The PV PD went to do a welfare check, the woman wouldn't open her door, the Officers called in, CIRT arrived, broke down the door and smoked the female occupant.

Supposedly the occupant came at the officers with a bat or knife when they breached the door and the officer that shot the occupant felt their life was in danger.

A fireman friend who's station responded has said it was 'fantaged up' and that 'The Story' of what actually happened varies depending on who you are talking to at the PD.

First, is no knocks allowed in your state and what is the policy of the city agency that your live in regarding no knocks?

Second, if no knocks are allowed in your state and city, what is the procedure on how to obtain a no knock in the city that you live in?

We have no knocks in California and in the 7 years as a SWAT Team Leader for a major city, I've planned, executed and served hundreds of warrants to include no knocks and night servicable warrants. We have a matrix that defines what's a SWAT warrant or a patrol warrant. We have a diligent process on how we obtain no knock warrants since we are one of the most liberal cities in California and no knocks are rarely authorized. Just because we have a no knock warrant doesn't mean we do a no knock. I choose wether or not, we actually do a knock notice or not. IF we do a no knock, after it's all done, I've asked the people in the house, were you aware that it was the police and not a home invasion? I've yet had a person tell me "no, we did not know it was the police" Every person told me that they knew that it was the police, so we are making sure that people inside knows it's the police.

I understand that police agencies differ from agencies, cities, etc. Some agencies are squared away and others are crap just like in any profession. My two cents is that it boils down to leadership regardless of the agency.

Not trying be disrespectful but how many of those were at the wrong address? I'd venture probably none. Is it fair to assume that the occupants may have had an expectation that the police may one day be knocking down there door because they are knowingly committing a crime?

I think the point is that because I am not expecting the police to kick in my door because I'm not committing a crime I might not be so quick to be aware it is actually the police. There have been several instances where the wrong house has been hit some even exampled in this thread.

Furthermore, if someone is kicking in my door I'm going for my gun, because I can't afford to wait and see if it's the police or a bad guy.

If I was a drug dealer with a violent felony on my record I probably would assume it was the police as I'd be looking for them to come any minute, however, the guy who just doesn't live in a great neighborhood might not be expecting a visit from the police.

It is true that we have little to fear from honorable, capable men exercising power which might lightly offend the Constitution.

However, once the exercise of such power is considered acceptable, that power continually attracts less honorable, less capable men.
Eventually, the power once meant to be exercised for good is possessed by evil men who use it to oppress.



"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority.
It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions.
There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern.
They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
-Danel Webster

"If the provisions of the constitution be not upheld when they pinch as well as when they comfort, they may as well be abandoned."
- Justice George Sutherland

Okay, here is my question...

How often do you see the doors kicked in on the mansion of the drug dealer? I'd venture to say that it happens in the rarest of moments. Why? Because the rich man would have his lawyer bend the LEA over their own desk and rub on some sand filled Vasoline, that's why.

What is the difference if it is MY house? That I don't have a lawyer on retainer?

What about the small drug dealer? Do we kick his door in just because you know he is going to ask for a Public Defender that doesn't care that you kicked his door in?

What is the incidence of criminals shooting at cops serving warrants? Or did all of this stem from the ATFs botched Branch Dividian compound takedown (as well as the botched FBI version that ended in the deaths of nearly everyone there). Couldn't he have been served the warrant in town? Ruby Ridge? These were but the start of the police state and I am by no means one of the tin foil hatters from back then, but I see it now! (The black helos... I was actually riding in those back then :D )

As far as active shooters go, the saying..."when seconds count" applies. When you have a situation do you wait on the SWAT team to get there? I hope we've gotten smarter than that. First officers on site ARE the "SWAT" team. They get paid to put their lives on the line to save citizens....NOT keep themselves safe (without going into SCOTUS rulings) yes we want to all go home at the end of the day but so do the defenseless!

With better training of individual officers you need the SWAT teams less and less. Lets use the SF team paradigm to illustrate. Take an Infantry company or battalion 150-800 men trained well and can be used as a sledge hammer and accomplish very little strategically. A 12 man ODA can go in use scalpel blade tactics combined with intelligence, humanitarian work, thinking outside the box to get hard tasks accomplished, and work with the indig to produce a strategic outcome in a greater area of influence. 12 HIGHLY trained compared to 150-800 okay trained.

Most cops shoot their guns just a few times a year. A SWAT team much more often. I worked with Laredo SWAT once and after I was done I prayed that I was never in a hostage situation in Laredo. Not that they weren't good guys, not that they didn't have the best equipment that seized drug money could buy, no, theyjust sucked!!!! They couldn't hit the broadside of a barn at 5 meters!!!

Okay, sorry, I'm going to step down off this soapbox for a moment...

I had an unfortunate incident back in the late 90's that led to a SWAT breach of my house. Without going into the long, drawn-out reasons leading up to my roommate putting a .38 special through his heart while I was home, I ended up with an MP5 muzzle at the end of my nose. How I got there might seem reasonable to you gents in law enforcement.

