Word: swats
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...mission is […] an exciting reason to join." Emphasizing this glamorous appeal, the LAPD’s recruiting video presents a day in the life of a cop: Catching robbers, rescuing hostages, and taking on gun-toting kidnappers with air support and a SWAT team. Do we really want cops playing out action-hero fantasies...
...more practical level, turning arrests into gung-ho combat raids increases the risk for everyone involved. There are no federal training requirements for SWAT teams—despite the Fed’s role in distributing used army equipment—and therefore training is erratic. More importantly, even disciplined cops can make a mistake when placed in a high-intensity, low-light environment that demands split-second decisions. Arming them with assault rifles and delusions of military grandeur only increases the chance of creating a violent, deadly situation...
...Using SWAT teams for routine drug arrests is peculiarly dangerous because these warrants are often based on a single informant, and snitches are notoriously unreliable. Motivated by cash rewards, reduced sentences, or even the chance to eliminate a competing dealer, informants regularly give inaccurate or incomplete leads. Rev. Accelyne Williams’ case shows how using paramilitary units can turn an error into a tragedy: The deadly Boston raid was based on a single snitch’s statement, and three of the cops involved had previously been sued for making up information to get a warrant...
...heavily armed units hasn’t been limited to drug arrests, which are at least conceivably dangerous for officers. What are the chances that a couple of DJs will put up a fight? That didn’t stop the Fulton Country police department from deploying a SWAT team with guns drawn in a RIAA-sponsored copyright violation bust. Or take the South Carolina high school drug sweep where SWAT officers forced kids to lie prone at gunpoint as dogs searched their lockers (no drugs were found...
These scenarios, and many others like them, are not inherently dangerous and involve suspects with no history of violence. Using a SWAT team only risks causing a tragic accident. Is it a surprise that when cops are given inspirational action-flick videos, a bit of tactical training, assault rifles, and placed in front of alleged criminals, lots of innocent nails get whacked...