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turtle777 · Jun 8, 2011, 02:57 PM

Ain't that some shit

STOCKTON, CA - Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

"I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers," Wright said.

Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.

"He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there," Wright said.

According to Wright, officers also woke his three young children ages 3, 7, and 11 and put them in a Stockton police patrol car with him. Officers then searched his house.

Dept. of Education breaks down Stockton mans door | Community | Central Stockton News

WTF happend to this country ?
We have a Democrat administration, and even they pull this facist crap on innocent people ?
Couldn't they at least get some intel before storming in with an army ?
Let alone, don't SWAT teams have anything better to do ?

This makes me so angry. And please, don't make this a party thing, because clearly, there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to f*cking this country's liberties in the rears.

-t

turtle777 · Jun 8, 2011, 03:01 PM

Wanna add some tidbit from Karl Denninger:

Incidentally, it is (theoretically) unconstitutional to imprison someone for debt. This means such an event is not a criminal act, it's a civil one, which in turn means - at least if the government gave a damn about The Constitution - they had no cause to use "law enforcement" in this sort of circumstance at all.

Market-Ticker - MarketTicker Forums

The Rule of Law is dead in the US.

-t

SpaceMonkey · Jun 8, 2011, 03:09 PM

1. Carrying out a search warrant is not the same thing as arresting someone.

2. The raid was apparently part of a criminal investigation and not related to defaulted student loans:
Department Of Education: Raid Of California Man's Home Was Not Related To Defaulted Student Loans

turtle777 · Jun 8, 2011, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

1. Carrying out a search warrant is not the same thing as arresting someone.

Locking him up in a SWAT car for 6 hours in front of his children is NOT an arrest ?

Go figure.

-t

SpaceMonkey · Jun 8, 2011, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Locking him up in a SWAT car for 6 hours in front of his children is NOT an arrest ?

Go figure.

-t

Nope.

turtle777 · Jun 8, 2011, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

2. The raid was apparently part of a criminal investigation and not related to defaulted student loans:
Department Of Education: Raid Of California Man's Home Was Not Related To Defaulted Student Loans

WTF does the Dept. of Education have to do with criminal investigations ?
Why wasn't the warrant issued by an agency that has ACTUAL business pursuing criminal investigations ?

Something is rally, really wrong about this whole thing.

-t

olePigeon · Jun 8, 2011, 03:18 PM

Any of you been to Stockton? I would've used SWAT.

SpaceMonkey · Jun 8, 2011, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

WTF does the Dept. of Education have to do with criminal investigations ?
Why wasn't the warrant issued by an agency that has ACTUAL business pursuing criminal investigations ?

Something is rally, really wrong about this whole thing.

-t

The Department of Education has an Inspector General.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

In the United States, an Inspector General (IG) leads an organization charged with examining the actions of a government agency, military organization, or military contractor as a general auditor of their operations to ensure they are operating in compliance with generally established policies of the government, to audit the effectiveness of security procedures, or to discover the possibility of misconduct, waste, fraud, theft, or certain types of criminal activity by individuals or groups related to the agency's operation, usually involving some misuse of the organization's funds or credit. In the United States, there are numerous Offices of Inspector General (OIGs) at the federal, state, and local levels.

Presumably, this investigation is related to "bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds" (per the spokesperson as quoted in the Huffpost) by someone(s) affiliated with the Department.

sek929 · Jun 8, 2011, 03:21 PM

Even so, is the use of a ****ing SWAT team in any way necessary?

turtle777 · Jun 8, 2011, 03:26 PM

How typical for the US.

Rather than gathering some intel first (a five year old could have found out that said woman didn't live there anymore), they came riding in with the cavalery right away.

Ready, shot, aim.

-t

The Final Dakar · Jun 8, 2011, 03:27 PM

They should have tased him, just in case.

SpaceMonkey · Jun 8, 2011, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

How typical for the US.

Rather than gathering some intel first (a five year old could have found out that said woman didn't live there anymore), they came riding in with the cavalery right away.

Ready, shot, aim.

-t

Maybe they thought she was there anyway for some reason, regardless of her "official" residence. You seem remarkably quick to take what the guy says at face value, given that the most significant part (that they were looking for defaulted student loans) has been put into question already.

olePigeon · Jun 8, 2011, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by sek929

Even so, is the use of a ****ing SWAT team in any way necessary?

