Rarely do we get a really good video of the execution of a search warrant. This one, courtesy of Radley Balko , is destined to be a classic.
The police found only misdemeanor weight marijuana, but they saved a seven year old child from the perils of pot-smoking parents. Anybody want to bet whether the child now wants to grow up to be a police officer? How cool are those uniforms?
Radley provides the perspective of those who might take issue with the execution of the warrant. I surmise that this will be used for training purposes for a long time to come, as it reflects an absolutely perfect warrant execution as far as the police are concerned. In the war on drugs, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Sorry about the dog.
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What a disturbing start to my morning.
You were a long time prosecutor. What do you think? Was this a perfect raid or what?
This is despicable.
I have seen and heard of many “perfectly executed” search warrants involving the “war on drugs”. Any criminal defense lawyer with any time in the trenches has. That being said, this is the first one I have seen that was videotaped and released.
Next time I will read the post before I watch-had I known about the dog I would not have watched it first thing this morning. To say I am furious would be an understatement. This “war” has done more damage to our country than any legitimate war.
The bastardization of our civil rights to support the police in their zealous search for all dopers, the disingenuous court opinions to uphold such actions and the cynical political use of such behaviors to justify massive monetary appropriations to keep it all going, in spite of mounting evidence that it is a misguided policy, astounds me.
No one wants to listen to reason anymore.
Maybe they never did and I have gotten so old I just don’t remember.
Almost. They failed to taze the kid.
That’s not fair. The kid didn’t bark.
Sir, Mr. G. is disturbed, Bryan uttered it was despicable, and Ms. L. expressed a heartfelt mouthful. After hearing the dog bark and get shot once then at least three more times, I’m so pissed off that I’m going do something about it. If you’re ‘not’ P-oed watch it with the volume up around 8 or have your heart checked it might be missing.
Step one – With your permission, I’d like to put out a call to action that includes any and all lawyers (past, present, & future),(of all areas of law) to collectively sign on in mass to defend and/or actively support this family pro bono. One or a thousand lawyers from every state should be sufficient in getting some form of justice and it should send a very powerful message. Never mind the cross state issue with licenses, the point is to rally around the family and protest the unjustified killing of their pet. Thank God the lil kid wasn’t next to the dog.
Step two – The rest of us can and will assist by spreading this video like the blurred herpes it is. By contacting PETA, ASPCA, SPCA, CNN, and the hundreds of other animal lovers, activist, and celebrities around the world for their support. I hope someone contacts President Obama and LULAC due to the dog being Hispanic.
Step three – Boycott Columbia, Mo. and contact each and every one of their leaders letting them know exactly how disturbed we all are.
Those that are too busy and/or this type of action being above them should consider at least petting their dog or their neighbors and ask themselves what would I do if the trigger happy cops busted in and killed it in a bogus amateurish raid? So if anyone is truly disturbed and thinks this was despicable, what are you going to do about it? *Or we could just Blogaboutit while we await the next Post. C-Ya, I have some calls to make. Thanks.
If those sons of bitches shot my dog, I’d be facing murder of a peace officer charges.
Ah, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Certain Government agencies, presumably the DEA and others, have developed some unbelievable technologies that allow virtually undetectable surveillance and imaging in practically any location. These range from a variety of very small, robotic devices that can gain access through the smallest of cracks, to a number of through-the-wall imaging techniques that can be deployed using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)s.
In view of Kyllo, their use is kept secret, engendering two arenas: the publicly visible, factually documented domain of the courts and attorneys, and the invisible, never spoken of, activities of the developers and operators of these clearly illegal technologies. The ability to keep the use of these technologies secret relies to some extent on the sheer blatancy of the illegality of their use; few people can believe that the Government would do something that heinous, and in such direct contravention of Constitutional civil liberties.
But as I recall, even in Kyllo, the Justices referred to a Department of Justice site that was soliciting the development of these technologies. I know they exist, having been a target, and having seen their use.
