This is the blunt-end result of all the war imagery and militaristic rhetoric politicians have been spewing for the last 30 years—cops dressed like soldiers, barreling through the front door middle of the night, slaughtering the family pets, filling the house with bullets in the presence of children, then having the audacity to charge the parents with endangering their own kid. There are 100-150 of these raids every day in America, the vast, vast majority like this one, to serve a warrant for a consensual crime.
The “cure” is worse than the disease. Just like alcohol prohibition caused more problems than alcohol ever did, the “war” on (some) drugs has proven to be far worse than the original drug “problem”.
End it now.
Is it bad that I was most upset about the cops shooting a barking dog? I’m just glad I didn’t have to see that.
You shoot a police dog and its considered the same as shooting a cop, you shoot a civilian dog, and well its just a dog.
Un. Fucking. Believable.
Jesus Christ on a pogostick.
What happened to the days of identifying yourself to the American citizens you are arresting? What happened to the days of actually providing the warrant before shooting things? What happened to the days of using the SWAT teams for what they were intially designed – engaging against massively armed, armored, and/or numerous foes intent on doing harm to those around them (including, but not limited to, the police officers coming to arrest them)?
These days, we average citizens have absolutely no way of knowing that the black-suited, armored, armed individual coming through our doors is actually a police officer, “POLICE” emblazoning or not. And one day, one of these raids is going to go horribly wrong, and it will be on their heads.
DISCOVERY FOR THE CIVIL SUIT:
Attorney: Officer X, before I ask you about shooting Mr. Citizen’s dog in front of his young children, do you have children of your own?
Officer X’s Attorney: Objection, relevance?
Attorney: Goes to the officer’s state of mind, your honor.
Judge: Overruled. You may answer the question.
Officer X: I have a son and a daughter.
Attorney: And how old are they?
Officer X: They are both nine years old.
Attorney: Ah, the same age as Mr. Citizen’s children at the time you shot their dog in front of them. And do you or your children have any pets?
Officer X: Yes, they have a puppy. What’s the point of this?
Attorney: Well, since you ask, I suspect that since we all know this civil suit is going nowhere and will be dismissed on the grounds that your actions the night of the raid were well within the established scope of police authority, this information about your children and their pet will likely end up leaked to the Internet, along with the other discovery information such as your full name and home address, so that some civic-minded citizen can enact justice by bashing down your door and shooting your dog in front of your children. How does that make you feel, pig?
Officer: ….
Sorry, got overexited. Of course there’s no judge involved in discovery sessions.
Also, it looks like the spin on this one is going to be that it was a several-day-old warrant, thus the PD’s error was one of delay that allowed the homeowner to dispose of the large cache of pot as part of his nefarious dealings. Perhaps that’s all true. Doesn’t mean they had to a) shoot the dogs; b) serve the warrant at night when the kids were home; c) use the SWAT team.