One of the mexicans living upstairs is suspected of selling cocaine so SWAT served a no-knock warrant at my place of residence. Broke some of my stuff during the search, the guy they were looking for wasn't even home and as far as i can tell they found no drugs or weapons in his room or throughout the house. Despite the fact that I cooperated fully with their orders I was treated as though I wasn't.

This really seemed like the kind of thing that should have been handled by the Detective on the case and a couple of regular officers in vests, not paramilitary troops. From hearing them chat with each other while waiting for the regular officers and detectives to get there it appeared SWAT didn't really know why they were there beyond just to clear the house and detain all persons within. Took the detectives a full 15 minutes after SWAT to arrive on scene.

My question is why couldn't the Detective who did surveillance on the house to determine the guy lived there and what vehicles he and his wife drove have executed the warrant? Neither vehicle was home and it seems to me since they were looking for him they could have called it off for another time instead of sending SWAT in practically blind.

2/24/2012 12:46:38 PM

Are they compensating you for the stuff they broke?

2/24/2012 12:47:46 PM

I would think there would be a more formal and effective way to make such a complaint.

2/24/2012 12:48:33 PM

One of my friend's house was raided because the janitor saw his catnip plants (outside his house) and called the policia

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

2/24/2012 12:49:07 PM

^I hate that. The answer they always give is safety, but mostly a cop out so they can get their jollies from pushing people around.

2/24/2012 12:49:39 PM

Protip: don't live with drug dealers

2/24/2012 12:51:58 PM

Because the police are imbeciles. And the SWAT team isn't there to act rationally, think, or act within the confines of the law. They're there to break shit and hurt anyone/anything in their way.

Good luck getting your shit fixed. Be prepared to hear a lot of "well, you shouldn't live with police suspects next time.".

Btw, I don't think they were allowed in your room if you had a separate lease if your name wasn't on the warrant.

2/24/2012 12:53:21 PM

^^^ no, it's b/c they get federal money for drug busting.

[Edited on February 24, 2012 at 12:53 PM. Reason : ^]

2/24/2012 12:53:42 PM

^^Its not like they knew which room was his. They did what they did because most people don't know the law and won't oppose them- Furthermore as OP said people don't want to appear co-operative even when their rights are being infringed upon. Furtherermore as George Carlin said- either you have no rights or you have infinite rights.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

2/24/2012 12:54:24 PM

Quote :

"Are they compensating you for the stuff they broke?"

hahaha

2/24/2012 12:56:05 PM

no knock warrants are one of the worst examples of our growing police state

you should go to the news with this one

2/24/2012 1:53:21 PM

Is Collin Farrel a nice guy? Always wanted to meet him

2/24/2012 1:56:01 PM

i liked him ever since "in bruges"

2/24/2012 1:56:39 PM

he was great in the hurt locker

2/24/2012 1:57:19 PM

^^^^this

Home owners have the right to stop forcible entry into their homes, including through a closed door; however, you don't have the right to do this if it's the cops... well if they don't knock and don't identify, then how is someone in the house supposed to know the difference between a criminal busting down a door and a cop busting down a door? And I'm not talking about what you think people should do in this situation/if it's right, wrong, etc. I'm talking about how the law is written. It's very contradictory.

[Edited on February 24, 2012 at 1:59 PM. Reason : .]

2/24/2012 1:58:59 PM

Cops don't wear balaklavas?

I'm krallum and I approved this message

[Edited on February 24, 2012 at 2:01 PM. Reason : yeah if they fixed this, then id have no problem with any laws]

2/24/2012 2:00:45 PM

Do you live in a halfway house or something? Why do you share a house with coke dealing mexicans?

2/24/2012 2:02:28 PM

I live in a basement apartment in a pretty nice 2 story 4 bedroom house in a quiet neighborhood. My landlord rents out the extra rooms in the house on a month to month or short term lease basis and the guy who was allegedly selling coke moved in only 2 weeks ago. Most of the search warrant's affidavit of truth came from the word of a CI.

2/24/2012 2:07:22 PM

^^this


obligatory "comes with the territory"

[Edited on February 24, 2012 at 2:07 PM. Reason : -]

2/24/2012 2:07:39 PM

Pics?

