Canadian Cops Bounced for Botched Raid on Kids Birthday Party

O

Oatka

New member
Note the attention-grabbing first paragraph - and the last one.
http://chblue.com/Article.asp?ID=514

Canadian Cops Bounced for Botched Raid on Kids Birthday Party

VANCOUVER (CP) - Two police officers who burst in on a children's birthday party and shot the family dog during a botched drug raid will be kicked off an elite emergency team.

One of the two, Const. Matthew Sekela, has also been suspended for five days following a ruling Monday by the B.C. Police Complaints Commission. The commission decided not to suspend Sekela's colleague Const. David Schmirler, but both will be re-assigned from Abbotsford's emergency response team.

Sekela led the emergency response team into a home where the party was taking place in January, 1999. The team had a warrant and was looking for drugs.

Fourteen children and 14 adults were at Ron Raber's son's seventh birthday party when the Abbotsford emergency response team burst in.

They were armed with MP5 machine pistols.
As the children and parents watched in horror, Schmirler fired two shots and killed Kona the pit bull when it attacked another officer's arm.

Abbotsford police Chief Barry Daniels said the force had changed its tactics.
"It won't happen again," he said. "We've put policy in place."

But the loss of Schmirler and Sekela to the ERT operation will hurt.

"They are two highly trained police officers and very difficult to replace," said the chief.

Last week, the commission found the pair guilty of violating professional conduct regulations under the Police Act.

Adjudicator Peter Millward, a retired B.C. Supreme Court judge, also found Schmirler guilty of improper use of a firearm in the shooting of Kona during the raid.

Under the Police Act the officers could have faced penalties as severe as dismissal.
Attorney General Andrew Petter later ordered a review of the use of police tactical teams in the wake of the ruling.

Outside the hearing, Daniels apologized again for the incident. "We don't go out to kids' birthdays and shoot dogs," said Daniels, who was acting as the force's duty officer the day of the raid.

"There was no intent to do that. Things went wrong as they sometimes do." He said the force regretted that children had to be exposed to gunfire.

Raber spent more than two months in jail after the raid on drug charges, which were eventually stayed.

© The Canadian Press, 2000
 
Sometimes life does imitate art.

There is a scene towards the end of L. Neil Smith's book "The Probability Broach" where the band of heroes bursts in on a child's birthday party while attempting to stop some bad guys.

Of course, in LNS's alternate world, the heroes had to pay quite a few grams of gold to cover their asses, and at least they didn't shoot the family dog.

Funny, these guys both shot and scr#@$d the pooch.
 
"They are two highly trained police officers and very difficult to replace," said the chief.

Trained to terrorize little kids? So hire another couple of thugs. Just spring two more creeps from jail and put them to work.

He said the force regretted that children had to be exposed to gunfire.

HAD to be?! BULLSH!T! This wasn't a hostage crisis or armed standoff! THERE WAS NO NEED FOR A "DYNAMIC" ENTRY, DAMMIT!

Under the Police Act the officers could have faced penalties as severe as dismissal.

And under the Fitzpatrick Defense-of-Self-and-Home Act, they could have faced penalties as severe as execution.

"We don't go out to kids' birthdays and shoot dogs," said Daniels, who was acting as the force's duty officer the day of the raid.

No sh!t, Sherlock. If that was your standard SOP you'd be nailed to a power pole.

Typical whitewash. The cops murdered family members, terrorized small children, and are getting away clean.

This incident has been brought to you by The War On Some Drugs. Have a nice day.

:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Bwahh hah ha ha ha!

"We don't go out to kids' birthdays and shoot dogs," Uh - you just did.

Tragic situation asside - this is pretty dang funny. I love the Solution: POLICY REVIEW! HA! Might as well been "My Bad" for all the good that is. Punishing the Officers is in order too... Good - here in the States if OH... say we accidently shoot a Mom holding a Baby (Vicky Weaver) - thats Okay... A Dog? POLICY REVIEW!

Canada needs to pay these good folks som compensations. 1. for the dog. 2. for the trauma. 3. for the distrust of police officers and the whole - you just burst our urban comfort bubble.
 
Until I knew more I might be inclined to give Murphy's Law a little more credit for the blotched mess. Even drug users/dealers have been known to give their children birthday parties. I don't know that the team had any way of knowing that there was a whole bunch of kids in the house before they entered. If they did, then they probably shouldn't have entered - but maybe they knew, maybe not.

They did have a warrant - which I assume even under Canadian law requires some degree of probable cause.

The father did spend two months in jail on drug charges.

Shooting the family pet was regretable, but I wasn't there and it may well be that his partner was at risk of severed tendons or crushed wrist bones. Then again maybe not, but I don't know. If it was a pit bull intent on protecting his family and turf, then I don't think a "Nice doggy" and two milk bones would have done much to change his behavior.

Not to excuse the officer's behavior necessarily, but I'm willing to entertain the thought that it might have been more of a situation that just turned sour rather than evidence of malevolence on the part of the officers.

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Jim Fox
 
Jim, I think that most of us realize that such LEO's are usually not malevolent. But, what was so critical that they could even take a chance of invading a kid's birthday party with MP5's? The possibilty that dad might flush a truckload of dope down the commode?

