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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
(Score: 2) by tibman on Sunday August 21 2016, @09:01PM
I can't clear houses like that anymore. Just a normal civilian like you now. But in Iraq i cleared thirty or so houses/buildings. There is a two star signature on my CAB. So yes, you just walk right in. Safety conscious people should probably go find a safer job. If you are doing your job incorrectly in order to be safe then you are literally not doing your job. It takes some courage to walk through that fatal funnel. I am glad that i don't need to do it anymore.
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(Score: 2) by Entropy on Monday August 22 2016, @12:26PM
So given intel that there's an armed, barricaded subject inside... you waltz right in? 2 stars is 10 years correct? Thank you for your service. I'm surprised it was not more like 300 buildings, to be honest.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Monday August 22 2016, @02:08PM
We check windows where possible but yeah, just go in. Most intel is crap. People planning missions from satellite/map. If you aren't sure then knock first and say hello, lol. The best intel is the finger. Someone rides along who knows exactly which house and points their finger. The two stars thing is in reference to the two star general who signed my combat action badge. I'm certain some people have searched a lot of buildings. But only around 30 for me. My primary mission was training locals. Taught the southerners how to fight. Now they walk around with cargopants, camelbaks, body armor, radios, and sweet sunglasses.. just like us.
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