Two-Thirds Oppose SWAT-Style Drug Raids: Zogby Poll

[High Plains]

The following message came from David Borden, executive director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network (Stopthedrugwar.org):


In my email last week to list members, I promised to this week announce an important finding we've made of relevance to the debate on "SWAT" and SWAT-style police tactics in the drug war -- tactics that claimed the life of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston at the hands of Atlanta police officers a year ago tomorrow. Today the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a judge has ordered two of the police officers involved in the incident to prison pending sentencing by December 3rd.

In a poll of 1,028 likely voters carried out last month by Zogby International, DRCNet (StoptheDrugWar.org) commissioned the following question:

Last year 92-year old Kathryn Johnston was killed by Atlanta police serving a drug search warrant at an incorrect address supplied by an informant. Reports show that police use SWAT teams to conduct raids as often as 40,000 times per year, often for low-level drug enforcement. Do you agree or disagree that police doing routine drug investigations in non-emergency situations should make use of aggressive entry tactics such as battering down doors, setting off flash-bang grenades, or conducting searches in the middle of the night?

The results were highly encouraging: nearly 66% of respondents don't think police should be using these tactics very often, and even the most conservative demographic subgroups responded that way in the majority. Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/policeraids to read more details of our poll results and positions on this issue, as well as links to further information. The first major media coverage was achieved this morning in a column by Radley Balko on FoxNews.com , and Phil Smith in our own office has reviewed it for Drug War Chronicle at http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle_blog/2007/nov/20/most_americans_polled_oppose_routine_swat_raids_after_kathryn_johnston_tragedy

We are currently working to get this information to major media outlets around the country in the hopes of increasing the pressure on police department to rein in these reckless drug war tactics once and for all.


Sincerely,

David Borden, Executive Director
P.O. Box 18402
Washington, DC 20036
http://stopthedrugwar.org

[Alexander]

1. And every single Democratic candidate opposes the raids except Biden.

Vowing to end the Drug War is a winning position. Most Americans do not want prison sentences for pot charges.

[AX10]

3. Do you have anything showing that Biden supports drug raids?

[High Plains]

4. I think you've confused this with the DEA raids on medical marijuana providers.

Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (www.granitestaters.com) has managed to get all the candidates on the record on the DEA raids in California. Even Biden gets a B+.

I don't think any of the candidates have talked about stopping SWAT-style drug raids.

[AX10]

2. It's about time the population has come to realize just...

how stupid these aggressive tactics are. These "tactics" are actually terrorism.
Another bright spot is that Hoboken NJ disbanned their SWATerrorist team last week!

:kick:/R

[hootinholler]

15. Because they stopped at a Hooters to let the girls play with their guns.

:rofl:

Idiots.

-Hoot

[High Plains]

5. 40,000 SWAT raids a year; some tiny fraction of them necessary.

Innocent people get killed. Guilty people get killed. Cops get killed.

This stupid, testerone-driven paramilitarization of American police forces needs to stop. They don't have to treat us like we're Al Qaeda insurgents holed up in Baghdad.

[AX10]

6. Exactly. Blame Reagan, he started this shit.

POS that he was!

SWAT teams were intended to deal with hostage crisis and security threats that were greater than a robber with a gun, but not as great as the threats of just say, terrorists.

[High Plains]

8. Give 'em a SWAT team and they'll find something to do with it.

I've talked to criminologists about this issue; they say it's way out of control, that SWAT is expanding into all sorts of areas beyond what it was supposed to be for.

But how do you stop the cop lobby?

[DavidDvorkin]

7. The police don't care what we think

The raids will continue unless they're outlawed, and maybe even then.

[High Plains]

9. Yes, Police accountability is a real issue.

Especially when it comes to the drug war and drug law reform. Look at the medical marijuana states. You see cops refusing to acknowledge the laws, prosecutors turning patients and providers over to the feds, the LAPD telling the city council it doesn't care what the council thinks and it will continue to run interference for the DEA.

Who polices the police? Nobody, apparently.

[AX10]

11. The LAPD is a valuable as a pile of horse manure.

The fact that they won't follow the laws is very telling of what we are up against. This new breed of cops are not in the law enforcement business because they don't follow the laws themselves. This is very typical of the conservative mindset. Just like the fundies who believe that they are above the law and they can break the rules in to "get things done", many cops believe that they can break the law in order to enforce it. Sickening hypocracy!

[DavidDvorkin]

12. The police have always been prone to "us" vs. "them" thinking

They see the public and any restrictions we (try to) place on the police as hampering them from doing the Right Thing -- which they can see and understand far better than we can.

[tblue37]

17. A whole generation's worth of TV shows and movies

glorifying the sort of cops who "get things done" by not playing by the rules or concerning themselves with the niceties of the law or suspects' rights has created a society filled with people who do not understand why laws controlling police misbehavior need to exist and to be honestly enforced.

[iamthebandfanman]

10. im with Mike Gravel on the drug issues

from stopthedrugwar.org


Former US Senator Mike Gravel: Gravel supports legalization of drugs. As he says on his issues page, "The War on Drugs has been a failure. It is time to end prohibition and start treating addiction as a public health problem."

[High Plains]

13. Shameless kick for the after work crowd.

[Uncle Joe]

14. You can fight a war against the American People's privacy and individual freedom under the premise

of a "war against drugs" but you can't fight a war against drugs anymore than you can fight a war against rocks, Marijuana doesn't give a damn if it's burned as a doobie, in a bong or in a police confiscated pot fueled bonfire.

When you classify fighting personal vices or potential health risks as fighting a war, this can only lead to totally unjust punishments for the crime, an ongoing windfall for organized crime, a booming prison population, and big time profits for the prison industry whose only motivation or lobbying efforts are to lock up as many people as humanly possible all to benefit the bottom line. It further serves to disenfranchise the American People from the political process, particularly those Americans with out the financial resources to defend them selves. I don't believe there is anything redeeming about the war against drugs, this war can never be won and will only lead to the eventual down fall of our democratic republic.

Thanks for the thread, High Plains.

[benEzra]

16. K&R. (n/t)

[flashl]

18. Maybe one day, folks living in a HUD project or house rights will be restored. n/t