Okay, where to start?
First Dr. Rob,
Probable Cause is less than proof, but more than suspision (SP?). What a Citizen observed or over heard, along with the history of the suspect and Officer observations, can be used to build a case for probable cause. This must be articulated and sworn to by the Officer getting the Warrant. But these things by themselves do not add up to proof, in a Court of Law. They also don't always add up to the higher standard of and Arrest Warrant.
DC,
Ever notice that nearly all the wrong house raids are in the Metro Areas? I beleive the problem lies in the over specalization of units. The Swat team that does the raid has no knowlage of the case, and the investigation team isn't in on the raid. The Secretary thhat type up the warrant is completely obivious to everything but the chicken scratching he/she is trying to read. The Judge thinks everything looks in order, and the investgator swears to it. And boom the wrong house gets hit.
I am not making excuses, it is lazy and shoddy police work.
Then there are the time when all the information comes from an informant, with little or no checking by an Officer. That DC is a tragity waiting to happened, and I consider it Criminal Neglect.
I have never gone to the wrong house, but the LEO that got the warrant always pointed out the house, and was part of the raid. Nor have I Ever taken a Informant's word alone for a warrant or a residence.
As to why the LE administration wants the press in on these actions? Remember they are not Police Officers, and some never have been. They are Political Appointees, or worse Elected and looking to get re-elected.
To most of these Metro area lap dogs, the press is a tool to make them and there bosses look good. If thing go wrong, they'll throw a few street cops to the wolves, and sit there all fat and happy. You stay upset at the Street cops, and they are in a win win situation. The everyday LEO on the street has about as much chance of changing that as an ice cube in Death Valley. At least not without the help of the voters, but the voters are not mad at the Chief or Sheriff, they are upset by those "trigger happy" street cops. And After all didn't the Chief fire those bad cops. You know the same ones he chewed for not making enough raids, using the flawed system he set up.
I know of few Officers that think of themselves as incapable of mistakes. And some are just plain dirty. The bad ones survive longer in the larger Departments, where the "them against us" is the norm.
I suggest you support Community policing, so that the LEO's get to know the area they are working. Make Sure it's the real Community Policing not the drivil the Politico's like to pass off as Community Policing.
That is an advantage I have here in the hinterlands. I know the people and they know me, and I care. Because these people are my neighbors, their children go to school with mine. And sometimes I even get a Citizen to give me good info on a BG, because they trust me to follow it up, and they know I won't burn them or blow them off.
No amount of care will stop all the mistakes. Just as not stopping some of those that pray on the innocent will cost innocent live, I'm sorry to say that attempting to stop the preditors will also put the innocent at risk.
I sadly can state, that no amount of wishing, training, cussing, or complaining can make an LEO anything other than a failable human, who just like every other human wants to go home at the end of the day. Have a beer, and talk on TFL.
I was feeling poetic.