Police Raid Roundup

Radley Balko | April 13, 2009

• Lawsuit claims police raided the apartment in Livingston, Illinois last year. Woman claims the police barged through the door and ordered her to the ground at gunpoint. They apologized after realizing they had raided apartment 1 instead of apartment 10. She claims $20,000 in medical bills.
• Officer trips, accidentally shoots man in the chest during a drug raid in New Jersey.
• Chicago will pay out $288,000 in damages resulting from a 2006 drug raid on a bar on the southwest side of the city. Drug charges against two bar patrons were dropped after surveillance video showed officers had lied in their police report about what happened after the raid began.
• A Phoenix couple has settled with the town of Gilbert, Arizona for $185,000 after an officer tossed a flashbang grenade through a window during a raid on their home. The grenade landed on a bed, caught the bed on fire, and burned the couple's home to the ground.
• The ACLU is suing over a series of raids in Riverside, California in which police targeted black-owned barbershops. Though they were drug raids, the actions were couched as "health inspections," obviating the need for a search warrant. I've seen quite of few of these stories, lately--where police conduct drug raids under the guise of a regulatory inspection to get around the need for a search warrant. It's troubling.
• The police officer who shot Grand Valley State student Derek Kopp in the chest during a drug raid has been charged with the negligent discharge of a firearm. If the officer is actually guilty of that, it's nice to see him held accountable. But the problem, here, is the policy of sending police into private homes with their guns drawn to enforce consensual crimes. Until that policy changes, we'll continue to see incidents like this one. Charging the cops or homeowners who make mistakes under such volatile circumstances isn't going to change anything. We need to stop putting both parties in such a precarious position in the first place--particularly over, of all things, smoking pot.

CORRECTION: This entry originally had another bullet point that was a separate account of the same Illinois raid mentioned above.

Comments

|4.13.09 @ 10:55AM|#

here is a Stanley Crouch editorial about ending the drug war.

|4.13.09 @ 10:57AM|#

The police officer who shot Grand Valley State student Derek Kopp in the chest during a drug raid has been charged with the negligent discharge of a firearm.

I'd like to see a non-cop who intentionally points his weapon at someone and pulls the trigger get charged with "negligent discharge of a firearm."

|4.13.09 @ 11:01AM|#

Anyone watch Southland?

It's about 70/30 on the supercop/asscop ratio IMO, but there was a gem of a scene where a traffic stop turns into a non-consensual search and possession arrest.

When the suspect tells the cop he doesn't have the right to search the car, the cop says "You've been watching too much TV." ...Or reading too much Constitution, I guess.

anon|4.13.09 @ 11:02AM|#

I got caught shoplifting the other day. Like 15 bucks worth. When I got caught I just went with it. "Jig is up, I spose" I said. One of the cops who came didn't give a shit. The other one was pissed that I was being so nonchalant. I asked if I would be better served by yelling obscenities or by balling at his feet. He was pissed. He was yelling at me, saying that he didn't like my attitude.

I calmly pointed out that he was the only one displaying attitude. He didn't understand. I pointed out to him that I had been caught with $15 dollars of merch. Not that big of a deal, and yet he had his hand on his gun. I asked why. He looked at me like I was insane and ready to get all stabby-stabby.

"Youre a thief! No one likes a thief!" he yelled.

I hate the police. I plan on subverting them as much as possible in my life.

Justen|4.13.09 @ 11:07AM|#

I saw this kind of stuff a lot in three years working for law enforcement. I find it somewhat ironic that the people hired to enforce the law spend so much time trying to find loopholes in the law because it gets in the way of "doing their jobs". In one sense the executive is the final arbiter on the wisdom of this law or that law, in that he has discressionary powers in enforcement, but I don't think that extends to the wanton disregard or subversion of one law in order to more effectively enforce another.

In the cannabis example, many of the cops I worked held the position that cannabis prohibition was ridiculous (some having formerly enjoyed cannabis recreationally themselves), but that they were obligated to enforce it anyway. When it came to laws and regulations that got in the way of effectively enforcing prohibition however, they constantly occupied themselves with finding loopholes and workarounds in order to more effectively enforce a law they didn't believe in.

This sort of warped logic drives a lot of good people to very bad ends. I think it stems from the fact that controversy highlights and demands special consideration of some subjects over others. Unlawful search and seizure is not a controversial subject to most people, but drug abuse is. The end result is that the law enforcement officer spends more time thinking about how to effectively execute his duty in enforcing drug laws than his duty in observing the fourth amendment.

|4.13.09 @ 11:18AM|#

I plan on subverting them as much as possible in my life.

How 'bout doing it without stealing?

MNG|4.13.09 @ 11:20AM|#

"The ACLU is suing over a series of raids in Riverside, California in which police targeted black-owned barbershops."

I hate to be a snit, but do right-conservative organizations ever sue the police?

|4.13.09 @ 11:21AM|#

I plan on subverting them as much as possible in my life.