I was in my room working on a school paper. Well actually, I was taking a break and playing solitaire on my computer while my troubled roommate was sitting in the living room with the fireplace crackling and swigging down copious amounts of vodka. (Yeah, my other roommate [his best friend] and I had no idea how far gone he was, so we failed miserably to get him the help that might have stopped him from taking his own life.) Anyway, I'm in my room and I can hear the crackling of the fire in the living room when I hear a distinctive pop. I go to investigate and find him gasping on the sofa like a carp and the 357 on the floor.

I immediately called 911 and told them what was going on. My roommate was making the death rattle noise which I tried to describe and the operator told me to take the phone over to him. In my haste I ripped the whole phone out of the wall, breaking the connection. I ran into my room and called 911 again. After identifying myself and apologizing for the disconnection, I left the phone off the hook and went back to attempt 1st aid and CPR on my roommate. After a few minutes, I heard an ambulance approaching and then it stopped about a block away. With him literally turning gray and eyes glazing over in my arms I yelled to phone where my ambulance was. I laid him on the floor and went to the phone. About the same time I picked up the phone I heard a loud crash and voices yelling "Fort Collins SWAT!".

I ran back out into the living room and found myself looking down the muzzle of an MP5. Mind you, I had his blood all over me, my Spyderco Endura on the floor next to him (I had sliced his shirt open to see if I could get to the wound and stop the bleeding), his dead body on the floor and growing pool of blood under him. I can't remember all the stuff I was rattling off, but along with a series of very passionate "Whoa-whoa-WHOA!!" I think I gave my rank and serial number, the name of my unit, the ingredients of the Big Mac's special sauce, and Calgon's "Ancient Chinese Secret". All I wanted to was to A: keep that bullet from slipping down the barrel and into my skull, B: keep from sh*tting my pants, and C: not be charged with killing my roommate.

They frisked me (rather quickly, I might add) and hustled me out of the house where I saw what looked like all the ninjas from two whole clans scampering all over the yard. It was only then that the ambulance proceeded down the street to my house. I thought using the city's whole "Brute Squad" was a bit excessive but I wasn't about to make a it point of contention at the time. Suffice it to say, my story checked out, and weeks after it was all said and done, I was given a letter of appreciation by the lead detective for my complete assistance.

Rise of the Warrior Cop, someones joking right?
 

I think the main point being, SWAT (or whatever fancy name) teams used to be very specialized and used only in the most dire of situations. Now they are being used like old tennis shoes on every situation one can imagine. And that was my point and the point of the article, what next? LEO's are now using drones and I'm sure it's only for the most dire of situations and when they become as well used as the old tennis shoes do we give law enforcement the opportunity to up the ante and say arm them? I'd sure like the federal, state and local law enforcement to justify the purchase of MRAPS and machine guns......

MRAPS, machine guns, secret courts, NSA wire taps, drones, Department of Education SWAT teams, have we lost our collective minds? How much more? And tell me federal, state and local law enforcement, how has the employment of all this taxpayer dollars stemmed the violence in Gun Free Chicago? Let me answer that, NOT one f**king bit, but it makes federal state and local law enforcement feel better.

"Protect and Serve" just who is it being protected?

And trust me 18C4V, I do believe it's the leadership, they have become pussies and politicians.

I am adding this to the discussion only because it is related and includes a mention of the author from the OP, Balko.

Since the change in police culture and practices has been discussed, here is an example of what happens when officers question policy and direction from some administrators....LINK

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=zGeZiWOeGIc

swat team raids wrong apartment 59 year old woman handcuffed
 

SWAT team raids wrong apartment 59 year old woman handcuffed


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=928_1374693816

I'm sorry, what were we talking about again????:munchin

I recently had a conversation with a 20-year veteran of a large metropolitan police department in Texas. He expressed his concerns that the department had deliberately weakened its hiring standards in order to recruit police officers that had minimal critical thinking skills and that would be respond to orders without question. I suspect that this occurs elsewhere and leads to many of the incidents where the police have used excessive force and/or not exercised good judgment.

Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America
Cato Institute, July 2006

Americans have long maintained that a man’s home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

This paper presents a history and overview of the issue of paramilitary drug raids, provides an extensive catalogue of abuses and mistaken raids, and offers recommendations for reform.

http://www.cato.org/publications/whi...-raids-america

Sounds like an interesting read. I have a friend on the DPD who used to be on their SWAT team but has now gone back to patrol who says the DPD always has 2 SWAT guys standing by on-site whenever a drug warrant is served.

Riichard

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration SWAT team
 

Yeah, I just put in my resume for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration SWAT team, if that doesn't work out I'll try for National Transportation Safety Board SWAT team.....

In our department testing changes were instituted because not enough of a particular demographic were passing and the test was deemed racist.