Police, Puh-Leaze Don't Shoot Me!

Orwell · January 5, 2018, 2:48pm

Rather than tack onto the SWATting thread, I thought it worthwhile to start a new thread about the deadly over-use of surprise raids, SWAT tactics and police shooting innocent people.

This news article I read is pretty timely. I completely disagree with AG Sessions vowing to crack down on marijuana use and sales in states that have legalized it. I also think it should just be legalized everywhere. But if it isn’t legal, that still doesn’t validate the police shooting people who are not threatening them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/20/marijuana-raids-are-more-deadly-than-the-drug-itself/?utm_term=.b72c5ec80b31

The first few paragraphs provide examples of residents being murdered in cold blood by police. The article goes on to illustrate how SWAT usage and raids have ballooned.

Marijuana itself is not a deadly substance. “No death from overdose of marijuana has been reported,” according to the DEA. But the deadly raids on suspected marijuana dealers underscore how drug enforcement can become a greater threat to life and safety than drug use itself.

The Times’ data shows that drugs are the primary driver of SWAT raids that turn deadly. Among the 85 fatal raids that have occurred since 2010, 61 of them – or 70 percent – were initiated on suspicion of drugs.

The modern-day SWAT team originated in Los Angeles in the late 1960s as a way to deal with gunmen targeting police officers or civilians. But today SWAT teams are mostly used to handle routine warrant work, especially drug warrants. A 2014 ACLU study found that nearly 80 percent of SWAT deployments were to serve search warrants. Just 7 percent of SWAT deployments involved “hostage, barricade, or active shooter scenarios.”

Icarus · January 5, 2018, 2:54pm

Well, there is this thread in The BBQ Pit…

Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread

Orwell · January 5, 2018, 3:06pm

I wasn’t aware of that one. Thanks for the heads-up. Perhaps the mods can either shut this one down, or limit it to the marijuana issue.

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Police, Puh-Leaze Don't Shoot Me!

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