If Police Don't Find Anything During a Drug Raid, Should They Have To Fix the Damage?
On Tuesday, I discussed the latest botched drug raid, in which police in Troy, NY tore an innocent family's home apart, found nothing, and defiantly refused to clean up after themselves. They argue that the warrant was valid, based on probable cause and signed by a judge, thus they have no legal obligation to clean up the mess they made. It's technically correct, but still despicable, which led me to call for reforms to that policy.
Initially, it struck me as a no-brainer; here we have police trading leniency for information, then raiding homes based on the word of informants with a monumental incentive to lie. Officers should do the necessary footwork to verify such information, or else bear the cost. It's really the least we can do for the innocent victims of the drug war's rock-bottom evidentiary standards. If police don't want to help innocent people, then what are they for?
But ezrdyn, a commenter on this DrugWarRant post, responded with a chilling counterpoint: if police must clean up after unsuccessful drug raids, we're giving them an incentive to make sure, by any necessary means, that drugs are found no matter what. It's a terrible catch-22 that the same policies that might encourage police to be careful when planning a raid also encourage planting evidence against innocent people to avoid responsibility when they damage property and come up with nothing.
The real solution then is to reform our informant policies themselves, prohibiting police from raiding homes based on coerced testimony from criminal defendants. That is the common denominator, the unifying trait shared by so many of the worst botched drug raid disasters. Police will do anything to conceal their sources and shield from meaningful scrutiny the inherently corrupt process by which these decisions are made to begin with. That is the thread that must be pulled if we are to unravel and expose the questionable conditions under which these catastrophes continue to occur.
Initially, it struck me as a no-brainer; here we have police trading leniency for information, then raiding homes based on the word of informants with a monumental incentive to lie. Officers should do the necessary footwork to verify such information, or else bear the cost. It's really the least we can do for the innocent victims of the drug war's rock-bottom evidentiary standards. If police don't want to help innocent people, then what are they for?
But ezrdyn, a commenter on this DrugWarRant post, responded with a chilling counterpoint: if police must clean up after unsuccessful drug raids, we're giving them an incentive to make sure, by any necessary means, that drugs are found no matter what. It's a terrible catch-22 that the same policies that might encourage police to be careful when planning a raid also encourage planting evidence against innocent people to avoid responsibility when they damage property and come up with nothing.
The real solution then is to reform our informant policies themselves, prohibiting police from raiding homes based on coerced testimony from criminal defendants. That is the common denominator, the unifying trait shared by so many of the worst botched drug raid disasters. Police will do anything to conceal their sources and shield from meaningful scrutiny the inherently corrupt process by which these decisions are made to begin with. That is the thread that must be pulled if we are to unravel and expose the questionable conditions under which these catastrophes continue to occur.
Looking for the easiest way to join the anti-drug war movement? You've found it!
Snitch Deals
Certainly fixing the damage caused by non-productive police raids would be appropriate; however, given the immediate record of failure by the police, I don’t think I would want the same people who created the mess to come anywhere near me again. Aside from that, a significant part of the problem appears to be unreliable informant(s). The informant problem has a solution.
Snitch deals between police and informers could be made conditional. If the drugs the snitch claims to exist are not found on the suspect or in their residence, then the snitch would automatically receive the same prison sentence the alleged drug suspect would have received had the drugs actually been found by the police.
There is a legal precedent for this solution.
During the Middle Ages, in certain parts of Scandinavia, if someone accused someone else of being a witch, and the accused was found innocent of witchcraft (which was likely in Scandinavia, if nowhere else), the original informant was tried and sentenced just like a witch.
The result of the Scandinavian policy was that the number of witch accusations sank like a rock in a pond. No one was willing to take that kind of risk.
There’s nothing like a loaded demand for certainty when it comes to justice.
Giordano
Fine...
What would you do if you got raided by accident.
Your doors and windows ripped out, grenades tossed into your home, your matress and sofa cut to pieces all your droors cabinets open and all of your personal things tossed onto the flood and walked on, everything in your house will be torn appart exposed and looked through.
Your home is now open to robbers and thieves. You will have big bright advertising for them taped accross your door and windows.
So much for security. Let's hope you don't have any children or infants around when they throw concusion and flash grenades into your home.
unjustified police harrassment
MY COUSIN WORKS FOR THE D.E.A.. HE TALKED ME INTO GOING TO THE BAR AND BUY SOME BEER FOR HIM BECAUSE HE DIDN'T HAVE HIS I.D. ON HIM. I WENT ALONG AFTER HE KEPT UP THE BEGGING. ME AND HIM WALKED INTO THE BAR AND HE PURCHASED THE BEER WITH HIS MONEY. I DID NOT EVEN TOUCH THE BEER. WELL, WE LEFT THE BAR AND WAS GOING DOWN THE ROAD. WE GOT PULLED OVER. THE GUT THAT HE BROUGHT TO MY HOUSE WAS HIS NEW SNITCH. WELL HERE HE WAS UNDER AGE. HE JUMPED OUT OF THE CAR AND TOLD THE POLICE THAT I HAD GIVEN HIM BEER. I NEVER EVEN TALKED TO THE KID. BUT, YET. I WAS FINED AND JAILED FOR CONTRIBUTING TO A MINOR. I NEVER TOLD THE JUDGE OR ANYONE ALSE FOR THAT MATTER, WHO HE WORKED FOR. THEN THEY STARTED TO HARRASS ME FOR NOT WANTING TO PARTISAPATE IN THERE DRUG WAR. I HAVE BEEN ARRESSTED SEVERAL TIMES IN THE YEARS FOR NOT LIKING THERE PROFESSION. BUT, BECAUSE I KNOW THEY ARE DIRTY COPS I HAVE HAD A HUNT PUT ON ME BYE THE POLICE IN MY COMMUNITY. THEY ARE DIRTY AND THATS A FACT. I KNOW ALOT OF THEM PERSONALLY.
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