Another Isolated Incident

Wrong house:

A West Philadelphia family says they were terrorized in their own home Sunday night and blame the Philadelphia Police Department. The Narcotics Division was conducting an undercover operation, responding to complaints of drug deals happening on a home on the 5400 block of Summer Street.

"The officers responded to the wrong home," said Inspector Aaron Horne, commanding officer of the Narcotics Division. "They made a forced entry. Once inside they were alerted to the fact it was the wrong residence."

The police department spouted the usual line about how this almost never happens. Except that it's the second incident in Philly this month. Also, this isn't particularly comforting:

In this case, he says surveillance officers didn't give an address of the home they were targetting.

"They gave a physical description, house with a black storm door, in front of the residence was a pick up truck. Unfortunately there was a house 5 doors away that had a black storm door with pick up in front. The officers didn't have time to determine which house was which," said Inspector Horne.

So instead, they just took their chances, knowing there was a 50-50 shot they would end up terrorizing innocent people?

Some real professionalism, there.

Inspector Horne said "On behalf of the Philadelphia Police Department and the Narcotics Strike Force, I'm totally willing to apologize for the efforts, the mistake. The overall intent was to eradicate drugs from the neighborhood."

Oh, well if that's the intent, I guess it's all okay, then. What's a terrorized family or two if it prevents Philadelphians from getting high; if—as I'm sure is the case now that the raids are complete—that neighborhood is now 100 percent drug-free?

Thanks to Scott Morgan for the tip.

Comments

[K.]

Wouldn't we avoid such situations if we all had surveillance cameras into our living rooms?

[Morgan]

I see you follow these pretty closely Radley and I totally agree with your point of view on them. My family is in law enforcement, and I don't think either of them agree with this kind of thing.

That being said, what can be done about it? I mean, an apology and then it's off the news, even when they end up killing people. And they would kill you if you defended yourself in your own home, guilty or not.

Is there any group or organized movement to restrict these types of no-knock raids to imminent violent threats as opposed to vice crimes? Or is it something to be addressed state by state?

[Dave B.]

So did they bust in without a warrant, or did they have a warrant that allowed entry into any house with a black storm door and a pickup truck out front?

[Malto Dextrin]

Do the cops even need a warrant nowadays?

Thanks, Radley, for keeping score

[Derrick]

I'm glad this was an isolated incident.

[M]

What I fear is that what's isolated about it is its being publicized.

[Nobody Important]

The cops should have just made up nine things to charge the homeowner with.

[Warren]

Diana El-Bynum says both she and her husband were handcuffed and were humiliated in front of their neighbors. She says she can't believe the police could have made a mistake like this. Inspector Horne says this type of mistake doesn't happen often and accounts for a small percentage of the thousands of operations they do a year. In this case, he says surveillance officers didn't give an address of the home they were targetting(sic).

Another Isolated Incident Indeed

[The Artist Formerly Know as Tr]

The CATO article almost makes me physically ill. I wanna believe that there are many many more good cops than bad cops. However, after reading the CATO article and others like it, it is getting harder for me to maintain that belief.

[Nobody Important]

"On behalf of the Philadelphia Police Department and the Narcotics Strike Force, I'm totally willing to apologize for the efforts, the mistake."

I think the apology is the "isolated incident." Do most victims of terrorism new professionalism get even get that much?

[tarran]

These guys couldn't have had a valid warrant. Warrants are supposed to identify the thing to be searched with specificity - "house with black door and pick up-truck parked in front of it on such and such street" hardly meets that standard.

[Episiarch]

These guys couldn't have had a valid warrant.

Considering that judges basically rubber-stamp any warrant that comes in front of them, sure they could.

[J sub D]

The cops should have just made up nine things to charge the homeowner with.

Or they could follow the lead of the cops in Atlanta, and always have some illegal drugs with them to plant. Jeez, what rank amateurs.

Remember Kathryn Johnston!

[Shawn Smith]

K.,

Wouldn't we avoid such situations if we all had surveillance cameras into our living rooms?

No, because the footage would be confiscated as evidence of a crime and "lost." The cops would then strongly push to make filming an on-duty officer without his/her permission a crime, preferably a felony.

Don't go there.

[J sub D]

No, because the footage would be confiscated as evidence of a crime and "lost." The cops would then strongly push to make filming an on-duty officer without his/her permission a crime, preferably a felony.

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, click here.

[P Brooks]

" The officers didn't have time to determine which house was which," said Inspector Horne.

The damn time bomb was ticking, dammit!

[Ken Hagler]

"I wanna believe that there are many many more good cops than bad cops."

I'm sure that these _are_ good cops--by the standards that cops set for themselves, of course. The problem is not that there are too many bad cops, but that the basic concept of what a cop is has become inherently bad by the standards of a free and civilized society.

[P Brooks]

"... there was a house 5 doors away that [also] had a black storm door with pick up in front."

Don't you see? This was the decoy house; it's all a nefarious plot to make Our Noble Protectors look bad. Throw the book at 'em!

-------

ps-

I'll stop thinking the "good cop" is a mythical beast when some of them clap the manacles on their powermad authoritarian brethren, and testify against them in court.

[Anonymous]

The cops in these stories are the "good" ones.

The "bad" ones don't make the news.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Look at it this way: at least they didn't kill anyone this time.

[JeremyR]

Somtimes I think we'd be better off letting organized crime do the policing. Probably the safest part of the city I've from, St. Louis, is the Italian section and stuff like this would never happen there because it's bad for business. Whereas most police go into that field because they either have a power complex or were school bullies.

[A. Miller]

They say they were trying to eradicate drugs.
Let me translate, they meant "Eradicate the
home, assets, freedom of people selling weed"
It is a high priorite for law enforcement because it is low or no risk. People who sell weed are no physical threat to them, and are more sources of revenue so they can afford more armoured personnel carriers.

[amr]

Let me see here. I know I'm a law-abiding citizen, so if someone yells police, I'm asleep and my door is broken down, I just might wake up and respond with my shotgun or handgun. Then I expect if I shot or worse killed an officer, I would be up on murder charges just as Mr. Maye, who is sitting on death row in Mississippi. I agree with Instapundant. Police immunity should be removed for officers who invade the wrong house. They might be a little more careful then.

[matthew hogan]

Except that it's the second incident in Philly this month.

Correction: "the second REPORTED incident . . . this month."