You can tell because they didn’t shoot the dog
Three men posing as agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives kicked their way into a home in Whistler, killed a 31-year-old man and held four others at gunpoint early Wednesday, Prichard police said.
Home invasions by people disguised as law enforcement seem to happen more and more these days.
October 21st, 2010 at 9:31 am
If only there were a law against dressing like a police officer. Yeah, thats it. More legislation. That will save us!
*Sarcasm
October 21st, 2010 at 9:38 am
Yet another example of why no-knock raids should be seriously restricted. How is the homeowner supposed to know whether they’re really cops or not?
October 21st, 2010 at 9:39 am
Doesn’t matter. You will go to jail.
October 21st, 2010 at 9:43 am
This is a perfect example of the direct result of the proliferation of “no knock” raids. As a retired LEO that served many search warrants over the years, there are few, if any, times when “no knocks” are truly justifiable. They should be eliminated to prevent further deaths. The benefits do not outweigh the risks and there are other more safe methods that can accomplish the same thing.
October 21st, 2010 at 10:43 am
I just keep saving all of these articles. That way, should I end up the unwitting recipient of a wrong-door no-knock raid, and I assume that it’s criminals, someone will be able to attest to my reasoning after I’m dead because some overzealous cops can’t read street signs.
After all, I do live in Chesapeake, VA, where the only lesson the police learned from the Ryan Frederick case was that they need better battering rams.
October 21st, 2010 at 11:04 am
I’m surprised there aren’t laws making it a felony to defend yourself against someone impersonating a police officer.
October 21st, 2010 at 11:31 am
“Doesn’t matter. You will go to jail.”
Maybe. I’m going to do my best to send them to hell.
October 21st, 2010 at 12:19 pm
If I get a no-knock or a sneak-and-peek, I’m going out shooting. No jail for me. Just call it a gift to the taxpayers.
October 21st, 2010 at 1:56 pm
This is a perfect example of the direct result of the proliferation of “no knock” raids. As a retired LEO that served many search warrants over the years, there are few, if any, times when “no knocks” are truly justifiable.
But…but…Officer Safety is Paramount!
October 21st, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Lesson?
The lessons they learned are that they can send other criminals to burglarize your house and get by with it, and they can commit blatant perjury in a court of law and just walk away.
Why should they change anything. It’s working for them.
October 21st, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Home invasions by
people disguised aslaw enforcement seem to happen more and more these days.Fixed it for ya.
(Hope the edit worked. No preview….)
October 21st, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I have people detectors and cameras. Nobody sneaks up on me. If someone is busting in without verifiable identification, they’re going to be shot, plenty. They could be anyone. Yelling “police” doesn’t matter. Anyone can buy the stuff the cops dress up in; I myself have a kevlar helmet, frag vest, etc. If I don’t see a badge first, there will be fatalities. I’m not going to be home-invaded. If they can knock on the door like civilized people, I’ll cooperate, because I have nothing to hide. I hope they come to this realization before they decide to raid me.
October 21st, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Here’s a comment from the article Uncle linked to in his comment:
I’m gonna leave the whole AR thing alone, but if the guy had used a .30-06, the deputy that got hit in the vest could’ve died.
I just thought I’d share some more stupidity from the other side.
October 21st, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Oops, that didn’t work. Here’s the comment I was referring to:
“clayton:
It’s clear from the previous comments that many folks do not understand that an AR-15 firearm and the associate high capacity magazines are currently legal to purchase and possess in the USA. A quick internet search revealed this type of firearm can be obtained for less than $1000 and a 90-round clip is about $125. Very scary to me, but the type of firearm is somewhat of a red herring in this case. Would the officers or the judge look at things any differently if the defendant had used an old deer hunting rifle (e.g., an old 30-06) to inflict the same damage? I think not. So the real issues is whether or not a private citizen is supposed to be empowered to defend themselves in their own home with a firearm, except in cases where a no-knock warrant is being executed. Unless gun owners are also somehow capable of mental telepathy, I don’t see how we, as a society, can permit the use of firearms for home defense while also permitting no-knock warrants. Something has to give here, or more cops will get shot while serving such warrants. There has to be a better means of keeping the cops out of harms way. I, for one, would propose that a no-knock warrant is something only given in cases where a violent offender is thought to be present and the act of knocking/announcing would likely put the cops at greater risk of harm than coming in without warning. Such a judgment will be a life-or-death matter, so no-knock warrants should only be granted in EXTREME cases..”
