Mayor's Dogs Killed in Drug Raid

[barman]

QLEAP, I do believe that probably 95% of all police officers working city, county or federal (border control, US Marshals, Secret Service) do indeed have a level of bravery that many folks could not muster for their day to day activities.

The exceptions, sadly, are drug cops who very very rarely are exposed to anything unexpected or particularly dangerous. And none are bigger puzzies than the faux cops of the DEA.

Their biggest risk most days is that they might scuff up their $500 wingtips or worse, that their identity might become public knowledge and thus render them less usable on the street and then they're stuck in an air conditioned office plotting raids of medical marijuana providers.

 

[barman]

Dig the AP coverage of this grim story which further reveals these drug cops to be mayhaps the most cowardly and despicable pieces of shit I've encountered in my past 11 years of working in the field of drug policy reform.

SWAT Team Raids Maryland Mayor's Home, Kills 2 Dogs
Posted: August 1st, 2008 09:14 AM PDT
The Associated Press

BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. - A SWAT team raided the home of a Washington, D.C.-area
mayor, killing his two black Labrador retrievers and seizing an unopened
package of marijuana delivered there.
Prince George's County Police said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo brought
a 32-pound package of marijuana into his home that had been delivered by
officers posing as delivery men. The Tuesday evening raid was conducted by
county police narcotics officers and a sheriff's office SWAT Team.
The package was addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. His mother-in-law
had asked the supposed delivery men to leave the package outside. Calvo has
not been charged, though police said he, his wife and his mother-in-law are
"persons of interest" in an ongoing investigation.
"We never opened the box. We have nothing to do with this box," Calvo said.
Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Mario Ellis says deputies "apparently felt
threatened" when they shot the dogs.
Calvo said officers entered about 7:30 p.m., first shooting 7-year-old
Payton. They then pursued 4-year-old Chase, who ran away and was shot by
police from behind, he said.
Calvo said he doesn't have any idea how the package ended up at his house.
He called the raid "the most traumatic experience" of his life.
Calvo, who called his town "Mayberry inside the Capital Beltway," gets a
small stipend as mayor and works at the SEED Foundation, a nonprofit that
runs public boarding schools for at-risk students. His wife works as a state
finance officer.
"These were two beautiful black Labradors who were well-known in the
community. We walked them twice a day; little kids knew their names and
would come up to them and pet them," he said.​

 

[barman]

Photo of the alleged big marijuana dealin' mayor, his wife and their two dogs before the piece of shit coward drug cops kicked in their door

http://blogofbile.com/tag/trinity-tomsic/

 

[Mistermj]

Cops Who Raided Mayor Didn't Have a No-Knock Warrant
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

It now appears that the entire raid on Berwyn Heights, Maryland Mayor Cheye Calvo may have been illegal. Last week, police stormed Calvo's home without knocking, shot and killed his two black labs, and questioned him and his mother-in-law at gunpoint over a delivered package of marijuana that police now concede may have been intended for someone else.

The Washington Post reports that the police didn't even bother to get a no-knock warrant, which means the tactics they used were illegal:

* A Prince George's police spokesman said last week that a Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county police narcotics officers were operating under such a [no-knock] warrant when they broke down the door of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo, shooting and killing his black Labrador retrievers.

But a review of the warrant indicates that police neither sought nor received permission from Circuit Court Judge Albert W. Northrup to enter without knocking. Northrup found probable cause to suspect that drugs might be in the house and granted police a standard search warrant.

"There's nothing in the four corners of the warrant saying anything about the Calvos being a threat to law enforcement," said Calvo's attorney, Timothy Maloney. "This was a lawless act by law enforcement."

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has given the police leeway to disregard the knock-and-announce requirement. In June 2006, the Court ruled in Hudson v. Michigan that evidence seized in raids in which police fail to properly observe the knock-and-announce rule isn't subject to the Exclusionary Rule. Justice Scalia assured us that there's a "new professionalism" taking root in police departments across the country today, rending the Exclusionary Rule in such cases unnecessary.

http://www.theagitator.com/2008/08/06/cops-who-raided-mayor-didnt-have-a-no-knock-warrant/

 

[DarrylParsons]

Gotta play the standard devil's advocate here simply on the basis of hugely one-sided stories always being fishy...

So it turns out they did have a search warrant. My question is...when was that warrant issued? Was it after the dogs sniffed the FedEx package or before? FedEx works pretty quickly, usually a lot quicker than the court system.

