SWAT raid on Missouri Family

[need2cruise]

Sorry guys, we are going to just have to agree to disagree and keep it at that. Each of us is going to see something differently based on our views and things in our lives. I will see it one way because I am involved in some way with law enforcement, you will see it a different way, no point in rehashing it over and over, neither is going to change the others opinion!

 

[Syrreal]

need2cruise, you're right, I doubt we'd reach some sort of agreement in our ideologies on this issue. I think this is actually a good thing. Without different ideas, where would all the fun be

From the Columbia Tribune

Police conclude SWAT investigation

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The results of an internal investigation at the Columbia Police Department regarding a February SWAT raid will be made public Thursday afternoon.

Police Chief Ken Burton will make a statement at a news conference at 2 p.m. Thursday at the City Hall Addition, Eighth Street and Broadway. The news conference will be recorded and posted online at www.gocolumbiamo.com afterward, along with the investigation’s findings.

And a New issue-->
From the detroit news

Crime show taped Detroit raid that led to 7-year-old's death
George Hunter and Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- An attorney representing the family of a 7-year-old girl shot to death during a Sunday morning raid says the family knows the Detroit police officer who fired the fatal shot is "not a monster" but said the police operation was flawed and influenced by TV production concerns.

The police "were excited; they were on TV," said Oak Park attorney Karri Mitchell, who is representing the family of Aiyana Jones. "They didn't have to throw a grenade through the front window when they knew there were children in there."

The attempted arrest of a murder suspect at a two-unit house on Lillibridge on the city's east side was videotaped for an episode of "The First 48," a reality crime show on the Arts & Entertainment Network, said Detroit police spokesman John Roach.

Investigators are poring over the videotape the TV crew shot to help determine what happened, Roach said.

He said Charles Jones, the father of the slain girl, lives at one apartment, and the murder suspect was arrested in the other apartment in the home.

"There was nothing but innocent people in the home where they put this flash grenade," Mitchell said.

He said he feels the police have tried to shift the blame for the shooting onto the child's grandmother, and he is unhappy about that. "All they had to do is say, 'We made a mistake and we're sorry,' " he said.

The victim's family said Sunday police told them the gun discharged because the girl's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, 46, grappled for the officer's weapon. Later Sunday, Roach said the officer and grandmother may have simply collided.

"We're not indicating the officer's actions were intentional," Mitchell said. "We know it was an accident, but the method that they used in executing the search warrant was flawed. The family understands that the officer is not a monster. He didn't intentionally shoot a 7-year-old girl."

Police had been seeking a 34-year-old suspect in Friday's slaying of 17-year-old Southeastern High School student Jerean Blake, who was gunned down outside a liquor store near the corner of Mack Avenue and St. Jean.

Witnesses say at least 20 officers were on hand for the raid. A "flash grenade" -- an incendiary device that emits a blinding flash and a loud noise in order to disorient suspects -- was thrown through a downstairs window before at least one officer entered the flat.

Family members say the flash grenade landed on Aiyana, who was sleeping on a front-room couch.

The no-knock search warrant allowed police to search both the upper and lower flats.

The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners has launched an investigation into the matter. The Michigan State Police are also investigating.

"We want to see if the proper procedure and police was used, and what measures can be instigated with regard to policy development that can minimize the future incidents like this," said the commission's chair, Mohamed Okdie.

Police officials were careful Sunday to avoid calling the shooting accidental, or make any other characterizations about the case.

Detroit's Homicide Section regularly featured on "The First 48," which airs on the Arts & Entertainment Network. Detroit Police Officer Ed Williams, who used his service weapon to kill his wife, Detroit Officer Patricia Williams, before turning the gun on himself in the parking lot of a Canton Township library, regularly appeared on the TV show.

The A&E website touts the importance of police catching suspects quickly.

"For homicide detectives, the clock starts ticking the moment they are called. Their chance of solving a case is cut in half if they don't get a lead in 'The First 48,' " the website says. "Each passing hour gives suspects more time to flee, witnesses more time to forget what they saw, and crucial evidence more time to be lost forever."

Ron Scott, director of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, said he's never heard of police using flash grenades while executing search warrants.

"That's usually done during barricaded gunman situations, but this is the first time I've ever heard of them doing it for a search warrant," Scott said.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100517...-that-led-to-7-year-old-s-death#ixzz0oTwXtywe

 

[CathrynRose]

Thank you for continuing to update this thread, Syrreal - even with new articles. I'm enjoying them, all. Well, not *enjoying* them... you know what I mean.

 

[sbell111]

My responses are in red.

Please don't enter your responses into the quote of another poster. It makes it difficult to figure out who said what, even when you put them in red. It is much more easy to follow it if you reply in the normal manner.

 

[sbell111]

It's easy to look back on history and tell the world how things should be. Unfortunately, the police did not have this luxury. With the information they had, they were completely right to prepare for the worst case scenario.

It should also be noted that if two uniformed non-SWAT officers had arrived to handle this warrant, the home owner still wouldn't have answered the door, the officers would still have had to enter, the dog still would have acted aggressively, and the officers still would have had to shoot him.

