Almost all of the posts, so far, have argued the wrong approach. Most of the discussion has been about "What can/should/would I do if the cops barge in." A few have discussed abolishing no-knock warrants (NKWs).
But there's a different solution.
mskdgunman said:
As for hitting the wrong house, I have never personally seen how it can be done if you (as the officer writing/executing the warrant) do your job properly. We've all heard the horror stories so it does happen but thankfully, it's the exception. As mentioned by another poster, if you are on the receiving end of one of these exceptions, the best course of action is to cooperate immediately. Any attempts to do otherwise will be dealt with. Remember that we don't know at that time that we're in the wrong house and will just assume that you're a BG with a gun and take the necessary action.
Mskdgunman gets it right up front. The police
must be legally accountable for doing their job correctly. The sad part is that
Mskdgunman closes with "we don't know we're in the wrong house..." which is total utter bovine apples.
In today's computerized, digitized, cross-referenced world,
there are ZERO excuses for raiding the wrong house. Most cities and counties keep detailed maps of their streets, buildings and residences. Aerial mapping surveys are easily availble from several sources in full color and high resolution detail. GPS detail can give you the precise location (within 6 ft) of the front door.
The officers swearing out the complaint are the primary responsibles. THEY are accountable for validating the information is correct. THEY are responsible for ensuring ALL the documents bear the correct full address and location requirements. THEY are responsible for pledging their names and reputations that the information meets all legal and civil standards. Whomever presents the information to the judge and fabricates any statement or evidence or lies when he is unsure of an answer has his head in the noose too.
Warrants require an oath, under penalty of perjury, that the person writing the warrant request has put forth true and correct statements. It's not enough to say the info is true & correct because came from officer Frecklebelly via radio - and
gosh, he wouldn't lie
about it.
Remember that warrants were originally required because King George's men would routinely ransack the homes of dissidents and their supporters, just to cause hardships. Now they include door-busting trigger-ready paramilitary types.
travlin said:
They claimed it wasn't their fault because they got bad information from an informant. We all know how reliable criminals and drug dealers are. I think several cops up the line of command should have been fired. These raids need to end.
But I posit
that is is their (the police's) fault. I have never known a judge comfortable with issuing a warrant on the accusation of a single informant, especially a drug user or dealer. Judges usually want see that police have observed the location for some time or have other supporting evidence.
I should add here that once a warrant has been issued, it's sometimes handed to SWAT to execute. In some department the case officers are not present or because of their "undercover" status, they're absent. But that does not excuse the raid team if they get the wrong address. There should be no excuses.
There should be no excuses as to which unit of a Duplex is the raid target. The raid target should be positively identified as the location of some suspected illegality
before the warrant is issued. Each and every officer should be able to identify the target house on sight and distinguish it from a neighboring house.
If a raid goes south because the raid team hit the wrong house, then ALL of those officers should be relieved of duty pending investigation and any prosecution. At the very least, the raid commander is responsible for any illegal conduct.
If it's found that the warrant itself was faulty - bad information presented to the judge - the officers requesting the warrant are on the hook for perjury and any injuries or damage. This includes typographical errors like omiting the N-S-E-W portions of a street name, jumbling up the street number or naming the wrong apartment.
If this sounds unworkable to LEOs, that's too damn bad.
Do the work. Do
everything to safeguard the innocent.
If a homeowner enters his garage from inside the house and is suddenly confronted by a figure holding a metallic object and he kills the 16 y/o neighbor kid, in many states the homeowner will be charged with homicide. He doesn't get the excuse that the kid's cell phone or flashlight looked like a gun. He's accused of shooting too fast. Likewise he doesn't get to claim "he didn't know" the kid was returning his son's baseball glove at 11:30pm. For the police to say "We didn't know..." when they have multiple resources and an entire city government to use is just ludicrous.