Wral?

2/24/2012 2:14:28 PM

nobody rents month to month in a "nice 2 story 4 bedroom house" Do you not have your own address? do you share power and utilities with these people?

2/24/2012 2:24:13 PM

some of us don't like signing leases

2/24/2012 2:32:24 PM

How does the castle doctrine work with a no-knock warrant.

Like you can legally shoot a stranger breaking in to your residence, but the police can break in to your residence with no warning.

Shoot at a cop and you are going to prison if you survive.

2/24/2012 2:34:41 PM

you won't survive

that's how that works

2/24/2012 2:39:35 PM

Quote :

"no knock warrants are one of the worst examples of our growing police state you should go to the news with this one"

2/24/2012 2:39:49 PM

I hope you photographed everything they broke

pics or it didn't happen

2/24/2012 3:12:14 PM

Quote :

"no knock warrants are one of the worst examples of our growing police state you should go to the news with this one"

that's your best bet...not that it will help at all.

Now, if you can get proof that one of them steals stuff from the break room fridge, they'll take swift and decisive action.

2/24/2012 3:56:02 PM

Protip: Don't let SWAT get the drop on you.

Barb wire bars cover my window. If they try to come in that way, it won't be pretty.

If they come in any other way, they have to come all the way down the hall to get me. I keep the RPG next to the fridge for situations like that.

I suggest modding a Counterstrike: Source map to look like your house, and begin practicing.

2/24/2012 4:05:10 PM

^, ^^

2/24/2012 8:07:28 PM

fuck all police

like, all of them

2/24/2012 8:09:23 PM

no justice, no peace....

2/24/2012 8:34:33 PM

I, too, would like to see a news report on this.

2/24/2012 8:43:06 PM

"No-knock warrants" do not exist in this State. LEO's are required to announce their presence and purpose under G.S. 15A-249 and G.S.15A-251. There are exceptions if it can be articulated that that a delay in entry could present a clear and present danger or the destruction of evidence.

Vice cases can be tricky; they may have already arrested your roommate, or caught him in a buy, done a controlled delivery, etc and through that investigation developed enough PC to search the house.

Who raids the house can also depend on the department. Some departments have SWAT/SRT/TACT serving all search warrants, while some departments have a vice unit that will do their own. Sometimes the two will work hand and hand with one hitting one house and the other another.

Time can also be a factor, search warrants are only good for X amount of hours and unless the department has a full time team already at work, it can take hours to page, assemble, plan and execute.

2/24/2012 8:49:26 PM

Quote :

"Home owners have the right to stop forcible entry into their homes, including through a closed door; however, you don't have the right to do this if it's the cops... well if they don't knock and don't identify, then how is someone in the house supposed to know the difference between a criminal busting down a door and a cop busting down a door? And I'm not talking about what you think people should do in this situation/if it's right, wrong, etc. I'm talking about how the law is written. It's very contradictory."

Remember that story of the old lady in atlanta who fired a revolver while her house was being raided?

She ended up dead, riddled with bullets, and the informant that provided information for the warrant was later discredited. It was found she had a revolver because of living alone in a rough neighborhood and she was hard of hearing.

The police settled with her family, a good sum of money probably, too bad she will never know about it she is dead.

Article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20013766-504083.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Johnston_shooting

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-16/justice/georgia.botched.raid_1_arthur-tesler-kathryn-johnston-drug-raid?_s=PM:CRIME

[Edited on February 24, 2012 at 9:16 PM. Reason : links]

2/24/2012 9:14:59 PM

Quote :

"Johnston was shot to death by narcotics officers conducting a "no-knock" warrant. Investigators later determined the raid was based on falsified paperwork stating that illegal drugs were present in the home. As the search warrant was being executed November 21, 2006, at Johnston's home, she fired at officers with an old pistol, apparently believing her home was being broken into. Six officers returned fire. Johnston's one shot went through her front door and over the officers' heads. They responded with 39 shots, hitting the elderly woman five times."

