Deadly Farce

Deadly Farce

February 1, 2009

Read what happens when the police shoot your dogs, handcuffs your elderly Mom, and then lies about it all - - and gets away with it with no consequences. All in the name of protecting you…

WaPo mag Deadly Force http://tinyurl.com/ald8a6

What a SWAT team did to Cheye Calvo's family may seem extreme. But decades into America's war on drugs, it's business as usual.

Acting on a mistaken drug trafficking suspicion, a SWAT team broke down their door, shot beloved pets and shattered a happy home. Was it an extreme reaction, or business as usual in America's war on drugs?

LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

By April Witt Sunday, February 1, 2009; Page W08

Read the entire Washington Post magazine article here: Deadly Force

This is what I had to say in my August 13, 2008 The Tentacle column:
They shoot dogs, don’t they? http://tinyurl.com/8vjaaq By Kevin E. Dayhoff
In Prince Georges County on the evening of July 30, the home of the Berwyn Heights’ Mayor Cheye Calvo was the scene of a home invasion…

Also, be sure to watch: 20080729 SWAT Team honored for raiding wrong house
20080729 Minneapolis SWAT Team honored for raiding wrong house This is bizarre...

I'm NOT making this up!: WCCO-TV http://wcco.com/ Minneapolis MN: July 29, 2008 Minneapolis SWAT Team honored for raiding wrong house

http://wcco.com/iteam/swat.team.honored.2.783216.html WCCO-TV Minneapolis, MN: "On Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan handed out honors to a team of officers involved in a botched raid at an innocent family's home more than seven months ago...

*****

Hat Tip: P Kenneth Burns - MD Politics Today: “Inside the Botched Police Raid”

Mr. Burns is “continuing to call for the apology and resignation of Prince George’s County Sheriff Michael A. Jackson (D) in addition to the apology of now former County Police Chief Melvin High (he retired,) but Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife Trinity Tomsic are continuing to leave their lives in the same home where officers from both agencies completely botched a raid where they did not have a no knock warrant as High and Jackson had originally claimed.”

And for good reason. It would appear that there essentially no consequences for the behavior of the police agencies involved or the leadership of those agencies.

Mr. Burns calls to our attention:

"In this week’s edition of The Washington Post Magazine, they are the cover story. It’s a look at before, during and after the raid on Calvo’s home.

"Also of note, a new facebook group “Friends of Cheye Calvo” started this weekend. In addition, Calvo and the writer of the Post Magazine article, April Witt, will be having an online discussion tomorrow (Feb. 2) at 12noon to discuss the article."

The Beltway Progressive has also picked up the story:

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Our government's War on Dogs

"Nope. That's not a misprint. The POst today covers an incident of police incompetance, ineffectiveness, and lies in todays Magazine. It's just one example. The overuse of paramilitary forces occurs regularly in the US and our own neighborhoods - 16 botched raids in VA, 8 in MD, and 2 in DC.

"In this case, the government lied about having a no-knock warrant.

"They lied about having any warrant at all.

"They lied about killing the beloved pets that were running away from them. One of the two dead dogs was shot in the back.

"According to the report "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America," US police squads do this all the time, to people who are less photogenic, less rich, and less connected than the Mayor of Berwyn Heights. See how many raids went wrong in your neighborhood on this interactive map."

Read the entire post here: Our government's War on Dogs

20090201 Inside the Botched Police Raid

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/