Image by OregonDOT via Flickr

Regular readers of this blog know I’ve been following the disastrous Missouri raid that was videotaped by police, went viral, and resulted in an enormous public backlash. The Columbia police have now
responded to the negative publicity by tailoring
SWAT procedure.

Columbia Police Chief Ken Burton says under the department’s new protocol, police will keep target locations under surveillance before sending in SWAT teams. Also, police will do their
best to conduct searches within eight hours of receiving a warrant. Drug
search warrants must now be approved by higher-ranking police captains
rather than drug officers or SWAT commanders. Police will also take the
presence of children into consideration.

It’s sweet of them to take child safety into consideration, considering Jonathan Whitworth, the target of the raid, was charged with child endangerment when the cops found a bit of weed in his home.
Meanwhile, the cops, who stormed into Whitworth’s home, guns blazing,
were probably congratulated on a job well done when they returned to the
station.

The rest of the measures seem to miss the central problems with the raid system entirely. Yes, certain aspects of raid protocol (shooting animals, shooting in the presence of
children) disturbed the public. But beyond that, what upset citizens is
the authoritarian behavior of the police.

In the video, the police look and act like a domestic army, and all because this “highly dangerous” suspect, Whitworth, had a prior drug record, and was suspected of possessing marijuana with intent to
distribute. Citizens took one look at the video, and understood — at
least in that moment — that the real dangerous force is the police who
are hellbent on denying citizens’ personal freedom.

The Posse Comitatus Act was designed to limit the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. But when law enforcement begins to look and act like the army, and obeys federal
orders to treat all drug users like enemies of the state, in a sense
Posse Comitatus bites the dust.

Burton’s intent appears to be to fix his house’s foundation by moving around the furniture. Of course, it isn’t up to a Columbia police chief to single-handedly stop the War On Drugs, but the Missouri story has
served as a helpful microcosm to demonstrate the utter pointless
destruction of a war on an unstoppable force.

As for changing policy, Burton gives decriminalization advocates some very helpful advice.

“We were looking for a felony amount because the possession of marijuana is still a felony offense if it’s over a certain amount. And we can’t change that. I would encourage the people
that are angry because of that to contact their legislators in Jeff
City, contact people in Washington and get that law changed. As police
officers we don’t really have a choice in that matter.”

What Ken says.