| To the editor:
Regarding the SWAT team raid on the Columbia, MO home:
Yes, the warrant was issued as a result of informants. The video came from a head mounted police camera. More info including changes made to protocol yesterday, warrant affidavit, and information clearing up the "misinformation" spreading around the Internet may be found here.
They can make all the excuses they want but it still boils down to this in my mind:
- Cops broke into a man’s home over marijuana.
- Cops fired seven bullets in a home where a child was sleeping.
- Cops killed one family pet and wounded another.
- Cops didn’t find any evidence of the felonies for which the warrant was served.
All their explanations are meaningless until you accept the premise that this level of force is appropriate to keep people from using marijuana. The proposed changes by the Columbia Police still allow for “dynamic entry” to bust into people’s homes to keep them from using marijuana. All the documents at the link above represent is embarrassment that the cops were caught on video executing these commonplace tactics and promises to make sure that the next time they burst into a home late at night guns blazing to catch someone with marijuana, they’ll try to be sure there are no kids around.
The tactics and militarization of our police forces must change and the war on marijuana must end. It is obvious the most dangerous thing about marijuana is its enforcement.
Kelly Maddy, Joplin, MO
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