The homeowner wasn't resisting arrest in this video.

Nowhere in my post did I claim that the criminal was resisting arrest.

How do you know he wouldn't have answered the door?

The SWAT team knocked three times and identified themselves twoce. He didn't answer the door.

And as I said earlier, they could have served said warrant as he was getting ready to go to work and walked out his door to the car, or during a traffic stop, without it being SWAT.

The warrant was to search his home. The logical place to serve it is at the home. WHether or not the criminal was home at the time is moot. The police had a warrant to enter the home and do a search.

As for the life of crime bit- this crime is the same as a speeding ticket. Would you consider someone who gets pulled over for speeding as being a criminal? Hardly.

Drug possession is not the same as a speeding ticket. The crime that he is/was suspected of doing is certainly not the same and the crimes that he has previously been convicted of is not the same.

 

[sbell111]

And a New issue-->
From the detroit news

Accidents happen. This case has nothing to do with the incident in Columbia.

 

[Planogirl]

I don't know about everyone else but if I'm sleeping and suddenly someone knocks on my door in the middle of the night, I'm not going to be right there to open the door. I would certainly want to make sure that there are actually police out there before opening the door for one thing.

I can also see the guy being upset about the dog being shot. I'm not even a dog owner and I can more than understand that. There's nothing jerky about that at all.

 

[sbell111]

I don't know about everyone else but if I'm sleeping and suddenly someone knocks on my door in the middle of the night, I'm not going to be right there to open the door. I would certainly want to make sure that there are actually police out there before opening the door for one thing.

Nowhere in the incident report does it say that he was sleeping. In fact, the first officer to enter the house came through the door, turned right, and immediately encountered the suspect.

I can also see the guy being upset about the dog being shot. I'm not even a dog owner and I can more than understand that. There's nothing jerky about that at all.

Of course he would be upset. Who had an issue with that?

 

[sbell111]

need2cruise, you're right, I doubt we'd reach some sort of agreement in our ideologies on this issue. I think this is actually a good thing. Without different ideas, where would all the fun be

From the Columbia Tribune

Police conclude SWAT investigation

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The results of an internal investigation at the Columbia Police Department regarding a February SWAT raid will be made public Thursday afternoon.

Police Chief Ken Burton will make a statement at a news conference at 2 p.m. Thursday at the City Hall Addition, Eighth Street and Broadway. The news conference will be recorded and posted online at www.gocolumbiamo.com afterward, along with the investigation’s findings.

Since Syrreal didn't pop back in to let everyone know the results of the review, here it is. Columbia police's internal investigation finds no wrongdoing by SWAT officers.

Another interesting bit of news came up in the press conference: The duffle bags that were found during the raid apparently reaked of marijuana.

 

[livie1205]

It's really a shame that the guy chose a life of crime and brought this all upon his family. He is to blame.

yep...I think before anyone judges if what the cops done was right or night they should do a ride-along with them for a night and see EXACTLY what kind of danger LEO's put themselves in everyday to protect people from drug dealers...ride in THEIR shoes for a day...I promise it is a scary ride.FLAME AWAY dont care and will not change my thoughts on it.There are a few bad seeds in every job but more then most are great men and women...and sorry I dont buy that a whole swat team is bad.

 

[Syrreal]

Sorry guys, I couldn't get on here on Friday and yesterday was swamped.

Here is from my blog, my comments would be the same, so I just copied them->

From the Columbia Daily Tribune, here’s the outcome of the “investigation” into the SWAT raid in Missouri. No surprise here that a police inquiry into the validity of the raid and the events that happened within didn’t find any real fault in the way things were handled. Although, new departmental policy is supposed to make these kinds of raids “plummet.”

“The use of the department’s SWAT team in conducting a drug raid will now:

* Require the approval of a captain in the department in charge of the area where the raid is to take place
* Require that a location be under constant surveillance once the warrant has been issued
* Not take place when children are present except “under the most extreme circumstances”

One of the new procedures is to conduct surveillance. Imagine that! What a novel concept it is to make sure that your information is actually correct! Wow! Bravo Columbia Police Dept! Such innovative ideas!

I just hope that Police Chief Burton isn’t just blowing smoke up everyone’s patootey to appease the angry crowd not just in Columbia, but all over the country, if not the world. Unfortunately, the wording of these new policies just seem like rhetoric to me. What exactly constitutes a “most extreme circumstance”? For all we know, it could be just because there might be a piece of tape with some lint on it.

Apparently, the informants that were used were paid. Great. Depending on how much I would get, I could tell a good story, too. It doesn’t replace the need for actual detective work. The story has also been changed to the team knowing that there was a child in the house and SWAT went in that way anyway, etc. It just keeps getting more convoluted. I guess that we should all be happy that it didn’t result in the child’s death, unlike this current case in Detroit.

There was a public meeting on the 17th. This is an article from the Missourian. There were also citizen suggestions on usage of SWAT.

Also a couple of replies to pp comments-

Knocking on the door- The video shows the SWAT team entering the house about 10 seconds after they announce themselves. It takes me more than 9 seconds to get from my living room to the front door, even more than that if I am upstairs. If I weren't fully dressed, it would take me longer.

