Radley Balko has a new piece at Reason showing that the disastrous Cheye Calvo raid is just the tip of the iceberg. His conclusion is sad, but probably correct:
Hopefully Calvo's lawsuit, along with the new SWAT monitoring legislation he helped pass, will bring about needed changes without any more lives having to be lost. I'd hate to think that further bloodshed is the only path to reform.
Terrible as it sounds, it may well take more mistaken raids on high-status victims like Calvo to generate real debate over the wisdom of using violent, high-risk police tactics to serve warrants for nonviolent crimes.
Hopefully Calvo's lawsuit, along with the new SWAT monitoring legislation he helped pass, will bring about needed changes without any more lives having to be lost. I'd hate to think that further bloodshed is the only path to reform.
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