Kanluwen wrote:
Then the dog wasn't trying to harm you or was playing. There is such a thing as a "love bite" from dogs, y'know.

My youngest brother had his hand bitten by a Jack Russell, and had to be hospitalized along with major surgery due to the dog damaging the nerves of the hand.

Kanluwen wrote:
Oh, so you KNOW they sent a SWAT team because they could?

I didn't realize you were a mind-reader now. Maybe you should start working for law enforcement to let them know when a completely unknowable situation crops up if they should send SWAT teams or patrol cops.

J.Black wrote:Cute or not, dogs have no rights. I'd happily see all dogs on the planet peeled, salted and thrown into the sun.

dogma wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:
Then the dog wasn't trying to harm you or was playing. There is such a thing as a "love bite" from dogs, y'know.

My youngest brother had his hand bitten by a Jack Russell, and had to be hospitalized along with major surgery due to the dog damaging the nerves of the hand.

Actually, I had puncture wounds on my left calf. They were sterilized, and bandaged at the earliest opportunity.

You're very good at creating tautologies, this is your second so far.

Dogma wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:
Oh, so you KNOW they sent a SWAT team because they could?

I didn't realize you were a mind-reader now. Maybe you should start working for law enforcement to let them know when a completely unknowable situation crops up if they should send SWAT teams or patrol cops.

Yes, I know they sent a SWAT team because they could. If they could not send a SWAT team, they would not have been able to do so. The point of that particular turn of phrase was to illustrate that SWAT is frequently used in situations where it is not necessary; likely because there is a general trend in law enforcement towards the protection of officers. Its almost as if police work isn't supposed to be a dangerous business.

Kanluwen wrote:
I wouldn't have to repeat myself if the fact that "dog bites can cause damage" didn't seem to go over the heads of people.

Kanluwen wrote:
Uh no. SWAT's more frequent deployment in serving warrants is due to a trend in community oriented policing.

With the fact that more and more officers are being assigned to specific neighborhoods and building up a trusting foundation with that neighborhood's inhabitants, there becomes a worry of corruption or the potential of officers tipping off someone who they feel might be completely innocent(or potentially just y'know...be inappropriately linked to) which is deemed to be a nonexistent threat when deploying SWAT teams which have no such connections.

Kanluwen wrote:There's a reason why dogs have been used as guard animals for centuries. They can do incredible amounts of damage to a person who isn't wearing proper protective gear.

Envy89 wrote:This is a rather sad story...

Everyone is quick to point the evil Nazi finger at the cops... but would they have gone in there if they had no reason?

If the guy wasn’t involved in enough criminal activity to warrant a midnight raid, then the cops wouldn’t have had to...

Fateweaver wrote:As to the ridiculousness of the "cops putting the kids in danger". The SWAT's job is to look out for themselves and one another first.

It's sad the kids had to see their family pet killed but then again if the police wouldn't have had to raid the home in the first place it never would have happened.

I still think there is more to this raid then just "OMG I"m being raided for being brown and smoking pot."

dogma wrote:We can also train officers to deal with conflict, or create units that stand somewhere between paramilitary SWAT and civilian patrol. Something specifically focused on the service of warrants.

Karon wrote:

J.Black wrote:Cute or not, dogs have no rights. I'd happily see all dogs on the planet peeled, salted and thrown into the sun.

The feth is wrong with you?

I don't think you would like it if I shot you in the face with a shotgun, huh, tough guy?

A man arrested on suspicion of drug charges and child endangerment said he is concerned with the actions of police who shot two dogs they described as “aggressive” while serving a drug-related search warrant at his home earlier this month in southwest Columbia.

Police arrested Jonathan E. Whitworth, 25, of 1501 Kinloch Court on Feb. 11 on suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and second-degree child endangerment.

A police SWAT team entered Whitworth’s residence around 8:30 p.m. suspecting a large amount of marijuana at the location, police spokeswoman Officer Jessie Haden said. SWAT members encountered a pit bull upon entry, held back and then fatally shot the dog, which officers said was acting in an uncontrollably aggressive manner.

