I hate crap like this
Partly because I'm split. I've been around law enforcement people most of my life, and I tend to side with them. Often before I really think about it.
On the other hand...
Over the years, I've developed a bad case of cynicism and distrust toward a LOT of LE types. Seeing people acting as if(and getting away with it) they're immune from the law. Reading about case after case of raids on the wrong house, or based on bad information, where people are treated horribly- sometimes badly injured or killed- and the response is "The officers followed procedures; no action will be taken against them", and so forth.
Lots of the, call them apologists, we get the standard lines: "Wait until all the facts are in, this type of entry is necessary for officer safety, accidents happen, since they had a warrant they could legally be there so when she shot at them she was in the wrong", etc.
Lots of the, call them idiots, we get the standard "Any cop that comes into my home gets killed, if drugs were properly legalized this woudn't happen," etc.
Another complication to the arguments is, as someone put it, if you whack ATF and FBI for their actions at Waco, a bunch of people accuse you of defending Koresh for anything he may have done. So you wind up with people calling you names and accusing you of being nice to dirtbags if you criticize the police for an action. Doesn't make for reasoned argument.
No-knock warrants and Tactical/SWAT teams are much the same: there are circumstances where they are justified in use, in some actually demanded by the circumstances. Problem is they've come to be overused and/or used wrongly, and the consequences for the people hurt and the cops who did it can be really bad. Somebody winds up dead because tactics that were not called for were used, or their home is damaged and themselves & their family terrorized(and just try to get cooperation in the future from friends/family/neighbors of those people). The officers can be/SHOULD BE/ sued in many of the cases which can ruin them financially, and the consequences for a decent human being of knowing that becuase of a bad tip/deliberate lie by an informant or a mistake on address or a stupid mistake on his part, somebody died by his hand...
In the latter, even if the department protects them from financial ruin, good cops are not going to buy the "Don't worry about it, you were just doing your job" justifications they'll be given. They'll live with that for the rest of their lives.
And, as mentioned, you've now got people who'll see the police as the enemy. They're not the people who catch robbers and rapists and write tickets: they're the people who killed Uncle Frank because the idiots broke into his house in the middle of the night becuase somebody got the wrong address, etc.
I've come to see it that, in matters such as this, it may not be possible, in good conscience, to give the police the 'benefit of the doubt'. When they pin on that badge, they're given trememdous power and privilege. They can pull you over and write you a ticket, they can arrest you and put you in jail, they can kill you. When they're on a tac team or raid, that demands that they not make a mistake on address, or use a tip from some jerk they wouldn't trust to tell them the sun rises in the east to make a dynamic entry(don't you just love that name for 'smash in the door and stick a gun in peoples' face'?) without checking every detail. Somebody breaks into your house and you shoot them, all too many police and prosecutors will cut you no slack at all, will try to use any possible excuse to put you in jail; why should trained officers who screw up be given lattitude?
On the dynamic entry crap, I think Kim du Toit once wrote that if somebody smashes in his door in the middle of the night, he's not going to assume it's the police and play dead: he knows he has no illegal substances, he knows he has no illegal weapons, he knows he has conducted no illegal activity so he knows there is no reason for the police to be smashing into his home in the night. So he'll grab the shotgun to protect his home and family. So would I. First off, someone rouses you from a sound sleep by breaking in the door, you're not going to be listening carefully to hear what they're yelling; second, all the reported cases of bandits yelling 'police' or 'FBI' when they break in(note this: She said she understood Kathryn Johnston might have been frightened by recent break-ins staged by robbing crews wearing undercover police gear.) an honest citazen has no reason to believe them: ANYBODY can put big white 'POLICE' or 'FBI' on a jacket.(Added: note this Balko reported from the press conference:5) He maintains that despite the no-knock warrant police still announced themselves before entering, though he acknowledged moments later that the announcement came as police were battering down the door.
You have the right to defend yourself in your home. Period. LE has the obligation to take every step to make sure they're in the right place, for just reason, using only the tactics necessary. The consequences if they don't tend to be horrible.
Note: a commenter said this:
"Every police agency has a thick manual containing policies and procedures, and the after-action question is always "did he follow procedure?"
Officer Joe could have initiated an action which resulted in a bus full of nuns going over a cliff and killing fifty children on the beach below, then eradicating twelve families of sea lions and twenty protected species with the resulting gas and oil pollution and as long as Joe "followed procedure" he's golden."
Unfortunately, too often true.
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