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-16/justice/georgia.botched.raid_1_arthur-tesler-kathryn-johnston-drug-raid?_s=PM:CRIME

2/24/2012 9:19:32 PM

Quote :

"Prosecutors later said that Smith handcuffed Johnston as she was dying.[16] Johnston was pronounced dead at the scene.[17] Prosecutors accused one of the officers of planting three bags of marijuana in the house as an attempted cover-up after no drugs were found in the house.[4] Smith later admitted to having planted the drugs.[3][6] They had been found in an unrelated case earlier that day.[7] Prosecutors also accused Smith of calling Alex White after the shooting and telling the informant to say he had bought crack cocaine at Johnston's house.[16] According to court filings, before talking to the homicide detective, the three officers involved in the shooting got together to get their stories straight.[7] Johnston lived alone and had lived in that house for about 17 years.[9][18] Her house was in a crime-ridden neighborhood in west Atlanta.[16] People in the neighborhood speculated that the police had the wrong person, but police denied that they had had the wrong house.[9] Neighbors and family said that Johnston kept a "rusty revolver" for self-defense; another elderly woman in her neighborhood had recently been raped, and drug dealing was common.[11] In the year before her murder, Johnston had installed extra locks and burglar bars.[19]"

2/24/2012 9:22:12 PM

: (

2/24/2012 9:25:58 PM

yo dude that's a triple post right there

don't make me no-knock you

2/24/2012 9:26:41 PM

^haha

2/24/2012 10:00:53 PM

4chan calls that swatting. You just call in an anonymous tip and let the cops knock their door down and fuck their shit up.

2/24/2012 10:09:07 PM

Remember one thing: This isn't America anymore. This is another country under the name America. The original America is based on the constitution. The America we live in today is based on a police state.

2/24/2012 11:37:38 PM

Best you can hope for is some sort of compensation. Sounds like a poor execution of a warrant.

2/25/2012 2:21:32 AM

Quote :

""No-knock warrants" do not exist in this State. [...] There are exceptions if..."

So IOW, no-knock warrants DO EXIST.

Quote :

"Prosecutors accused one of the officers of planting three bags of marijuana in the house as an attempted cover-up after no drugs were found in the house.[4] Smith later admitted to having planted the drugs.[3][6] They had been found in an unrelated case earlier that day.[7] Prosecutors also accused Smith of calling Alex White after the shooting and telling the informant to say he had bought crack cocaine at Johnston's house."

Welcome to USA Syria, Iraq, Libya, Zimbabwe, Yemen, Colombia, etc.

Quote :

"USA # 1"

2/25/2012 3:07:04 AM

Pics or it didn't happen.

Made up story ITT

2/25/2012 7:40:07 AM

Don't have a grandson with a dog collar and don't live with Mexican drug dealers.

2/25/2012 7:51:55 AM

Quote :

"So IOW, no-knock warrants DO EXIST."

No, you can't apply/receive one.

2/25/2012 11:32:54 AM

http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=522382

6/29/2012 3:32:52 PM

hmm, what do you expect when you talk like that?

6/29/2012 6:06:23 PM

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/swat-team-throws-flashbangs-raids-wrong-home-due-to-open-wifi-network/?comments=1#comments-bar

Oops, it was the wrong house. Oh, and the guy who actually did make the threats... they didn't use the same tactics when they actually nabbed him. They just, are you ready for this crazy shit?... went to his house, knocked on the door, and arrested him!

So, yeah, a typically unnecessary use of a SWAT team which led to property damage and put innocent people at risk of death or bodily injury (there are numerous cases of homes catching on fire and people dieing in the resulting fire from flashbangs). Then, when they actually do identify their suspect who has threatened cops and whom they believed was armed, they did what they should have done in the first place. Why? Because of bad press, not because they learned a lesson.


Also, to the person who said that no-knock warrants don't exist in NC... ha! Just because you can't apply for one in normal circumstances doesn't mean they don't happen regularly. When it comes to whether or not there was an announcement of police presence it's your word against the cops, and who are they going to believe? The police, or some guy who was obviously suspicious enough to have a search warrant out for his home?

6/29/2012 6:55:48 PM

^Psst, Restricted IS a cop.

6/29/2012 9:03:10 PM