I had a couple of different blogs planned but whats going on right now in Minneapolis deserves some attention.

(Short Summary: A convergence space and several homes were raided in the past 24 hours for thought crimes. The Coldsnap Legal Collective is monitoring the situation.)

County law enforcement has decided to raid a number of houses in a pre-emptive strike to intimidate and harass protesters and anyone who may open their homes to protesters in the twin cities. It started last night in St. Paul. (link)

You might be wondering, as I am, how they know which houses protesters are staying at. Seems to me that a bit of illegal spying was done here.

You may also be wondering, as I am, why police need sub-machine guns and tactical dress to raid houses to illegally arrest protesters. Sounds like intimidation tactics to me.

These raids have resulted in property damage. Wouldn't ya know it, city inspectors just happen to be on hand to promptly enter these homes while the owners are hauled off to cite violations of city code, so they can board the houses up. Boarding results in a bill to the home owner of $6000. Meanwhile, neighbors complain of crack houses next door that the police and city ignore. (link)

I'm curious if the police are now capable of seeing the future, and if visions are all that is needed to obtain a warrant. Though don't ask to see that warrant, the police might not show it to you, and will instead arrest you. (link)

The police wonder why anyone would run from heavily armed tactical police units that have surrounded a home when no crime has been committed. Call me crazy but I wouldn't be too keen on being arrested for doing nothing wrong by people who apparently don't care about my rights.

Twin city officials we're not notified of these raids. Normal channels for calling city inspectors to board up houses were also not followed. Boarding happens for abandoned or ramshackle condemned houses. Clearly, these homes being raided are not abandoned.

If you want to see another abuse of power, you can read about the no knock warrant on a mayor's house in Berwyn Heights, Maryland (link). This raid resulted in the shooting deaths of the mayor's dogs, two black labs. These are not vicious dogs. I've owned more than a couple labradors and they make poor watchdogs. Besides, why don't the police just taser them if they feel so threatened?

This case reveals so much that is wrong with law enforcement today. Apparently the mayor was a victim of a scam by drug dealers (of which I know a little something about, since some idiot tried to scam me into something similar). These drug dealers would randomly pick a house, have their drugs shipped to the house where their associates would then pick up the package. An idiotic plan if you ask me, but it's what they did. The police found one package at an airport in Arizona. Rather than pick it up there, they decided to follow it. Even though they already knew where it was going, in this case, to the mayor's house in Berwyn Heights.

They staked out the mayor's house. The mayor came home, found a package on his front step addressed to his wife, and brought it inside, not knowing it was full of that oh so dangerous weed known for making people mellow and very hungry. The police then pounced, raiding the house as if it contained heavily armed terrorists.

Now, does it not seem obvious that there was a better way to go about this? I would have waited for the mayor to leave his house, then quietly arrested him. See what happens there? No violence, no dogs being shot by scared and paranoid officers, no property damage.

Instead, law enforcement has decided that the war on drugs needed to be escalated, and so they got the go ahead for no knock warrants from our wonderfully screwed up Supreme Court.

The no knock warrant is primarily desired to prevent drug evidence from being flushed away. Secondly, the no knock warrant is designed to give the occupants of a dwelling no warning, thus they cannot dig in and fight back.

Now, these two concerns are valid on their face, especially if you support the war on drugs, which I do not for very logical reasons which is another blog post entirely. The geniuses who came up with this no knock warrant disaster don't appear to have thought things through. Or they just don't care.

1) What happens if you raid the wrong house? (link)

2) What happens if your probable cause for a warrant comes from an interview with an ignorant employee of a utility company making a house call, there is no further investigation, you make the raid and the meth lab you were trying to find is nowhere to be found? (link)

3) What happens when you raid a house, the resident is sleeping, you startle her awake, she thinks it's a home invasion (because she's been burglarized before), and shoots back? (link)

It seems to me that law enforcement has decided to minimize risks to themselves while heaping it upon the citizens they are supposed to serve and protect. Law enforcement has always had a poor PR image due to excesses by bad cops. This bad PR makes it difficult for law enforcement to do their job as a whole, and it also makes life difficult for the good cops that I know are out there, like my grandfather who was a state trooper right here in RI.

Political dissent is being criminalized in this nation. The war on drugs has become out of control. If getting high is going to be a crime then so should getting drunk. Oh, we tried that. I remember now. The war on alcohol was ended after a decade of violence and a failure to stamp out alcohol use in America. The war on drugs has been going on longer, meeting similar failure and producing even more violence. The war on political dissent, well that's been going on for centuries, protects only unpopular politics (and corporations), and has failed to snuff out the spirit of dissent. It's insane that these wars haven't been ended.