Whitworth was arrested, and his wife and 7-year-old son were present during the SWAT raid, Haden said. A second dog, which Whitworth’s attorney Jeff Hilbrenner described as a corgi, also was shot but was not killed.

“The family is concerned with what happened,” Hilbrenner said. “We don’t feel like what happened in the home was appropriate. The priority right now for us is the misdemeanor charges.”

Police discovered a grinder, a pipe and a small amount of marijuana, Haden said. Because the SWAT team acts on the most updated information available, the team wanted to enter the house before marijuana believed to be at the location could be distributed, she said.

“If you let too much time go by, then the drugs are not there,” she said.

Drug distributors traditionally have a history with firearms, which is why the SWAT team is used when executing such warrants, Haden said. If the SWAT team believed they could have executed the warrant successfully during the daytime when the wife and child were not present, they would have, she said.

The release and wide circulation of a video showing the February police raid of a southwest Columbia home has led to a flood of calls and e-mails to the department and a death threat sent in by fax.
Yesterday, Columbia Police Chief Ken Burton and Mayor Bob McDavid convened a news conference to address some of the questions surrounding the Feb. 11 SWAT raid at the home of Jonathon Whitworth.

Burton said the department has received phone calls and e-mails and a fax that described Columbia police as “fat donut munching aholes” and concluded, “I hope” you “run into an ambush that wipes out about a dozen of you.”

Burton said yesterday that investigators should not have executed the warrant because the information was too old. The warrant authorizing investigators to enter Whitworth’s home at 1501 Kinloch Court was executed eight days after Boone County Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider approved it. Burton said the state allows police 10 days to execute a signed warrant, and he thinks Columbia officers should have done so immediately.

Information provided by an informant led investigators to believe Whitworth was in possession of a large amount of marijuana and was considered a distributor. In 2003, Whitworth pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana in federal court and was ordered to serve 15 months in federal prison, according to court documents.

The Feb. 11 raid ended with a misdemeanor amount of marijuana discovered and two of Whitworth’s dogs shot, one of them fatally. Whitworth pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia.

“It’s my opinion that it needs to be served as soon as possible,” Burton said of the warrant. “The contraband can be disposed of. It they are going to do that, there is not much point in serving the warrant.”

Burton said as of Feb. 12, the day after the SWAT team’s entry at Whitworth’s home, warrants have been ordered to be executed immediately.

Burton said police officers have fielded questions from several agitated callers concerning the dogs. The chief, who is personally conducting an internal investigation into the incident, said three officers shot at the pit bull; the first missed completely, which is when the corgi is believed to have been shot in the paw.

The pit bull acted aggressively toward a SWAT member as they pushed into the home, Burton said, and that resulted in the animal being shot, he said. After being shot, it moved to attack a SWAT member, which is when the dog was killed.

“It was not a mistake to shoot the pit bull,” Burton said. “I wouldn’t be standing here if an officer had been bitten by a pit bull instead of the reverse happening.”

Whitworth’s attorney, Jeff Hilbrenner, said he met with Whitworth and his family yesterday and they still are undecided about whether they will seek civil action against the city. Hilbrenner said police made a poor decision by forcing entry into Whitworth’s home based on bad information, which resulted in the discovery of little evidence.

The Columbia Police Department was in the process of evaluating how its Special Weapons and Tactics Team, or SWAT, is used in narcotic investigations when the team executed a warrant at 1501 Kinloch Court in February.
“It was unfortunate timing,” said Lt. Scott Young, SWAT commander. “We were in the process of considering a lot of changes. We were already having meetings to improve narcotic investigations, then this happened.”

Columbia police spokeswoman Jessie Haden said there sometimes was a lag between the time a warrant was issued and when SWAT could execute the warrant. The problem was SWAT members’ primary assignments, such as their role as beat officers or investigators, would take precedence over SWAT and they would have to work overtime to participate in SWAT operations.

Young said changes began to develop upon the arrival of Chief Ken Burton last year.

Young said drug dealers try to move their product as quickly as possible, so the timing of narcotic investigations is critical. He said SWAT members now are more available for SWAT operations because of this.

“Chief Burton has freed us up to do this when they are needed, not when it is convenient,” Young said. “He is making efforts to allow us to act quickly on intelligence.”