But, as Alonzo said in “Training Day”, it’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove. It’s much easier to observe the use of these devices/technologies than it is to get a compelling video documenting it. And given that their use is a violation of the most basic of laws (the Fourth Amendment), the users of these technologies go to great lengths to keep it under wraps and maintain the dichotomy between what is publicly known and documented, and what is really going on. It’s pretty easy to see why law enforcement would like to have these capabilities, and how they could be used even if the information gained is never directly brought into the public realm.
The gratuitous shooting of the dog is, to me too, one of the most disturbing aspect of this video. It seems to have become a common theme in these raids, as if they shoot the dog(s) because they get to use their guns, it totally intimidates and frightens the people raided, and they can’t be effectively held accountable for it, as they can always claim they felt threatened. It’s just sick.
Well the man who was not a crook stared the”Drug war” that should speak for it self.
Brian, your reputation as a prosecutor was always as one of the worst when it came to protecting dirty cops, so perhaps you haven’t been wearing the defense attorney hat long enough to make the joke.
I’m not shocked or disturbed by much, but this was pretty shocking. The kid being ushered past his dead dog in particular. I’d like to play this for every search warrant signing Judge in America.
From the first knock to breaking down the door, 10 secs elapsed. Late at night, if I’m in bed watching TV or sleeping, it will take me a lot longer then 10 secs to answer my door. If they would have given him a little more time to answer, maybe he could have secured his dogs and then the police wouldn’t have to open fire with assault rifles.
In US v Banks, SCOTUS said to give 15-20 secs before a forced entry so its really not a “perfectly executed” search warrant. Personally I think 15-20 secs is way to short of a time for a misdemeanor.
True but a little nit-picky. If they gave the occupants an opportunity to respond to a knock and announce warrant, that would take all the fun out of breaking down the door. They might even have time to put the dog in a bedroom and prevent the gratuitous killing. Besides, 15-10 seconds (as if that would be enough time) is a goal, not a mandate.
Video of an Execution of a Seach Warrant
Here is a video of an execution of a search warrant. Most search warrants do not go like this but I thought it is a great example of a search warrant gone wrong.Thanks to Simple Justice and Radley Balko…
Technically a misdemeanor amount of drugs takes much less time to flush down the toilet than the last scene of Scarface amount of drugs does so you should have to give the dirty pot fiends less time.
Crazily enough this (preserving evidence) is the only reason (aside from getting them out of the office) that SWAT teams are used to execute drug warrants where there isn’t literally a Columbian army guarding the stash. If there’s a chance that officers would be told to say to someone’s friend then a SWAT team would be appropriate but if there’s not it’s just crazy hillbilly dog shooting overkill.
You just need like four or five fat, amiable officers to easily arrest a mother, father, son and dog.
It’s a pretty poor attempt at filming a raid but you’d think that the camera man would have thought to point the camera at a vicious, rabid, cop killing animal that needs shot 7 times. Just to educate the officers who might encounter it in the future, you understand.
The ability to destroy evidence is one reason for a no-knock warrant. Officer safety is another. Believe it or not, they executed warrants before there was such a thing as a SWAT team. But they have much cooler uniforms now.
Which is, IMHO and all that, the whole problem. While it’s arguably fair to expect a big-league unlicensed pharmacist to have figured out that there might be a knock on the door by guys with guns and badges and warrants and that he really ought to be prepared to more-or-less instantly cooperate with them, that isn’t the sort of issue that most folks have ever thought through, or could reasonably be expected to.
I used to figure that this sort of stuff would go on until some mayor’s dogs got shot, but . . .
I don’t know if it’s apocryphal — it’s far too good to check — but I did hear about a no-knock/short-knock warrant where the grounds for it being so was the fear of the evidence/stolen property being destroyed.
The property being sought was a Steinway. I think you’ve got to flush at least three times for a piano.
And they’re really bad for the septic system.
They were so concerned about officer saftey, that they made several fatal officer safety mistakes. One is all of them standing in the “Kill Zone” in front of the door and know one covering the windows at their right. Real professionals , I will give them a 77% range score for not eliminating that dangerous dog with the first shot.