October 21st, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Actually there is a simpler answer.
Let’s tell the truth and shame the devil. Cops sometimes abuse no-knock raids. The problem is the ones doing this often don’t suffer any discernible punishments. Are all cops guilty? No, a thousand times no. Most are good and honorable men. Unfortunately, the good cops haven’t controlled the evil ones. The blue brotherhood protects the bad as well as the good. As long as this is the case, an honest citizen can’t afford to trust any cop unreservedly.
As far as I am concerned, if a cop does a no-knock entry it should carry an automatic active prison sentence for him regardless of the situation. Will this lead to innocents dying? Obviously. Will it be fewer than now? In my opinion yes, but that isn’t the point. This is a matter of principle. At it’s heart, this is about the relationship of the police to the citizens. Are they our servants or an occupying army?
October 21st, 2010 at 10:49 pm
I thought it sounds just like how the batfu operates.
October 22nd, 2010 at 12:50 am
I remember Jeff Cooper writing Decades ago about the “Ninja Mentality” coming into the Police Community. He questioned how Civilians (and Cops ARE Civilians, even though some may be ex-military, and are subject to the same rules and regs as any John Doe), had the right under the Constitution to Mask their Faces and wear all-Black Intimidation Gear, when in the U.S. Courts, they could be required to justify their Actions when facing Cross-Examination under the Sixth Amendment. If they have to reveal their faces while under oath, why do they need to “Mask Up” while doing the Raid?
Now the Goblins are doing the same methods to do their Evil. Frackin’ Great! Now how does one separate the “Good Guys” from the “Bad Guys”?
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:36 am
When no-knock raids are outlawed, then only outlaws will be trying no-knock raids. Then it’s a no-doubt case of self-defense.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:46 am
“We do not believe it is a random act,” she said.
No sh*t….
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:50 am
Dressing as a cop reduces the risk of being shot at by a home owner. Its the rational response from criminals to laws protecting cops.
October 22nd, 2010 at 5:46 am
What is disconcerting about this for me, as a law-abiding guy, is that will make me hesitate if I ever have people in black shouting “police” running in my door. I can’t imagine any reason for the police to raid my house, or any of my neighbors’ houses for that matter, but I’ll be thinking “is this the real cops at the wrong house or the fake cops at the right house?”
I understand if the police unions would support automatic death penality for anyone who commits a crime while impersonating the police – it would be a win-win I think…
October 22nd, 2010 at 6:17 am
We need a “do not raid” list run by the government. You could sign-up like the do not call list. If you register yourself on it, then police must knock.
October 22nd, 2010 at 9:41 am
After 40 years as an attorney, I come to learn that the “good” cops are a distinct MINORITY and the majority of them are just a “gang of thugs in blue.” Every day they convince another 1000 Americans of the truth of that description.
That’s shame. But LE brought it on themselves and only they can regain thier once excellent reputation. This conduct by police is self-defeating.
October 22nd, 2010 at 9:54 am
An interesting collection of no-knock tragedies as well as other collateral damage in our unconstitutional War on Drugs ™.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/drug-war-victim/
October 22nd, 2010 at 10:26 am
http://www.cato.org/raidmap/
Article and map tracking ‘botched’ police raids, see their definition of botched.
KentuckyCountryboy: I automatically recoil anytime someone references ‘high capacity’ magazines because in CA they define ‘high capacity’ as anything over 10 rounds and they’re banned. Hence the stanard capacity rounds designed by the manufacturer are made to sound evil or extreme.
On the plus side, as they standard capacity magazines have become harder to get the gangbangers have transitioned from ‘spray and pray’ to actually aiming. The result has been that in big cities like LA, although the number of shootings have dropped the number of fatalities per shooting has increased and the innocent bystander hits have declined.
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Anybody recall Ken Ballew?
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Doesn’t matter to me WHO is breaking into my home w/o knocking, police or criminal, all are uninvited and, in my opinion, presumed to have criminal intent. They WILL receive live, likely lethal and traumatizing projectiles in response to their illegal attempt at entry.
If they are not LEOs, I’m OK with my response. If they happen to be law enforcement I will likely die in my hallway with one or more of the errant “peace officers” who made a BAD decision.
Laws need to be changed or enforced to protect everyone but the worst criminals the courts continue to allow back onto the streets.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Didn’t shoot the dog or stomp the cat, eh? Yup– dead giveaway.