10 times by officers after he grabbed a gun as they burst into his home in a dawn raid that netted little over an ounce of mar1juana. No charges were ever filed against those officers, but a civil suit filed by Diotaiuto's family is pending. In both cases, police were aware their target had a weapons permit and used that to justify their resort to SWAT team tactics. In both cases, people ended up being killed over trivial amounts of mar1juana. SWAT team policing excesses are nothing new, but seem to be on the upswing as the units, originally designed for hostage and other dangerous situations, are increasingly used routinely for drug search warrants and other law enforcement purposes. The Cato Institute's Radley Balko has compiled the primary source book for SWAT killings and other abuses, 2006's Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America .
This is pathertic. It is legalized (sort of ) here and We really do not have any problems with it. So i agree just legalize it.
I guess this shows that when you declare a "War on" something, be it drugs or terrorism, then anything goes.
I always chuckle at how weed became legal these days. Those against it don't want to know the truth..
Decriminalize it. We got to take baby steps. First, we need to stop sending people to jail for personal amounts. This is just ridiculous. They killed a man for having a little of an ounce of mar1juana. Even if he was selling, there is no money being made selling small amounts of mar1juana. I understand why he pulled out a gun. When you only have a little more than an ounce at your house, you won't be expecting the SWAT to raid your more. He probably thought it was a home invasion and tried to protect himself.
Somebody must have nailed AndyMoon's pot supplier. Pot smugglers don't get killed because they are smuggling pot. They generally get killed defending or expanding their smuggling operation. It's not personal, it's bidness.
So arresting and charging them is not enough? You know, just like how the justice system is suppose to work. They have to get killed?
If they get arrested, they generally do not killed. Re-read my post: "Pot smugglers don't get killed because they are smuggling pot. They generally get killed defending or expanding their smuggling operation." That says nothing about police, although the police can and will and should shoot them when this particular type of lawbreaker takes pot shots at law enforcement personnel.
Policy against it was based on the 60's "Get a haircut, hippie" days. No we don't need to kill people over pot. I've never had a scare or any sense of immiment danger being around people on pot. I might let someone high as a kite on pot drive my car. NEVER if they're drunk on alcohol or on any other "street" drug. If products like HGH and steroids is illegal, hard to see heroine or speed being legal...but its at least worth looking into.
Agree on decriminalizing it. The HUGE jump in civilian population (of un-jailed mar1juana possessors) would be a problem, but right is right. Right, if a person pulls out a weapon then generally they have good reason to. Still its making it out to be like each person carrying mar1juana is some small scale Pablo Escobar. Sure there's business in it, but if someone chooses to smoke pot generally they'll want to do it with other people. And just carry a stash on them to so its not a big headache for everyone to find a supply. Doesnt make them a full time drug trafficking hustler. But yeah pulling out weapons against the police generally doesnt get favorable response out of them
Concur. Pot possession or distribution should not be a lethal offense. I was just having some fun with AndyMoon because he goes "T_J" on anything involving the subject of pot. Angkor Wat was trying to make it sound like I support shooting all mar1juana offenders, big or small. I was merely pointing out how the majority of them manage to get themselves shot by actively using their firepower to support their traffic.
I take exception to this remark as, even on the subject of drugs, I NEVER act like the traitor. Examples: I use facts, available scientific evidence, and logic/reason in my arguments. I never call people names as a result of their opinions. I try to remain active in my threads and answer questions put forth (this one being a bad example, this weekend has been exceptionally busy). So, while I admit that I am adamantly against prohibition as a solution for the issue of drug use and abuse in our society, I am nothing like our resident traitor.
FWIW, I do not like the idea of decriminalization. This policy would keep all of the harms of prohibition (criminal control of drugs, kids having easier access to drugs than alcohol, impure/unrated products, etc.) while gaining none of the benefits of a regulated market (tax revenue, distribution and production by legitimate businesspeople, licensed distributors, labeled and regulated products, etc.). Especially if we are limiting this discussion to mar1juana, the only logical policy is regulating pot much like we do alcohol and tobacco.
This guy was not a "smuggler," here is a quote from the article... If he had been armed and shooting at officers, that would have been in the report. Another quote... The man who was shot did not even HAVE the pot that was seized, it was his son's girlfriend who was in possession. This guy was yet another innocent victim who was gunned down in his home over less than an ounce of mar1juana that his son's girlfriend had. Execrable.
