Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Saturday August 20 2016, @06:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the dividends-of-cooperating-with-cops dept.

TechDirt reports:

Previously, [TechDirt reported how] police officers pretty much razed a residence to the ground searching for a shoplifting suspect.

In another case, law enforcement spent nineteen hours engaged in a tense standoff with an empty residence before deciding to send in a battering ram.

Now, they're reporting another "standoff" with a lawsuit [PDF] following.

On August 11, 2014, after registering her child for first grade, Ms. West returned to her home to find multiple City of Caldwell police officers in her yard searching for a Fabian Salinas. Wanting to cooperate, and uncertain whether Salinas was in her house, Ms. West gave the police a key to her house and gave them permission to use it to enter her house to arrest him. During a ten hour long standoff, police repeatedly exceeded the authority Ms. West had given them, breaking windows, crashing through ceilings, and riddling the home with holes from shooting canisters of tear gas destroying most of Ms. West and her children's personal belongings. The only occupant of the house was Ms. West's dog. Ms. West's home remained uninhabitable for two months.

[...] So, when given a key and consent from the occupant, officers instead chose to grab an armored vehicle and go through several windows and the attic.

[...] This happened back in 2014 but there's been no coverage of the Caldwell cops' 10-hour, one-dog standoff until now. Thomas Johnson of Fault Lines suggests that might have something to do with the local paper of record.

If you're wondering why it took a couple of years for this event to make news outside of Idaho, it's because the local paper apparently only checks court records or their exclusive police source, resulting in some very incomplete reporting. Why bother getting out there and talking to the homeowner or neighbors when you can sit on your chunk?

[...] From all appearances, the suspect was never in the home during the 10-hour standoff.

[...] The police did give her a three-week stay in a hotel. Too bad it took more than two months for her to be able to return to her residence. This raid on a house containing nothing more than a dog is the natural side effect of police militarization, which encourages law enforcement to escalate in questionable situations, rather than use more measured tactics to ensure occupants aren't deprived of a place to live simply because a suspect might be hiding somewhere behind closed doors.

Previously: 19-Hour "Standoff" Ends With Cops Destroying an Empty House


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday August 21 2016, @01:41AM

    by sjames (2882) on Sunday August 21 2016, @01:41AM (#390819) Journal

    They get the armored cars on long term loan but they have to maintain them and that's expensive. It's a bit like the white elephant of old except the cops aren't smart enough or egoless enough to realize they're being screwed.

    Then there's the stingrays, the helicopters they only use to look for pot, drones they don't know how to fly, flash-bangs, etc. etc.

    Agreed, they should be spending that on proper training to de-escalate instead.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2