Shootout In Minneapolis
There has been another SWAT team playing cowboy and the consequence was near catastrophic.
On 16 December, 2007, a Minneapolis SWAT team broke into the home of Khang family with no warning. The father of the family Vang Khang defended his family as best he could with a shotgun. His wife called 911, and only then they were aware that these were police officers. Two officers were hit by shots but not injured. None of the Khang family, including six children, was injured when the officers returned fire.
Last year, a ninety‑four‑year old woman was shot to death by an Atlanta, Georgia, SWAT team that similarly broke into the wrong house.
As frightening as that was, the aftermath is worse.
The police are blaming everyone but themselves. They blamed the judge who signed the warrant although they are responsible for the truthfulness of the information. They also blame their informant although they had no independent measure of the accuracy of this information. Or, it is possible that someone made an error in preparing the documents and no one checked the documents before the incident?
There have been too many of these incidents, but the police have been brushing them off. They claim that mistakes will happen and that is part of doing business. Of course, they are the ones breaking into homes and shooting elderly women. If they were the recipients, would they claim the same?
Unfortunately, police work has been declining in accuracy and competency. This business of blaming everyone else for problems only exacerbates the issue.
In September, 2006, the Minneapolis Airport Police stopped a bicyclist, Stephan Orsak, tasered him, threw him to the ground, and crushed his glasses. The police later claimed that the area was posted for no bicycles, but the sign they referred to was in a parking lot far away from the roadway. Surveillance tapes did not reveal an altercation between Orsak and the police until the police acted. The Minneapolis PD has a severe problem with training and leadership.
The shoot‑em‑ups that SWAT teams have been involved with are one aspect of the lack of professionalism this is infecting our police organizations. I truly hope that no more innocents die at the hands of a SWAT unit, but the Minneapolis incident came perilously close to gunning down an entire family. And the persons involved blamed it all on others.
Even a simple procedure like having a new set of eyes to examine the information before obtaining a warrant will go a long way to preventing police assaults on the innocent.
Rather than excusing the present level of police behaviors, it is far better to look honestly at the situation with the intent of making things work. We have enough bad people to handle without taking out the innocent and spending time and resources in defending shoddy practices. The solution lies with the chief of police and their employers.
by Brian McCorkle
in category Criminal Justice,Rants