Hopefully your attitudes about "subverting" the honest shopkeepers you were ripping off will change too. In the meantime, feel free to play in traffic.

Xeones|4.13.09 @ 11:30AM|#

"Youre a thief! No one likes a thief!" he yelled.

Shouty cop had a point, thief. You do know this is a libertarian board, right, not a juvenile delinquent chatroom? And that libertarians tend to take property rights seriously? I second domo's invitation.

phalkor|4.13.09 @ 11:30AM|#

"go play in traffic" is one of my favorite fu*k you phrases. Domo arrigato domoarrigato.

Now I'm wondering, am I crazy or does there actually seem to be ever increasing momentum toward ending the drug war? I can't help but feel that the environment is just so much more open to discourse now than ever (at least in my lifetime). Do you feel it?

I told my friends this weekend, pot legalization will happen 100% likely in our lifetimes. It will be like the fall of the Berlin Wall. Inevitable but unexpected.

Nope, I'm crazy...

Spoonman|4.13.09 @ 11:33AM|#

"Youre a thief! No one likes a thief!" he yelled.

Well, you are a thief, and nobody likes a thief.

Of course, cops are thieves too, you're just no better than them.

|4.13.09 @ 11:35AM|#

Let's guess the makeup of anon's $15 in purloined sundries.

3-pack extra-large condoms
1 bag rubber bands
1 can spraypaint
1 used copy, The Fast and the Furious

kinnath|4.13.09 @ 11:36AM|#

Now I'm wondering, am I crazy or does there actually seem to be ever increasing momentum toward ending the drug war?

You so crazy . . . ;-)

High Every Body|4.13.09 @ 11:37AM|#

Hey thief, just tell everybody that it is an assembly of quarks and stuff arranged in a specific manner.

You will fit right in with the IP thieves!

Xeones|4.13.09 @ 11:38AM|#

Let's guess the makeup of anon's $15 in purloined sundries.

1 tube store-brand acne cream
1 extra large Snickers bar
on-sale Nickelback CD

BakedPenguin|4.13.09 @ 11:40AM|#

phalkor - I wonder about that. One thing that's really interesting is how people from various parts of the political spectrum are talking about it. It's not just the loony left and / or the radical right.

I think marijuana legalization is close - w/in 5 years or so. Too many people realize how stupid laws against pot are. Once politicans realize that it's not a third rail, things may change rather quickly. I'd look for state initiatives to guide the way on that.

nobody|4.13.09 @ 11:40AM|#

Let's guess the makeup of anon's $15 in purloined sundries.

1 douchebag

BakedPenguin|4.13.09 @ 11:44AM|#

Let's guess the makeup of anon's $15 in purloined sundries.

Steal This Book, Abbie Hoffman
Crime of the Century, Supertramp
If I Did It, O J Simpson

|4.13.09 @ 11:45AM|#

Let's guess the makeup of anon's $15 in purloined sundries.

1 Copy each of hod rod magazine and Perfect 10
1 tube of store brand water based lube
bag of funions
no condoms

|4.13.09 @ 11:48AM|#

anon-

Did you really shoplift? Prove it! Otherwise, I am just going to assume that a regular poster to H&R is constitutionally incapable of committing such petty offenses.

|4.13.09 @ 11:48AM|#

All breath mints. He rattled too much to make a clean get-away.

phalkor|4.13.09 @ 11:50AM|#

I stole a copy of Steal This Book once in my misguided youth. I'm pretty sure that's the only legitimate way to acquire it.

Jeff P|4.13.09 @ 11:50AM|#

I've been accidentally shot by Claudine Longet!

(and Perfect 10 used to cost more than $15 back when I bought it, and that was last millennium)

Fascitis Necrotizante|4.13.09 @ 11:56AM|#

The grenade in the bed and the shootings in the chest didn't fade me really. But I have had it up to here with cops hassling anon when he's shoplifting.

|4.13.09 @ 11:59AM|#

the shootings in the chest didn't fade me really

Don't worry. We'll get him to tow the lion eventually.

High Every Body|4.13.09 @ 12:00PM|#

1 Copy each of hod rod magazine and Perfect 10

That was my shopping basket! I paid with fiat money too.

Taktix®|4.13.09 @ 12:00PM|#

Fucking seven fucking bloodboiling fucking stories on fucking Monday fucking morning?

Balko, you sadist!

|4.13.09 @ 12:04PM|#

Here you go, Taktix®. In the war against zombies, there is hope in Woody Harrelson.

Fascitis Necrotizante|4.13.09 @ 12:05PM|#

bunny can't fade me neither

|4.13.09 @ 12:07PM|#

I've been owned by pop culture once again, FN.

Now back to my Dallas reruns and Crystal Pepsi.

|4.13.09 @ 12:10PM|#

negligent

1 a: marked by or given to neglect especially habitually or culpably b: failing to exercise the care expected of a reasonably prudent person in like circumstances
2: marked by a carelessly easy manner

Nope. Doesn't fit.

|4.13.09 @ 12:14PM|#

I pointed out to him that I had been caught with $15 dollars of merch. Not that big of a deal, and yet he had his hand on his gun. I asked why. He looked at me like I was insane and ready to get all stabby-stabby.