Warrant to search home- Yes, but they still could have waited until he stepped outside and they didn't need SWAT, just backup. It's still on property, just not as aggressive.

About the Detroit post- Yes, the article does not have anything specifically to do with the Misosuri case, hence my note that this was another issue.
Some more info from the Detroit Free Press on the video footage shot.

 

[Syrreal]

A last bit from Reason:

Columbia, Missouri Police Chief on Board With Legalizing Marijuana?

Radley Balko | May 24, 2010

I've been fairly hard on Columbia, Missouri Police Chief Ken Burton since video emerged of his department's SWAT raid on a marijuana offender. But to be fair, though the reforms he proposed missed the most important point—the misapplication of force in using SWAT raids on people suspected of nonviolent crimes—he has at least shown more concern than other police officials in similar situations. And I suspect even the reforms he did propose weren't popular within his department.

The video below, courtesy of the Marijuana Policy Project blog, shows Burton may be coming around on the foolishness of marijuana prohibition in general.

Money quote:

"I applaud your efforts," he told a reporter who asked about campaigns to change marijuana laws. "If we could get out of the business [of going after marijuana offenders], I think there would be a lot of police officers that would be happy to do that."

Last week, Burton announced that all of his officers involved in the now-infamously YouTubed marijuana raid have been cleared of any wrongdoing. As I wrote a couple weeks ago, that's to be expected. The raid was routine, and consistent with the law, not just in Columbia but in much of the country. It's the law that's the problem.

The MPP blog also points to an interesting quote by D.C. Metro PD Assistant Chief Peter Newsham that's not quite as explicit, but seems to acknowledge that the only dangerous elements to marijuana are due to it being illegal.

This story is from Michigan (different case)
From Saginaw Michigan-

From the comments: Readers respond to dog-shooting by Saginaw Township police
By Gus Burns | The Saginaw News
May 19, 2010, 9:30AM

SAGINAW TWP. — Buddy, a 10-year-old black Labrador retriever, was shot Saturday night by a Saginaw Township police officer who entered the dog’s backyard in Saginaw Township. The officer was attempting to ensure a suspect police hoped to arrest didn’t escape out the rear of the home.

It turned out the suspect wasn’t at the home owned by David B. and Katherine J. Ruhle. Saginaw Township Police Chief Donald F. Pussehl Jr. said the officer wasn’t aware the dog was in the backyard of the home, shook the fence before entering and shot only after he feared for his safety because the dog began “growling” and “running towards him.”

Police were searching for the boyfriend of the Ruhle’s 18-year-old daughter. Pussehl said he fled at a traffic stop the night before and had multiple warrants.

The initial post elicited 126 comments by Thursday morning — many thoughtful — with varying points of view.

Some readers took the side of the police. They said police had the right to enter the backyard in their attempt to arrest the criminal they were pursuing and the officer wasn’t wrong to shoot the dog for his own protection. Having to shoot the dog was unfortunate, but not outside the officer’s rights in this situation.

irishgirl posted this:

“Seriously, while in the line of duty, chasing a fugitive, a large dog comes at you to cause bodily harm and he shouldn't react? Animals are unpredictable and it was protecting it's home. It could possibly kill you. I don't think "nice doggie" would work in this circumstance. I'm just saying...let's not judge unless you do the same kind of work these officers do everyday.”

Whatsup77 agreed.

“First the police have a right and duty to apprehend bad guys...Cops also have a right to protect themselves while carrying out their duties...The cop does not have to let the dog bite him to take action against said dog...The fact that the PD is offering to help with Vet bills tells you they are not the cold hearted, sociopaths everyone on here makes them out to be.”

Here’s what sagman13 said:

“I suppose the cops should have let the dog maul him to pieces. Then the rest of the cops should never attempt to arrest anyone again.”

A greater number of felt the opposite, that the police were overzealous in their pursuit of the criminal and shouldn’t have entered the backyard at night without permission. And having done so, some readers questioned the use of force.

B’wana said:

“The Police are not some retail store where if a clerk messes up it can be fixed. They have the power of life and death over citizens and should therefore be held to the highest standards. An officer that shows this type of 'ease’ with exercising deadly force is not someone we need patrolling our neighborhoods.”

Mindslag said:

“...The joker they were looking for wasn't in the home... And a dog growling doesn't mean he's going to attack. A 10-year-old black lab....really, sounds pretty viscious to me, cause of all those reports of labs attacking people.”

Sarcam said:

“Really the only thing to do now is for the STPD to come forward, admit they were in the wrong and state that they are reviewing/rewriting their policies and procedures for the capture of individuals who are wanted persons. It is obvious that they screwed the pooch (no pun intended, though quite literally correct) in this instance. This does not rise to the level of professionalism that I expect as a township taxpayer.”

And the self-proclaimed dog owner, kat123, weighed in:

“I am the owner of the dog and my dog did absolutely nothing wrong. He was only defending his family and I think it is absolute crap on how this all went down. No one asked to go in my backyard nor did the have a warrant... The cops did not knock at my door or have a warrant. The so called fugitive was not at my house and is not allowed at my house.”

From