The No-Knock Raids Have to Stop

A 12-year-old girl in Billings, Montana, is suffering first and second degree burns on half her body after a SWAT team dropped a flash bang grenade next to her bed during a wrong-door drug raid on Oct. 9.

The Billings Police Department claims that the officer who detonated the grenade inserted it through the girl’s bedroom window on a pole, and was supposed to detonate it while holding it up in the air. He mistimed the explosion however, and ended up dropping the live flashbang next to the girl’s bed.

In case you haven’t heard of the practice, a no-knock raid (or a no-knock warrant) is a tactic police units use more and more regularly these days in which no notice is given and a house (or other property) is stormed using paramilitary tactics in order to apprehend a suspect and/or search for contraband. Originally, these raids were used only in the most dangerous of circumstances, such as hostage situations; however, the use of such tactics continues to increase, and an estimated 40,000 such raids are carried out each year in the United States, with nearly 95% of them used in drug-related cases. A wrong-door raid (as in the case mentioned above) is when this tactic is used to invade the wrong house, or a house that has been erroneously identified.

No matter what your personal opinion is on the failed, grossly expensive war on drugs, these no-knock raids are a direct violation of the Constitution and our natural rights, and they are a scar on the justice system of a supposedly free country.

How many children have to be injured like this before we do something? Are we really such helpless cattle that we will allow government agents to employ gestapo tactics such as these, because they are supposedly targeting “the bad guys?” How many innocent people have to die, have their homes raided, their pets killed, and their children injured before we say “enough is enough?”

The Constitution is very clear on matters such as these:  The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

In other words, you have the right to not be the victim of state-sponsored home invasion simply because the police believe you may have some drugs in your house. You have the right not to die in your sleep because the police don’t feel like going through the proper due process required by civilized society to bring someone to justice.

But even if this wasn’t a Constitutional issue, think about the tactic for just a minute: the police give you no option to surrender yourself, and they break into your house just like some criminal would do if they were trying to kill your family. Now, what if you were sitting at home one day, just minding your business, and someone threw a flash-bang grenade into your house and busted your front door in. You can’t see what’s happening and they didn’t announce themselves before entering, so you don’t know who is doing this. Most liberty loving people that I know believe strongly in the 2nd Amendment and they make use of its provisions for self-defense. Do you know what happens when you try to defend yourself against a group of un-identified thugs who just stormed your house like the Nazi gestapo when they happen to be members of a SWAT team? You die:

Utah police shot and killed a man within seconds of storming his parents’ home, video of the raid shows. The police had a warrant to search for drugs, but found only a small amount of pot and an empty vial that had apparently contained meth.

Local media report that Todd Blair, 45, was a drug addict rather than a dealer, according to friends and family.

In the video, Blair can be seen holding a golf club above his head as police smash through his door. Within seconds, without demanding Blair drop the iron or lay down, Weber-Morgan Strike Force Sgt. Troy Burnett fires three shots into him. The local prosecutor has deemed the killing justified, but his family is planning a federal lawsuit, arguing that police had plenty of alternatives.

Now you may say “Well, that person was involved in drugs, and that’s the kind of risk you take,” but what about when a Marine gets shot to death in front of his family having broken no law and serving two tours in Iraq?

On May 5 at around 9:30 a.m., several teams of Pima County, Ariz., police officers from at least four different police agencies armed with SWAT gear and an armored personnel carrier raided at least four homes as part of what at the time was described as an investigation into alleged marijuana trafficking. One of those homes belonged to 26-year-old Jose Guerena and his wife, Vanessa Guerena. The couple’s 4-year-old son was also in the house at the time. Their 6-year-old son was at school.

As the SWAT team forced its way into his home, Guerena, a former Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq, armed himself with his AR-15 rifle and told his wife and son to hide in a closet. As the officers entered, Guerena confronted them from the far end of a long, dark hallway. The police opened fire, releasing more than 70 rounds in about 7 seconds, at least 60 of which struck Guerena. He was pronounced dead a little over an hour later.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department initially claimed (PDF) Guerena fired his weapon at the SWAT team. They now acknowledge that not only did he not fire, the safety on his gun was still activated when he was killed. Guerena had no prior criminal record, and the police found nothing illegal in his home. After ushering out his wife and son, the police refused to allow paramedics to access Guerena for more than hour, leaving the young father to bleed to death, alone, in his own home.

This is simple. There is absolutely no justification for the tactic of no-knock raids. The government is supposed to be a protector, and when laws are broken, it is supposed to enforce justice. Violating the principles of natural rights and of civilized due process, all for a shortcut to “getting the bad guys,” is a perversion of justice. When these violations carry over into domestic casualties of innocent civilians, they simply must come to an end. We are fighting terrorists abroad, and we are being terrorized by the government here at home.

Original Article