But of course, our officers aren't trained to attack kid's birthday parties, this was simply a mistake, this seldom happens, such LEO's are highly trained, quit picking on LEO's, we've put policy in place, the dog attacked the LEO's, blah, blah, blah.

We'd have heard the same excuses if a child had been murdered in this incident ... there simply would have been more apologies. But, hey ... keep up the no-knocks. If it hasn't happened already, you'll eventually kill some kids. But you'll keep those drugs out of the toilet, right?

Sorry, but I'm tired of this idiotic debate.

The 'no-knock' policy is the problem, friends.

Regards from AZ
 
Will the giant eye behind my monitor screen (Coinneach) tell me if its OK to flame Abotsford Police Chief Barry Daniels. My two incissors are portruding and the hair is starting to stand up on the nape of my neck, plus a rumbling growl is forming in my gut.
 
To the dip**** up North who's running the Abotsford Police goon squad. You are a disgrace to the profession of police officers. Your tactics are not justified and no amount of double speaking trying to placate the locals...that your bloody boys didn't really mean any harm...well they did and your excuses suck...you smuck. I was once thinking about visiting your lovely Country but the fear of your good squads raiding my motel room is probably more than the wife and I could endure. No telling what your border guards would do to us elderly. You, who prey on little kids and daddy pot smokers. You owe that family for a dead dog and compensation for their trauma...you JBTs.

Have a nice day your lordship.

James
 
What Jeff said.

'No knock' warrants should be reserved for instances where there is an immediate threat to someone's life.

There was not a single person at that party in any sort of danger, until the police endangered them. It was sheer dumb luck that no one was killed.

pax

"The history of Liberty is a history of the limitation of government power." -- Woodrow Wilson
 
It won't happen again," he said. "We've put policy in place."

What did the policy say before? It's OK to burst in on a party and shoot the dog? Putting in policy in place is not going to prevent mistakes. That kind of thinking is like the people who think that if guns are banned no one will have guns.

How about a policy about weighing whether heavy-duty entry techniques are worthwhile in the situation?
 
I live just a few miles from where this incident took place. Right after the incident, the police 'spokesperson' was on TV, explaining "what went wrong"...she admitted that the police had been staking out the residence for weeks, suspecting that 'drug deals' were being conducted inside the house...they didn't see the 14 children arriving for the birthday party, it seems...
This tin-pot 'police force' out in Abbotsford have had the crap kicked out of them over this incident, don't worry...they are a damn disgrace, and they know it.
 
Hello,Mike Davies:

Won't you please keep the TFL up dated on this local issue of yours. Maybe something will be resolved that could possibly help our side of the border with simuler problems of un warranted entry. By the way, I noticed they doen't say what kind of drugs or the amount of was found on the premises. I'll bet it was a few joints. Two months in the slammer doesn't sound like much of an infracton of the law. You can get that for spitting on the sidewalk down here.
 
A few Joints.....

The Police wouldn't be kicking in a door for a Few Joints, hell the cops would have probably given them a rolling lesson.

Marijuana in Canada is an Open Drug that they don't usually blow a cap over. I believe the drug in this case was Cocaine and Ecstasy.

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PROUD TO BE CANADIAN
 
Westicle:

I'm pretty square (no, I'm more round than square) but what is Ectasy? Do you snort it, stick it or swallow it? And no...I don't use drugs...well, just heart blood pressure medications. I'm currious what got the kids daddy put in the pokey for 2 months. I understand in our Country one can get 10 years for illegal drugs...just having them in your possession like in your car. I guess if we didn't have drug laws there wouldn't be any dynamic entry process, and we probably wouldn't have all the crime we have. If people can drink why not fry their brains with drugs too. That ought to draw some AAA.
 
"Canada is a country so square that even the female impersonators are women."

-- Richard Brenner



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LowClassCat
Always willing to calculate my chances
 
Having crossed Canada many times in a truck I have noticed they are much like us . Except we end our sentences with a period and they use "EH?" . It was my extreme pleasure to attend my cousins wedding in Harlowe Ontario and noticed the only diff was no booze where kids are . The point ? Oh , yeah .
Well since they are just like us it stands to reason that kids parties would be pretty much the same as here . Any house with 14 kids having a birthday party would have a "signature" visable from the Mir Space Station . How this could have been missed would be worthy of cops that could not follow wagon tracks in the mud .
Any PD worth their salt would not only have noticed this but SHOULD have "pulled plug" and snuck back another time . These guys should never carry weapons ever again . Not only for the shots fired but for the stupidity it took to go as far as it did .
I will address the next question to the combat vets . Remember before your first fire fight ? What you wanted to do and hoped you would perform well and be a credit to yourself ? When the lead flew the first time we had no time to think . Only react . This split second was the proof to your buddies if you were one they could trust to watch their backs . No amount of BS would do this any better . This was that moment for these guys . The PD sees that these guys came apart just when they should not have . The proof of the pudding if you will . "Second Chance " ? Did I hear that ? Who said that ? Well....O.K. but it has to be YOUR HOUSE .
LOOKING for drugs ? I think they were ON drugs .

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TOM
SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA
 
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