I was only being partially sarcastic. If you go through a drive-through in Stockton, they have bullet proof glass, they won't serve you if you exit your vehicle for any reason, you put your money in a clip attached to a long pole that they hold out for you through a hole, then you get your food from a metal bin that rotates out from behind 2" plate of aluminum.

turtle777 · Jun 8, 2011, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

Maybe they thought she was there anyway for some reason, regardless of her "official" residence. You seem remarkably quick to take what the guy says at face value, given that the most significant part (that they were looking for defaulted student loans) has been put into question already.

Well, yeah, because apparently, the spokesperson of the DoE didn't know either, and made up the wrong story.

At any rate, I'm waiting to see what the real deal is.

-t

SpaceMonkey · Jun 8, 2011, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Well, yeah, because apparently, the spokesperson of the DoE didn't know either, and made up the wrong story.

Huh? The original story you provided doesn't reference anyone at DoE confirming it was about defaulted student loans, just that they instigated the raid.

turtle777 · Jun 8, 2011, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

Huh? The original story you provided doesn't reference anyone at DoE confirming it was about defaulted student loans, just that they instigated the raid.

Denninger has the info:

This, of course, does nothing to explain the "kick down the door" warrant service, and the original video, which is available on Youtube, which says clearly - with the warrant pictured - that it was over delinquent student loans.... Hmmmm.

YouTube - &#x202a;Dept. of Education breaks down Stockton man&#39;s door.flv&#x202c;&rlm;

Well, the video of the warrant is not enought to verify it, but the guy, who received the warrant, said it was for a delinquent student loan.

Also, quite curious, the police disputes that the door got kicked in. LOL, just look at the video.

-t

OldManMac · Jun 8, 2011, 06:25 PM

This is just the beginning.

Has America Become a Corporate Police State? | Economy | AlterNet

Wiskedjak · Jun 8, 2011, 06:44 PM

Unreal

SpaceMonkey · Jun 8, 2011, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Denninger has the info:

YouTube - &amp;amp;#x202a;Dept. of Education breaks down Stockton man&amp;amp;#39;s door.flv&amp;amp;#x202c;&amp;amp;rlm;

Well, the video of the warrant is not enought to verify it, but the guy, who received the warrant, said it was for a delinquent student loan.

Also, quite curious, the police disputes that the door got kicked in. LOL, just look at the video.

-t

I don't see anything in that video that's more conclusive about the idea that the DoE was conducting a criminal investigation over a simple delinquent student loan. It seems more likely that this loan was somehow connected to criminal activities such as "bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds."

screener · Jun 9, 2011, 04:33 AM

Originally Posted by OldManMac

This is just the beginning.

Has America Become a Corporate Police State? | Economy | AlterNet

When ever I hear of private police, prisons, I think of Robocop.
Another example of science fiction's vision of the future.

subego · Jun 9, 2011, 05:37 AM

At least in Robocop, OCP's mobile website wasn't all jacked.

smacintush · Jun 12, 2011, 08:55 AM

Pragmatism at its best.

Surely, if they sent some regular cops in there would be an element of danger from these "criminals". They send in the big boys because they are better equipped to deal with potential hostilities from these dangerous loan-defaulters.

The ends: officer safety and convenience…justifies the means: jack-booted thuggery.

That's my theory anyway.

Andy8 · Jun 12, 2011, 09:43 AM

The Land of the Free™.

Wiskedjak · Jun 12, 2011, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by smacintush

Pragmatism at its best.

Surely, if they sent some regular cops in there would be an element of danger from these "criminals". They send in the big boys because they are better equipped to deal with potential hostilities from these dangerous loan-defaulters.

The ends: officer safety and convenience…justifies the means: jack-booted thuggery.

That's my theory anyway.

Begs the question though "What is the point then of having regular cops?". Every situation has the potential to be more hostile than a regular cop can handle, like people dancing in public.

Waragainstsleep · Jun 12, 2011, 03:15 PM

Ultimate safety would be a policy where if someone commits any sort of crime whatsoever from a parking ticket upwards you just nuke their house.

turtle777 · Jun 12, 2011, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

Ultimate safety would be a policy where...

... you preventively incarcerate everyone.

-t