This pic portraying a SWAT team searching a house without a warrant has been making the rounds…
People (no enough) are pissed at the concept of any kind of LEO just forcing themselves into a house under the excuse of a safety search and wonder how the hell have we come so low.
Answer: Same crap happen during Katrina using the excuse that they “looking for survivors” and even fewer people complained. Now the Powers That Be think and can get away with it.
Reading your Miranda Rights: not a right, something dummied up by TV to be stylish. Knowing your rights is your job. At very least don’t say anything and get a lawyer.(I had a co-worker once say “but doesn’t that make me look guilty?” we told him “no, it makes you look like intelligent.”)
Having a warrant to enter your home: ONE OF THOSE RIGHTS.
They do not find the 19 year old until AFTER house arrest was lifted and the boat owner went out for a smoke…… 🙁
“They did not”……..cat on computer….
Even more important, “they” did not find the kid at all. The homeowner did.
And the homeowner was OUTSIDE the search area.
Now that the retrospect can set in, believe that it is time for there to a clear understanding as to what the police can and cannot do. These trampling of Citizens Constitutional rights by the government, the police, simply cannot continue taking such actions against those individuals that are nothing more than innocent citizens during these acts of government sanctioned panic.
In the interest of ” Public Safety ” the Governor of the state of Massachusetts believed that he had the power to suspend the Constitution of the US. He ordered 1000s and 1000s of my fellow citizens to stay off the streets, to be confined inside their windows must be closed homes and shut down business down. The most despicable act being the Gestapo like pounding on the doors of the homes of Americans. Here the police pointed their assault weapons directly at the citizens as they forced their way into the homes, order the occupants out of their homes with the hands up as the police treated our fellow citizens it such a NAZIS like manner.
All of this so that they could search for a equally deranged individual, whom they did not find, without a Search Warrant. One can only wonder how does this happen? What about the rights of all of those that the Governor of the state of Massachusetts choose to ignore? Where was the Justice Department to defend the rights of the citizens of the area that affected? There were right there with the local and state police repressing the rights of individuals.
t seems that anytime some crazy takes a swing at America that immediate response from the government is the suppression of its citizens. I for one, am tired of living in the constant state of fear that our government seems to wish to keep us in.
For over the last 12 years, I’ve been thinking about Franklin’s statement, you know ” Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” seems that Americans are selecting to give up which means that the final purchase is becoming more and more closer to becoming a reality. I am not buying that, but many of my fellow countrymen seem to be.
Exigent circumstances are, according to the Supreme Court, ‘Those circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to believe that entry (or other relevant prompt action) was necessary to prevent physical harm to the officers or other persons, the destruction of relevant evidence, the escape of a suspect, or some other consequence improperly frustrating legitimate law enforcement efforts.’ United States v. McConney, 728 F.2d 1195, 1199 (9th Cir.).
It’s established case law.
Et Tu Miguel?
And it applies to this case , how?
I find nothing reasonable and see no reason for their entry. There was no cause or reason for the officer to believe that anyone was in the house other than the owners.
If you applied it as you have. The police can enter your house at any time to prevent harm to your neighbors or the officer to validate your smoke detectors and other safety equipment.
I believe more than one house was involved, chilling…….. 🙁
Exigent Circumstance is a great tool but that does not mean it can be used as a blanket to cover a whole neighborhood much less a whole city. After Katrina, EC and State of Emergency was used as excuses for abuse of power and I do not mean the rescue workers that went painstakingly searching house by empty house looking for bodies.
I am talking the use of deadly force threat to illegally evacuate people from their homes because Mayor Nagin thought it was the best way to control the city to his desires.
He even went as far as use it as tool of speech suppression against those who dare complain the piss poor job he was doing. Exigent Circumstances was also used to confiscate weapons from citizens that were doing nothing but survive the aftermath.
Excellent thinking and writing (plus disturbing video) can be found here:
http://georgedonnelly.com/libertarian/boston-police-state-failed
[…] SWAT teams in a house and forcing entry. No warrants, of course. […]
Apparently there seem to be a lot of people who don’t understand what is so disturbing about our civilian police force dressing and acting like our Soldiers and Marines overseas who are fighting enemy combatants. They’re not supposed to be “operators.”
To rearrange a famous statement: “There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the police become both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.”
Excellent