Monday, October 18, 2010

I don't get it...

So there's a wrong-address no-knock in Montgomery, AL. In the aftermath, they:
Left a mess, too, and so far, not so much as an "Ooops, sorry" from the department, either. They've given themselves until 5 November to complete their internal investigation; no ETA on home repairs on North Union Street.
Now maybe this is just me, but you'd think they'd have had somebody there tout de suite, pressing a fistful of dollars into one of her hands and a very comprehensive release into the other, because when stuff like this hits the local news, evil creatures from the back covers of phone books rise to the surface and begin to circle as the sky turns an ominous shade of legal-pad yellow. It seems to me that this is one of those instances where "The right thing" and "The CYA thing" merge into a seamless no-brainer, but I'm not in local government, so what do I know?

19 comments:

Bram said...

Maybe they ought to trade in some of their high-speed low-drag gear for a Tom-Tom.

Teke said...

Why would they do that the are the "Only Ones".
I waiting for the horrific tale of when one of these late night no-knoc raids on the wrong house goes horribly south and people end up dead. (While praying it never happens and especially not to me). Add to the already inherent problem the fact that the bad guys are dressing up in tac black and going in with the same approach now. Of course in some cases I may have just repeated myself.

chiefjaybob said...

Cook County just did one of these about a week ago. Turns out the homeowners were Russian immigrants in their 80's, and the old men was nearly bed-ridden. Took 2 days for the sheriff (who is running for re-election and thinking about running for mayor of Chicago) issued a public apology. And they wonder why people hate the cops?

Joseph said...

What? Admit they made a mistake and atone for it? I'd like to introduce you to the government Tam, don't mind the hand in your pocket, he's just friendly like that...

Anonymous said...

"...evil creatures from the back covers of phone books rise to the surface and begin to circle as the sky turns an ominous shade of legal-pad yellow."

Forget ambos; chasing the undertrained and underbrained mil-squad around is where the blood money is now...

AT

perlhaqr said...

But they picked an excellent date...

John Stephens said...

If they wanna play soldier, they need to do it right. Back in the day, we used to go ripping through the German countryside with the Big Boy toys pretty much all the time. Things got broken and run over on a regular basis, but the Germans never minded much. The reason was that there would be an officer in a jeep right behind us, authorized to issue checks and an apology on the spot. I'm sure there was a certain amount of fraud, but the good will and public support gained made up for it.

Anonymous said...

Why should they care?

It's not as if they, personally, are liable for damages.

Where the taxpayers are on the hook, the sky's the limit.

Make the cops/bureaucrats personally financially liable for mistakes made, and THEN you might see greater care taken in the discharge of their duties.

Wolfwood said...

Notice that there were not one, but TWO mistakes made regarding the address:
810 N. Union St. vs. 812 S. Union St.

How does this happen? All the cops I know habitually look at the road signs as they go to ensure they can always say where they are.

Bubblehead Les. said...

Must have rigged the election already, so why should the local Gooberment care?

SpeakerTweaker said...

...but I'm not in local government, so what do I know?

Well, of course not? You have no idea how to be better than you, much less how to make your own rules and generally operate contrary to everything you want on taxpayer dime!

Wow, I'm cranky even for me. Coffee?



tweaker

Steve Skubinna said...

It seems to me that this is one of those instances where "The right thing" and "The CYA thing" merge into a seamless no-brainer,

Yeah, right. And both those conflict squarely with "the bureaucratic thing," which is to delay, obfuscate, deny, and obfuscate some more.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Ms. Dixon should just be happy they didn't throw down their spare "Saturday Night Special" and drug samples and shoot every living thing in the house.
She's also lucky they all told her to do the same thing. If one had screamed, "Raise your hands," while another yelled, "Get on the ground," she might have been shot for "non-compliance," or is that "disrespect?"

Montie said...

Tam,

I commented on this yesterday over at Bobbie's Place and after my usual rant about these things came to the same conclusion as you regarding getting to the vic with some cash for repairs and mental anguish along with a signed release. Waiting until Nov.5th for an internal to determine something that should take about 5 seconds to resolve is just crazy and asking for trouble...expensive trouble.

Thank God no pets or people were injured or killed in this fiasco.

Stranger said...

From what I hear, "reparations" would involve putting the leader of the clueless on the Montgomery PD's already too long Brady list.

Ignoring it until it goes away - as it will when the media has the memory of a pismire - keeps things off the record.

BUT - if someone files suit, things could get expensive.

Stranger

TimP said...

teke175, you mean like some of the examples here: http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/drug-war-victim/

Unfortunately a lot of their references are broken links, so I don't know how reliable they are.

Teke said...

TimP,
Exactly like that.

I did not have time to research. Knew there were cases but wasn't going to make a blanket statement.

But it's all for the safety of the people and the good of the community. Right!?

Anonymous said...

How does this sort of thing happen at all? Aren't the cops are supposed to have surveillance evidence before they get one of these no-knock, bust down the door search warrants? So how is it possible for them to raid the wrong house when they've supposedly been watching the right house to get that evidence? Or did they get that warrant on the basis of a lie?

If I were the judge who issued the warrant, I think I'd be asking a few questions...

Anonymous said...

You are right about the "no-brainer" part. Now, what would you expect from the fine elite "gubmint" officials. You _know_ they don't have any need for brains.