But that process was not complete at the time of the February raid at Jonathan E. Whitworth’s home.

The warrant authorizing SWAT and investigators to enter Whitworth’s home was approved by Boone County Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider on Feb 3., and the raid happened Feb. 11.

Investigators were working with intelligence from two informants that claimed Whitworth had a large amount of high-grade marijuana at his residence, according to the warrant, which also noted that Whitworth had a prior arrest for suspicion of possession of marijuana and manufacturing a controlled substance. One of the informants told police he or she had seen the marijuana in Whitworth’s home within 10 days of the warrant’s approval.

Columbia police Detective Ronald Hall Jr. also conducted a trash grab at Whitworth’s home on Jan. 27. He found baggies containing narcotic residue and items of drug paraphernalia with residue on them, according to the warrant.

So when SWAT entered the home, investigators believed Whitworth was in possession of a large amount of marijuana and was considered a distributor. SWAT is used when executing warrants on distributors because they often have a history with firearms.

SWAT members stormed into the home at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 11 and shot two of Whitworth’s dogs. They found only a grinder, a pipe and a misdemeanor amount of marijuana. Whitworth pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia.

“We are hypercritical, even when an operation goes perfect,” Young said. “After every search warrant, the team discusses what happened and what could have been done better, and then we train.”

Deputy Chief Tom Dresner, former SWAT commander, has said he is confident narcotics were in Whitworth’s residence before police entry.

Haden said an internal affairs investigation of the incident should be completed in two weeks.

A man whose home Columbia police raided in February on a narcotics search warrant has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and is contemplating a civil action against the department for shooting his two dogs during the raid.

Jonathan E. Whitworth, 25, of 1501 Kinloch Court entered into a plea agreement with the state to drop charges of possession of marijuana and second-degree child endangerment for a guilty plea to possession of drug paraphernalia.

Investigators believed Whitworth was in possession of a large amount of marijuana and was considered a distributor, Deputy Chief Tom Dresner said in February. Police, who found a grinder, a pipe and a small amount of marijuana, shot two dogs upon entering Whitworth’s home around 8:30 p.m. Feb. 11.

SWAT team members encountered a pit bull upon entry, held back and then fatally shot the dog, police say. Officers said the dog was acting in an uncontrollably aggressive manner. A video of the raid shows that a shot was fired upon entry, but the pit bull was not wounded until later.

Whitworth was arrested, and his wife and 7-year-old son were present during the raid. Both his wife and child were living in the residence at the time, said Jeff Hilbrenner, Whitworth’s attorney. Dresner previously said that intelligence gathered before the raid did not indicate the child was in the home.

A second dog was shot in the leg but was not killed. The corgi is seen in the video and does not appear to be wounded. There is no indication when the dog was shot, and Dresner previously said he was unsure when the animal was wounded.

“Their focus right now is to get this behind them,” Hilbrenner said of the Whitworth family. “Obviously, this was a traumatic event for his wife and son. A final decision has not been made, but they are evaluating all of their options.”

Hilbrenner previously said the family was concerned with what happened and that they thought police actions were inappropriate.

After the arrest, Dresner said he believed SWAT team members followed protocol and was awaiting an Internal Affairs investigation. Investigations are conducted each time a weapon is used by officers, said spokeswoman Officer Jessie Haden.

The investigation is expected to be completed within the next two weeks and has been prolonged because a SWAT team member is out of town for training. Internal Affairs is conducting the review because the incident involved multiple shots and was inside an occupied residence, Haden said. This allows Internal Affairs sergeants to review the incident independent from the SWAT command.

The Whitworths have not filed a complaint with the department concerning the incident.

FITZZ wrote: Hmmm.perhaps the decriminalization of marijuana would help in limiting this sort of incident.

FITZZ wrote: Hmmm.perhaps the decriminalization of marijuana would help in limiting this sort of incident.

Kanluwen wrote:It doesn't really matter why a substance is illegal.

There's a very simple flow chart:

Is it illegal? If Yes:
Don't be surprised when police come after you, if they're tipped off about it or given faulty intelligence that you're dealing in said illegal substances.

If Not Illegal:
Have fun--but responsibly!