The way the story is presented, it almost seems like such a thing can happen to anyone. So far I've seen nothing to contradict the hypothesis that someone in that family had a history of ongoing drug dealings beyond mere posession for personal consumption.

The investigation should reveal the truth. Until then, I will assume that the probability of my door being forced open by even the most hot-headed cops in my area is exactly 0, even if I somehow get a random package from FedEx filled with drugs. And the reason has 99% to do with my family never having anything to do with drugs and 1% to do with all other factors combined.

Disclaimer: I agree with abolishing prohibition btw.

 

[cd329]

The "WAR ON DRUGS" is one of the biggest scams psuhed on the American people in the history of this country. Its only here so groups of people can become very powerful, create tons of jobs and make gobs of cash hand over fist.
These paramiltary police forces are becoming way to powerful and are now out of control. Unless the people stand up and take back the power these cops are using on its own citizens, we are going to have a full blown communist police state at some point in time and when that happens, it will be way to late to do anything about it. The lawmakers who the people put into office need to start scaling down some of these out of control powers the police now have. There is no way something like this should ever happen in America. This was a case of the police not actually gathering all the facts and instead just wanting to suit up for a raid on a house. There is so many differnt ways this could have been resolved with nobody getting hurt or killed. Very sad what happened here. I hope somehow these cops pay for their cowardly actions.

 

[Coldweather]

Profiling for sure!

 

[barman]

Washington Post Editorial board denouncing this insane use of police power in Aug 7 edition (colored font emphasis added by Steve)

US DC: Editorial: Shoot First, Ask Later

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n760/a06.html
Newshawk: http://www.novembercoalition.org
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Thu, 7 Aug 2008
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2008 The Washington Post Company
Contact: <script>male2('letters','washpost.com');</script>letters@washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mayor+Cheye+Calvo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)

SHOOT FIRST, ASK LATER

In Prince George's, A Drug Bust Goes Awry

The drug raid by Prince George's County law officers on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo last week was a Keystone Kops operation from start to finish.

Acting on a tip that a 32-pound package of marijuana had been sent by Federal Express from Arizona to Mr. Calvo's home ( addressed to his wife, Trinity Tomsic ), Prince George's police swung into action. Which is to say they got on the phone, calling law enforcement agencies to see who might have a SWAT team available to bust the unsuspecting Calvo family. ( It seems the police department's own team was tied up. ) After being turned down at least once, they finally struck a deal with the Prince George's Sheriff's Office, whose track record with domestic disputes is extensive but whose experience with drug busts is slight. And it showed.

Without bothering to alert Berwyn Heights police, sheriff's deputies moved into position. Posing as a deliveryman, a deputy took the package to the family's door. After Mr. Calvo's mother-in-law initially refused to sign for it, the package was finally taken into the home, where it sat, unopened, on the living room floor. Whereupon the deputies, guns drawn, kicked in the door, stormed the house and shot to death the Calvos' two Labrador retrievers, one of them, apparently, as it attempted to flee. The canine threat thus dispatched, the mayor -- in his briefs -- and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and interrogated in close proximity to the bloodied corpses of their dogs.

Within an hour, it seems, the police concluded that something was seriously wrong and that there was at least a strong possibility that the Calvos -- whose home contained not the slightest evidence of involvement in the drug trade -- were unsuspecting victims. The deputies left without making arrests. And yesterday, county police announced the arrest of a deliveryman and another person suspected in a scheme to smuggle hundreds of pounds of marijuana by shipping packages addressed to unsuspecting recipients such as the Calvos.

The Post's Rosalind S. Helderman has reported that when deputies stormed the Calvo household, they didn't even have a no-knock search warrant, the tool specifically designated under Maryland law to deal with searches that police do not wish to announce because they could be dangerous. They had plain vanilla warrants to enter the house and seize the package. In other words, they should have knocked.

Law enforcement officers are justifiably cautious during drug busts, knowing that traffickers frequently are armed and dangerous. In this case, even a cursory investigation prior to the raid might have given the authorities pause about kicking in the door and entering with guns blazing. The sheriff, Michael Jackson, seems embarrassed by the whole episode. He should be.

 

[barman]

My longtime colleague Howard Wooldridge of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, follows up the Post editorial with these rueful observations in this morning's edition:

US DC: PUB LTE: Collateral Damage

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n775/a04.html
Newshawk: LEAP http://www.leap.cc
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 11 Aug 2008
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: A14
Copyright: 2008 The Washington Post Company
Contact: <script>male2('letters','washpost.com');</script>letters@washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n760/a06.html
Author: Howard J. Wooldridge

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Before I retired as a police officer, I participated in drug raids in which I momentarily pointed my gun at 9-year-olds as well as dogs. The death of the Berwyn Heights mayor's dogs [Metro, July 31], the loss of a missionary shot down over Colombia in 2001, innocent pedestrians killed when drug dealers open up on each other -- these tragedies are simply the collateral damage that is necessary for Maryland to remain drug-free.