Don't take that as a threatening gesture. Maybe he didn't want it to get stolen.

Dello|4.13.09 @ 12:27PM|#

"I've seen quite of few of these stories, lately-where police conduct drug raids under the guise of a regulatory inspection to get around the need for a search warrant. It's troubling."

Not to worry, it will stop soon. You see, now the cops can kick your door in and search your house for illegal weapons every time they get an anonymous Skype call that tells them you're a bad person.

911: "Emergency operator, what's the emergancy?"

Anonymous, untraceable Skype call, originating from from police HQ: "This guy was walking around his front yard just now with a machine gun, screaming that he was gonna kill his wife and all the cops."

911: "We'll dispatch SWAT!"

Anon: "Oh, thank you!"

At which point, Anon goes to get his SWAT gear on...

High Every Body|4.13.09 @ 12:32PM|#

"This guy was walking around his front yard just now with a machine gun, screaming that he was gonna kill his wife and all the cops."

I can see the second part being a crime, but the first? You are stretching. Maybe a civil crime, but not criminal. Just ask OJ.

zener the lurker|4.13.09 @ 12:41PM|#

Note to self:

Do not read Radley posts if I want to stay in a good mood...especially on my day off.

Dello|4.13.09 @ 12:47PM|#

High,

You mean walking around his front yard? No, that's not a crime. The rest of the claim will bring SWAT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting

High Every Body|4.13.09 @ 12:49PM|#

Dello,

No duh, the part I quoted. First part is the wife, second part is the cops.

Goofy Dello.

Taktix®|4.13.09 @ 12:49PM|#

Here you go, Taktix®. In the war against zombies, there is hope in Woody Harrelson.

Thanks, but I already saw that.

I have an RSS feed chip implanted in my brain, but since it's still in Beta, I only get feeds about Harrelson, egg nog recipies and klezmer...

Paul|4.13.09 @ 1:08PM|#

Though they were drug raids, the actions were couched as "health inspections," obviating the need for a search warrant. I've seen quite of few of these stories, lately-where police conduct drug raids under the guise of a regulatory inspection to get around the need for a search warrant. It's troubling.

I would just like to voice my opinion that this shit is unforgivable. This is the kind of crap that get the natives restless. "Troubling", Mr. Balko, is an understatement.

|4.13.09 @ 2:31PM|#

The light bulb cops will rake in the best bust figures.

|4.13.09 @ 3:01PM|#

The police officer who shot Grand Valley State student Derek Kopp in the chest during a drug raid has been charged with the negligent discharge of a firearm.

From the comments section in the linked article -

Obama_For_Change wrote:
parrotsbay pot is just plant not a bad drug it should be legal. john kerry had big hair but was a caring perosn that would have made a good president to like obama
4/7/2009 7:43 PM EDT on wzzm13.com

Obama_For_Change,
Many people are trying to dispel the myth that marijuana users are not a bunch of stoned ignorant slackers.

You're not helping.

High Every Body|4.13.09 @ 3:04PM|#

Many people are trying to dispel the myth that marijuana users are not a bunch of stoned ignorant slackers.

You're not helping.

maaaaannnn that was probably a cop tryin to like make us look like the herb messes with our reality

|4.13.09 @ 3:14PM|#

Now I'm wondering, am I crazy or does there actually seem to be ever increasing momentum toward ending the drug war?

You're not crazy. I see it as well. I've been wrong about this before though. In the '70s I confidently predicted legalized reefer by 1990.

"It costs too much money, in both enforcement and uncollected taxes, both income tax and the inevitable sin tax. It's a no-brainer" I averred.

Paul|4.13.09 @ 4:01PM|#

Now I'm wondering, am I crazy or does there actually seem to be ever increasing momentum toward ending the drug war?

You're not crazy. I see it as well. I've been wrong about this before though. In the '70s I confidently predicted legalized reefer by 1990.

He is crazy, and we all got fooled by thinking that the "60's pot smoking generation", once in power would surely unplug this whole drug war thing. But guess what, not only is it here, but it's bigger, badder, longer and uncutter than ever before.

|4.13.09 @ 7:41PM|#

"I've seen quite of few of these stories, lately..."

How many, Radley? You have enough time to bitch slap a probably statistically insignificant sampling of cops whenever you're awake, but not enough time to back up your sweeping anecdotal remarks with some hard journalism. When you get a sense of perspective, I'll think about considering you an unbiased source of information about cops. In the meantime, your agenda is as thin as your skin.

Why don't your groupies see through this?

Kevin Breen|4.13.09 @ 8:10PM|#

The local news keeps talking about Facebook groups that are forming to SUPPORT the officer who shot the innocent student. I've formed a group against him called, "If I shot a harmless person, I'd go to jail. So would Ryan Huizenga."

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=181097925436

Please join so we can balance the news coverage!