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This story is slightly dated, but hey, I had to graduate a son in May while this event was taking place.
Last month, the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office, the 12th/21st Judicial Drug Task Force and the Barling Police Department all conducted a drug raid on a house in Barling, Arkansas. Even though the search warrant itself was completely accurate, law enforcement officers had entered the wrong residence. A man, woman and small baby were in the house when the drug force walked in, and the man and woman were handcuffed before the mistake was discovered.
The door was unlocked, which was probably a good thing. Important details such as whether the man or woman was unarmed or if the possibility of a confrontation existed when the officers entered the home are unknown. The odds of violent reaction to this situation were large, and all involved were very lucky everything was resolved safely.
You can't apologize enough for a screwup like that," Nickson said.
Some readers may recall an incident in Little Rock in mid-April, when a woman answered a knock on her door late in the evening. Three men posing as cops burst in her home, shooting her in the leg during the home invasion.
Even worse, consider this North Little Rock man’s predicament. He had his house surrounded by SWAT members who then burst into his home through doors and windows without any warning. When he reached for a firearm (a broken one at that) he was riddled with bullets. After he recovered, he was charged with assault!
What do we do as homeowners when someone enters our homes without knocking, sometimes crashing in, other times simply walking in as they did in the Barling incident? If we shoot, we could be killed by SWAT shooters. If we don’t shoot, we may be violently attacked. Our government should not be putting its people in these situations.
We should be asking this question; is the fight against drugs worth storming into innocent citizens’ homes by mistake, putting them in extreme danger in the process? Is it worth putting law enforcement in danger of being killed themselves by homeowners protecting their property and lives?
Arkansas law enforcement should re-think their “no-knock” search warrant policies.
UPDATE: For more information on preparing yourself for and protecting yourself from a home invasion, see Liston Matthews' (Knoxville gun rights Examiner) article:
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Comments
Steve-
Couldn't agree with you more. Terror-style drug raids are a greater danger than any drug. The endanger civillians, the cops, bystanders and the Constitution.
I have no interest in begging law enforcement to
rethink their "no knock" attack policies.
Most likely, it won't end well for me, but that
is my decision to make.
Both parties will settle the issue on
the inside.
When the tactics of the police are indistinguishable from the tactics of the bad guys, the only reasonable response is to shoot for the head, until we can elect officials that will jack-slap the police into dropping this tactic.
All too often some innocent is targeted by a revengeful informant and the cops execute a bogus no knock raid and find out later they were wrong. But the damage is done because someone did not do their homework in their zeal to make an arrest. I do not think any homeowner whose house is wrongfully broken into should be charged with any crime right up to and including murder if he kills a cop performing an illegal act. I also think any cop who kills a homeowner who was innocent originally even if he killed some cops illegally inside his home on a bad warrant should be charged with capitol murder. It will be the only way to make cops stop, review, and double check their sources before executing a no knock warrant. These are rogue cops on a Rambo high who do not deserve to wear a badge if they cannot get the facts right before going in. There are no mistakes in this kind of business. You do not get to apologize and walk away if you are a cop. Don't like it then quit and dig ditches.
ANYONE armed coming through my door uninvited will be killed.
I'll leave it at that.
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