This report has been going around the internet today detailing how a SWAT team broke down a guy’s door, handcuffed him, threw him and his three pre-teen children into a squad car for hours at a time, all in the name of an investigation into his estranged wife who doesn’t even live there any more. The initial reports said that the raid was about unpaid student loans, the Department of education has strongly denied this, claiming that they issue 30-35 search warrants a year for investigations into bribery, fraud, and embezzlement. Why any of those things would require a SWAT team is anyone’s guess. The fact that the department of education is arming themselves isn’t in question. Here’s an order for 27 short barreled shotguns for the apparently commando organization.
I understand that sometimes cops have to go after armed, dangerous people. But the department of education? What possible justification do they have for arming anyone? Never mind the commando tactics, what if one of the SWAT members tripped and set off his gun? What’s the point of endangering, humiliating, and scaring little kids for a possible bribery case?
This is an easy case to complain about, but there are more and more cases like this popping up. There is a clear trend in the militarization of police, with deadly results. Check out this map to see the body count of innocents, unarmed suspects, and even policemen. It also shows unnecessary raids on doctors and sick people. I’m assuming that the vast majority of these raids involve the “war on drugs,” one more reason to decriminalize drugs. Now we have to watch out for the department of education… Lovely.