Paramilitary raids

[undergroundpanther]

You may have heard of the case in Atlanta last week of a woman in her 80's shot by police. They were raiding her house on a no-knock drug warrant, she apparently didn't realize it was the cops and shot at them with a handgun, they shot back and killed her.

Straightforward, of course. Right. Are these cases ever straightforward? Where would we be if we didn't hear claims that the police lied in getting the warrant and tried to get their informant to lie after the raid:



http://scienceblogs.com/nosenada/2006/11/a_sobering_look_at_paramilitar.php

I was resigned to the fact that this was going to be a hellova crazy day.

Back in the living room I noticed a few guys who looked like SWAT ran past. A couple of guys pulled up in in a big car and pulled out a riot shields from the car trunk and ran,and soon came even more people... Then came military guys running past the house in a loose formations in full camo with full packs on, even canteens and carrying assault rifles. As 2 more camo clad dudes walked past carrying... 2 Surveyors plumbs and tripods ... Hoooly shit, what the fuck was happening? I was too damn tired to feel paranoid.
http://www.unknownnews.org/05D31-J06d-1231Panther.html

[bananas]

1. Wow - a google-maps based "raidmap" showing botched paramilitary raids

"raidmap" is at http://cato.org/raidmap

From your first link:
"This event is obscene enough by itself, but it illustrates a larger problem we're facing as a country. The Cato Institute has an interactive "raidmap" up titled "Botched Paramilitary Police Raids: An Epidemic of 'Isolated Incidents'". Based on a google maps frame, it dots the country with markers for various incidents where paramilitary units have killed innocent people, raided innocent subjects, or were involved in various other excesses. In a typical case that occurred a few miles from here:
<snip>

[Jcrowley]

2. Here ya' go

http://www.cato.org/raidmap/#

Botched Paramilitary Police Raids:

An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents"
"If a widespread pattern of violations were shown . . . there would be reason for grave concern."

 —Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in Hudson v. Michigan, June 15, 2006.

An interactive map of botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids, released in conjunction with the Cato policy paper "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids," by Radley Balko.

What does this map mean?

The proliferation of SWAT teams, police militarization, and the Drug War have given rise to a dramatic increase in the number of "no-knock" or "quick-knock" raids on suspected drug offenders. Because these raids are often conducted based on tips from notoriously unreliable confidential informants, police sometimes conduct SWAT-style raids on the wrong home, or on the homes of nonviolent, misdemeanor drug users. Such highly-volatile, overly confrontational tactics are bad enough when no one is hurt -- it's difficult to imagine the terror an innocent suspect or family faces when a SWAT team mistakenly breaks down their door in the middle of the night.

But even more disturbing are the number of times such "wrong door" raids unnecessarily lead to the injury or death of suspects, bystanders, and police officers. Defenders of SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics say such incidents are isolated and rare. The map below aims to refute that notion.

[hootinholler]

3. Kick! great resource.

Who says we're not in a police state now?

-Hoot