As much as Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson should be embarrassed ["Shoot First, Ask Later," editorial, Aug. 7], so should The Post, since it supports the current drug control strategy of prohibition. This strategy caused the death of the two dogs, not marijuana. And oh, we are drug-free in Maryland, aren't we?

Howard J. Wooldridge 54

Frederick

The writer is an education specialist with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which favors the legalization and regulation of all drugs.

 

[barman]

From this morning's Baltimore Sun:

US MD: PUB LTE: Raid Underscores Cost Of Drug War

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n777/a07.html
Newshawk: Kirk
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 11 Aug 2008
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2008 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact: <script>male2('letters','baltsun.com');</script>letters@baltsun.com
Website: http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n767/a09.html
Author: Craig Bettenhausen

RAID UNDERSCORES COST OF DRUG WAR

This Berwyn Heights raid seems very shocking, but perhaps it shouldn't ( "Prince George's raid prompts call for probe," Aug. 8 ). The "war on drugs" has been doing things like this to people for decades.

Maybe we'll finally pay attention to how dangerous and counterproductive the "war on drugs" is now that a white middle-class family has suffered the sort of pain and indignity poor and nonwhite people have repeatedly suffered in this war for decades.

But putting the racial aspects of the drug war aside for a moment, I would ask everyone to read about this incident and think about whether the drug war is worth all this.

Are you willing to accept that any Tuesday morning, the police might kick down your door, murder your pets, make you walk backward down the stairs in your underwear with your hands above your head, then handcuff you and throw you to the floor to stare at the pets' corpses - - all to be sure that no one is getting high and eating cookies?

Craig Bettenhausen

Baltimore

 

[barman]

The editorial board at The Free Lance-Star in nearby Fredricksburg VA gets loose with this commentary in Monday's edition:

US VA: Editorial: Gung-ho To A Fault

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n781/a06.html
Newshawk: Educate to Liberate: http://www.efsdp.org
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 11 Aug 2008
Source: Free Lance-Star, The (VA)
Copyright: 2008 The Free Lance-Star
Contact: <script>male2('letters','freelancestar.com');</script>letters@freelancestar.com
Website: http://fredericksburg.com/flshome
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1065
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Cheye+Calvo

GUNG-HO TO A FAULT

Overzealous Police Action In Prince George's County, MD., Crosses The Line

IT COULD HAPPEN anywhere, real-ly--a drug-smuggling operation that catches innocent, law-abiding citizens in its web. But pity one such unwitting family that happens to live in Prince George's County, Md.

Perhaps you've heard the story. A large carton is delivered to the home of the part-time mayor in Berwyn Heights, Md., addressed to his wife. His mother-in-law tells the delivery man to leave it on the porch. The mayor comes home and hauls it inside, not knowing or caring at that point what it was.

What it was was 32 pounds of pot.

Minutes later the county SWAT team busts down his door, shoots two pet black Labrador retrievers to death, orders the mother-in-law to the floor and trusses her up, handcuffs the mayor and ties him to a chair--all this initiating an hours-long interrogation while the cops ransack his house and belongings.

This was a real head-scratcher, because the mayor and his family had always been upstanding folks with no record of drug dealing. The whole shocking episode terrified the living daylights out of them.

A week or so later, the real alleged culprits were arrested on drug charges. The investigation had begun when a drug-sniffing dog hit on the 32-pound package in Arizona, and police posed as delivery men to take it the rest of the way. Turns out the smugglers had done this repeatedly, using other random addresses but successfully intercepting the packages en route to the tune of 417 pounds of pot worth $3.6 million.

Prince George's is a dangerous place; a police officer recently lost his life there. But that must not afford the police the assumption of wrongdoing. Incidents involving questionable police conduct are not uncommon in Prince George's, and police officials always trot out their we're-just-trying-to-do-our-job excuses.

Given that history you might think they would investigate a little first--like checking with the local police chief to learn that this was the mayor's house, for example--before unleashing a nuclear attack on a fly.

The police overreaction in this case should serve as a heads-up to law-enforcement agencies everywhere. The public expects a level of zeal and self-preservation in police officers, but also expects them to think, and acknowledge the rights of the innocent.