[Vision2020] Drug Thugs rampage again

[Ted Moffett]

Mike et. al.

Even if the police in this case did give the residents "time to
respond," and announced they were the police, and had a warrant, before
breaking in, the dogs killed in this raid may still have been killed, and
the residents terrified and traumatized.  Police have justification to use
force against threats.  Even someone reaching into their pocket has been
used as a justification by police for lethal force.

Another reason to not justify these sorts of raids (I recall you defend the
right to have firearms for self defense), is that when weapons are displayed
for self defense when police unannounced burst into someones home, the
police are allowed to shoot in defense.  Innocent people have been shot by
police when they were only trying to defend themselves against a home
invasion from an unknown source.

"Time to respond" or an announcement from police they are the police, is one
thing, while the issue of whether the police had a search warrant issued by
a judge who gave due consideration to whether Fourth Amendment rights should
be compromised, is another.  The Fourth Amendment has been weakened in the
US to the point where the police can conduct warrantless searches and it
passes... This erosion has been in part justified by the so called "war on
drugs," and has been expanded in the "war on terror."  Till the erosion of
the Fourth Amendment is rolled back, police will abuse their power.  That's
why we need strong civil rights in the first place, as the framers of the US
Constitution were well aware of...

A fundamental question in this case is, does the threat to society from
cannabis, which is what the suspicious package in this case contained,
justify erosion of Fourth Amendment rights and the treatment of these people
and shooting their pets?  The medical journal Lancet published a study in
2007 listing cannabis as less harmful to society than either alcohol or
tobacco.  Alcohol was determined to be more of a harmful drug than
amphetamines.

The laws clearly do not reflect the medical and social realities of the
objective threats posed by various drugs.  Even if the police announced who
they were, and had a warrant, before breaking down the door of the residents
in this case, these tactics are questionable, given cannabis should be
decriminalized:

http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2008-August/055355.html

http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2008-August/055344.html
------------------
Ted Moffett
On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 7:49 AM, Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f at hotmail.com>wrote:

> I can see where there might be very rare occasions where it would be
> helpful
> for the police to be able to break in a door without giving the occupants
> time to respond.  Unfortunately there have been quite a few problems with
> the practice.  While the vast majority of police officers are decent folks,
> it appears that there are a few of them who get a thrill out of
> paramililitary style raids.  Many of the raids I have read about don't seem
> to have any other justification for a heavy-handed approach.
>
> Because of that I think we need to sharply curtail or eliminate the
> practice.  Police officers should knock on the door, clearly identify
> themselves and present a legal warrant before entering a house or
> apartment.
>
> I have no idea if this map of botched paramilitary style raids produced by
> the Cato Institute is accurate, but it is sobering.
>
> http://www.cato.org/raidmap/
>
> Does anyone know how often this practice is used locally?  The map only
> shows one botched raid in North Idaho
>
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> If this incident had happened to Ordinary Joe Citizen, not the mayor and
> his
> family, I doubt we'd even hear about it.
>
> Ellen A. Roskovich
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>
> Mike Finkbiner
> mike_l_f at hotmail.com
>
> Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those
> who create it.
>
> Milton Friedman
>
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20080812/667cf7f4/attachment.html