4um: SWAT tactics are killing us

Examiner
William Heuisler

SWAT tactics in our neighborhoods put us all in danger.

More importantly, SWAT tactics in the Jose Guerena search warrant turned our justice system upside down.

Don’t believe it? Try this: Ask friends about Jose Guerena’s death. Likely they will say, “Well, he was a bad guy, right?” They might add, “He was involved in home invasions and drug dealing.” They will be repeating unproven allegations actively propagated by County Sheriff’s Attorney, Mike Storie.
No matter what Storie says, Jose Guerena had no criminal record on May 5th, 2011.

For the truth, Tucsonans should read SWAT supervisor, Sergeant Krygier’s debriefing statement (12 pages available for download). (Echavarri, 2011)

Krygier said SWAT members’ pre-raid briefing included,” This house on Red Water is where what we call the bad guy lives”…”involved directly with cartels” and “associated with a homicide where a husband and wife got killed.” And more, “We briefed, if something were going to happen, it was probably going to happen at Red Water.”

So, SWAT officers were told Guerena was probably a murderer.

SWAT was briefed trouble was probably going to happen at the Guerena home.
But this was a search warrant. There was no evidence for an arrest warrant for Guerena!
SWAT was pointed like a gun at Jose Guerena.

Is it possible the former-Marine was tried, sentenced and executed by an unknowing Pima County Special weapons team because he was only suspected of crimes?

That horrible concept is quite likely.

And, reading Krygier’s statement, Guerena probably did not even hear SWAT commands.
SWAT arrived at the Guerena home with sirens blaring loud enough to drown out any police commands or identification. Eight seconds after sirens were turned off, the door was busted, a flash bang was tossed in, and Jose was shot down in the hallway in his white boxer shorts.
Arrival to killing took SWAT less than a minute.

Don’t listen to lawyers; read the SWAT supervisor’s eyewitness statement. Get the truth.
Our justice system is based on the principle we are innocent until proven guilty of a crime in a court of law. All Americans must be presumed innocent when dealing with police, or police will treat us all like criminals.

Echavarri, F. (2011). Arizona Daily Star. Complex drug probe triggered SWAT raid. Related documents (PDF: statements of officers involved in SWAT raid). http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_ffd3cd6b-6564-59a9-8b43-a1635ae66bd4.html

"If a widespread pattern of [knock-and-announce] violations were shown . . . there would be reason for grave concern." — Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in Hudson v. Michigan, June 15, 2006.

The proliferation of SWAT teams, police militarization, and the Drug War have given rise to a dramatic increase in the number of "no-knock" or "quick-knock" raids on suspected drug offenders. Because these raids are often conducted based on tips from notoriously unreliable confidential informants, police sometimes conduct SWAT-style raids on the wrong home, or on the homes of nonviolent, misdemeanor drug users. Such highly-volatile, overly confrontational tactics are bad enough when no one is hurt -- it's difficult to imagine the terror an innocent suspect or family faces when a SWAT team mistakenly breaks down their door in the middle of the night.

But even more disturbing are the number of times such "wrong door" raids unnecessarily lead to the injury or death of suspects, bystanders, and police officers. Defenders of SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics say such incidents are isolated and rare. The map below aims to refute that notion.

Click on each marker on the map for a description of the incident and sources. Markers are precise in cases where the address of an incident was reported. Where media reports indicate only a town or neighborhood, markers are located at the closest post office, city hall, or landmark. Incident descriptions and outcomes are kept as current as possible.

--Using the "plus" and "minus" buttons in the map's upper left-hand corner, users can zoom in on the map to street-level, as well as switch between street map and satellite views. In some large metropolitan areas, there are so many incidents in such close proximity that they tend to overlap unless viewed on a small scale (try zooming in on New York City, for example).

--Users may isolate the incidents by type by clicking on the colored markers in the key (see only "death of an innocent" markers, for example).

--The search function just below the map produces printable descriptions of the raids plotted on the map, and is sortable by state, year, and type of incident.

Death of an innocent. Death or injury of a police officer. Death of a nonviolent offender. Raid on an innocent suspect. Other examples of paramilitary police excess. Unnecessary raids on doctors and sick people.