Aren’t we missing the point as it relates to the botched police raid that severely injured a child?
The focus seems to be on whether the officers knew there were children in the house, and whether they followed proper procedure for a no-knock raid. Isn’t anyone asking the question of why we call out an army, endanger homeowners, destroy property and emulate the secret police of a no-name country to corral someone accused of misdemeanor drug use or drug distribution? What has happened to our sense of proportion?
We treat drug crimes now as if we are capturing a modern John Dillinger, not a person who has run afoul of substance abuse. Our SWAT teams look and act like military forces and are becoming armed with equipment used by the military to attack insurgent strongholds.
And what about this issue of the “tipster”? What gives this person, often a felon himself, the power to instigate such a devastating invasion? It seems there are enough people willing to provide wrong information to get even or who are simply misguided, regardless if they are a paid informant. What makes their word sacrosanct?
Yes, I understand a judge must issue the proper authorization; but I also understand that judges favor the police who can make a pretty good story about why the raid is necessary.
Now, before you start on me as a roaring liberal, I support the police and realize they have a tough job. They need body armor, automatic weapons, grenades and the like to subdue the bad guys. I don’t want them to take risks and perhaps get hurt.
However, this cultural need we have to punish, punish, punish rather than rehabilitate seems to have morphed into a take-no-prisoners mentality regardless of the transgression. This is frankly scary. Life is suddenly imitating blood-curdling action movies where Darth Vader-like storm troopers attack the good guys.
Perhaps this exaggeration will make a point.
We need to take a closer look at no-knock and make some changes to protect the citizens involved and the reputation of our hard-working police.
Robert P. Cady lives in Kennesaw.
