Not too much else to say regarding the article---sort of speaks for itself.
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?38833b1f-5325-49d5-8cb7-84211f594afe
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?38833b1f-5325-49d5-8cb7-84211f594afe
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Hawaii's no-knock cops
- Thread starter MoW
- Start date
Finally, by 1990 (the last year for which the information has been made public) 38% of all police departments, 51% of all sheriff departments and 94% of all state police departments in the U.S. received money from the sale of boats, cars and other assets seized during drug raids.
This money is then used to outfit more SWAT teams for more asset-seizing raids – a practice that serves as a license for SWAT teams to confiscate private property for their own use.
Pretty much sums it up. Its not about catching criminals, is about revenue generation. Aggravated Assault and theft, under color of law.
A few years back, there was a Sheriff here in central Florida who was having his deputies pull people over and search vehicles. If you had a large amount of cash on your person, it was confiscated until you could prove to the sheriff that you legally had it, which almost no one could.
Read on: (from http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=323)
The presumption of guilt is also a casualty of the drug war. The police department in Sulphur, Louisiana, a community of 20,552, fought the drug menace by seizing about $5 million between 1990 and the end of 1994. Speeders on Interstate 10 are pulled over and those with a lot of cash are identified. Their cash is seized if narco-dog smells drugs on it. A successful seizure is likely, since virtually all our currency has trace amounts of cocaine. The Sulphur police and D.A. do not seem to care about the actual guilt or innocence of the cash-carrying speeders, however, as criminal charges are rarely pressed.
The Sulphur police may have started their cash confiscation policy after hearing about the budget-bulging activities of the Sheriff in Volusia County, Florida where over $8 million dollars (an average of $5,000 per day) was seized from motorists on Interstate 95 during a 41 month period between 1989 and 1992. How many were drug traffickers? No one knows, since few charges were filed, but many were probably innocent victims. Three- fourths of Volusia County’s 199 seizures did not include an arrest and were contested. But the motorists did not get their money back even when the seizure was challenged—even when no proof of wrong-doing or criminal record could be found and the victims provided evidence that the money was legitimately earned. Instead, the sheriff’s forfeiture attorney handle settlement negotiations. Only four people got their money back. One went to trial but lost and has appealed. Facing high civil litigation costs, the rest settled for 50 to 90 percent of their money after promising not to sue the sheriff’s department. Of course, they also had to pay a third or more of the returned money to their attorneys. Their crime? They fit a “drug profile” and they made the mistake of driving through Volusia County with cash in their pockets. Is the sacrifice of the innocent and of their civil liberties worth the effort in the case of the war on drugs?
Read on: (from http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=323)
The presumption of guilt is also a casualty of the drug war. The police department in Sulphur, Louisiana, a community of 20,552, fought the drug menace by seizing about $5 million between 1990 and the end of 1994. Speeders on Interstate 10 are pulled over and those with a lot of cash are identified. Their cash is seized if narco-dog smells drugs on it. A successful seizure is likely, since virtually all our currency has trace amounts of cocaine. The Sulphur police and D.A. do not seem to care about the actual guilt or innocence of the cash-carrying speeders, however, as criminal charges are rarely pressed.
The Sulphur police may have started their cash confiscation policy after hearing about the budget-bulging activities of the Sheriff in Volusia County, Florida where over $8 million dollars (an average of $5,000 per day) was seized from motorists on Interstate 95 during a 41 month period between 1989 and 1992. How many were drug traffickers? No one knows, since few charges were filed, but many were probably innocent victims. Three- fourths of Volusia County’s 199 seizures did not include an arrest and were contested. But the motorists did not get their money back even when the seizure was challenged—even when no proof of wrong-doing or criminal record could be found and the victims provided evidence that the money was legitimately earned. Instead, the sheriff’s forfeiture attorney handle settlement negotiations. Only four people got their money back. One went to trial but lost and has appealed. Facing high civil litigation costs, the rest settled for 50 to 90 percent of their money after promising not to sue the sheriff’s department. Of course, they also had to pay a third or more of the returned money to their attorneys. Their crime? They fit a “drug profile” and they made the mistake of driving through Volusia County with cash in their pockets. Is the sacrifice of the innocent and of their civil liberties worth the effort in the case of the war on drugs?
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SWAT on Kauai?!?
Well, that is a little overkill. Did you know that Island has only one traffic light on it? Right in the middle of town. It is hardly a place that requires an SRT team...
However. "Ice" aka Methamphedimine has become an epidemic in Hawaii. An article in the "Hawaiian Tribune Herald" stated that 75% of all the people arrested (and tested) in 2005 showed positive for Meth. 3 out of 4 people. The Aloha State has become the realm of the Rock Monsters. SWAT now handles 100% of the raids directed at Ice labs and they have made a difference in the community. I agree, the raid on Kauai is a spooky thing and should have never happened, but there are always 2 sides to a coin.
Well, that is a little overkill. Did you know that Island has only one traffic light on it? Right in the middle of town. It is hardly a place that requires an SRT team...
However. "Ice" aka Methamphedimine has become an epidemic in Hawaii. An article in the "Hawaiian Tribune Herald" stated that 75% of all the people arrested (and tested) in 2005 showed positive for Meth. 3 out of 4 people. The Aloha State has become the realm of the Rock Monsters. SWAT now handles 100% of the raids directed at Ice labs and they have made a difference in the community. I agree, the raid on Kauai is a spooky thing and should have never happened, but there are always 2 sides to a coin.
but there are always 2 sides to a coin.
I dont see the "two sides" when the WRONG house is raided.
Excerpt from:
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?38833b1f-5325-49d5-8cb7-84211f594afe
In 2005, Balko reports, police in Omao, Kauai broke into the home of Sharon and William McCulley on a drug raid. They were tracking down a box that allegedly contained marijuana and believed the box to be in the McCulley’s possession.
The McCulleys, at home with their grandchildren, were thrown to the ground and Sharon was handcuffed and held down at gunpoint as her grandchildren lie next to her.
William, who walks with the aid of a walker and has an implanted device that delivers electric shocks to his spine to relieve pain, began flopping around on the floor after the device malfunctioned from the trauma of being thrown down.
The police had raided the wrong address. They then erroneously raided a second home before finally locating the box and arresting several men