“It was terrible. . . . It was the most frightening experience of my life. . . . I thought it was a terrorist attack.”
Those were the words of Leona Goldberg, of Brooklyn, N.Y., 82 at the time, describing the March 31, 2004, “terrorist attack” on her apartment. It wasn’t al-Qaeda, though. These terrorists were from the New York Police Department.
The War on Drugs has brought on the rise of the SWAT team, and a corresponding rise in the number of paramilitary-style raids on homes, a 1300 percent increase over the last 25 years. Towns with only a few thousand residents are suddenly finding that their police department not only has a SWAT team, but that they’re actively breaking down innocent people’s doors and needlessly terrorizing them — and most disturbing of all, killing innocent people with impunity.
“These raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping,” writes Cato Institute policy analyst Radley Balko, “usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as peace officers, but as soldiers.”
Cato has released Balko’s new paper, Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, which tells some of the stories of the innocent people whose homes were raided, and who lost their lives, to this new form of terrorism. It also documents over 150 examples of botched police raids.
In addition, Cato has provided a Google Map showing the locations of these botched raids, who died in the raids, and whether they were completely innocent. “The map plots every botched raid I’ve found in my research, with a description of what happened and a list of sources,” Balko said.
Shown this way, it’s a powerful testament to the rise of the police state which has accompanied the War on Drugs.
This ill-conceived and ill-executed war has done nothing but destroy the lives of innocent people, made criminals of millions of people who have done nothing particularly wrong, and overcrowded our prisons with nonviolent marijuana smokers who displace real criminals, such as rapists, robbers and murderers, who must be set free to make room for the pot smokers.
In addition, the War on Drugs, like Prohibition before it, has created a class of organized crime syndicates who deal in the illegal substances, and want desperately for them to remain illegal, so as to preserve their profits. And like Prohibition before it, these criminals shoot up our streets and our neighborhoods to protect their “business.”
When Prohibition was finally recognized as bad policy, it was put to bed, and these sorts of crimes dropped as a result. It’s time for us to recognize that this new prohibition is also bad policy. Otherwise, the next person to be terrorized or killed by a botched police raid could be you.
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Newsvine
Jul 17, 2006
The Jawa Report
Anon
Jul 17, 2006
The police state is in its infancy.
Rocket
Jul 18, 2006
More and more, I come back to that old adage, “you are innocent till proven guilty.” And it annoys me more and more to hear police (and regular people for that matter) say “if you aren’t doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.”
Michael Vail
Jul 18, 2006
This has been going on for some time now. The Marines took over an elementary school local to me and told the children to get used to martial law. Homeland Security is dangling money in front of children to tattletale on parents and anyone else who looks guilty. FEMA is outright buying pastors to tell their congregations to give up their guns and obey authority. What is next?
Banc
Jul 23, 2006
“If you aren’t doing wrong, you’ve nothing to worry about..” — I grow weary of hearing that.
Many say it’s Privacy vs. Security… it’s actually about Liberty vs. Control.
I love seeing politicians (and law enforcement types) see red when THEIR OWN trash is sifted through… yet it’s mandatory that we all are surveilled.
Son Of Liberty
Aug 16, 2006
It’s Hamiltonianism vs Jeffersonism all over again. America was born to Jefferson, life, liberty, happiness, small business. We are now in full swing Hamiltonianism, death, control, depression, and corporate interests.
I work with an organization called LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) and you should hear the stories the ex-DEA guys tell. America is beyond a police state, our government actively makes war on it’s own people.
http://www.freetheplant.com
Mar 04, 2007
Homeland Security data mining may have violated privacy law - Homeland Stupidity
Jul 21, 2007
How to stay out of government databases - Homeland Stupidity
Jun 01, 2011
SWAT RAIDS AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES « MENTAL PINPRICKS