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There was no SWAT team. A couple officers knocked on her door for 20 minutes and she refused to open it, so they had to call for backup. It was about the most

by zaroth 6y ago

There was no SWAT team. A couple officers knocked on her door for 20 minutes and she refused to open it, so they had to call for backup. It was about the most polite you could ever ask for the police to be when refusing them entry while they are serving a warrant to collect evidence. That the serving of the warrant could be so overblown is part of what makes me suspect that the whole ordeal is entirely overblown.

LatteLazy 6y ago
You're correct, no Swat. I misunderstood the term raid that everyone has bandied about... I am a limey brit. Is it normal over there for people serving a warrant for a non violent crime to draw and point their guns like that? To my foreign eyes it looks a bit nuts even if its not the full "battering ram and tear gas" I'd expected. I guess we'll see what the court actually finds on due course.
- zaroth 6y ago
  I’m no expert in this but I have a brother-in-law who is a police officer and a brother whose is a defense lawyer who deals with these cases sometimes; here’s how I understand it to work basically. If you refuse to come to the door for 20 minutes, yes I suspect police will draw their guns if they have to force entry into your house to get you. So basically they come to the door and the procedure is “knock-and-announce” — they can’t just immediately come and break your door down unless a judge has signed off on that specifically. Police are required to wait a “reasonable” amount of time. Usually that’s more than 20 seconds but not more than a couple minutes for you to open the door. If you refuse to open the door after a reasonable amount of time, the police are allowed to make a “forced entry”. At that point, having to force entry into a house is itself an escalation and a violent act, and they would reasonably want to be prepared for any response they might encounter since the people inside have already indicated they will not come easily. Meaning it’s more likely they will draw their guns in a forced entry situation.

by zaroth 6y ago

LatteLazy 6y ago

You're correct, no Swat. I misunderstood the term raid that everyone has bandied about... I am a limey brit. Is it normal over there for people serving a warrant for a non violent crime to draw and point their guns like that? To my foreign eyes it looks a bit nuts even if its not the full "battering ram and tear gas" I'd expected. I guess we'll see what the court actually finds on due course.

zaroth 6y ago
I’m no expert in this but I have a brother-in-law who is a police officer and a brother whose is a defense lawyer who deals with these cases sometimes; here’s how I understand it to work basically. If you refuse to come to the door for 20 minutes, yes I suspect police will draw their guns if they have to force entry into your house to get you. So basically they come to the door and the procedure is “knock-and-announce” — they can’t just immediately come and break your door down unless a judge has signed off on that specifically. Police are required to wait a “reasonable” amount of time. Usually that’s more than 20 seconds but not more than a couple minutes for you to open the door. If you refuse to open the door after a reasonable amount of time, the police are allowed to make a “forced entry”. At that point, having to force entry into a house is itself an escalation and a violent act, and they would reasonably want to be prepared for any response they might encounter since the people inside have already indicated they will not come easily. Meaning it’s more likely they will draw their guns in a forced entry situation.