Just breathe

There was an incident last week that was horrifying, but I assumed everyone had already heard about it because Reason has had incredible and consistent reporting on it. Then I spoke to a friend who lives about five miles from Berwyn Heights and hadn't heard anything about it and asked me to post some links. Here you are (quoting from Reason):

In the raid, police in Prince George's County, Maryland intercepted a package addressed to Calvo's wife that contained about 30 pounds or marijuana. Undercover officers completed the delivery to Calvo's home, then stormed the place in SWAT gear when Calvo brought the package inside. During the raid, the police shot and killed Calvo's two black labs, including one Calvo says was running away to hide. Calvo and his mother-in-law were then handcuffed and questioned at gunpoint while his dead dogs lay nearby in pools of their own blood.

This is despite the fact that police did not have a no-knock warrant and they knew the packages were being sent to innocent people and picked up either before they arrived or retrieved after with a cover story about postal mistakes.

To his credit Calvo has not been quiet and has started drawing attention to the awful frequency of such tactics and the extraordinary callousness displayed. In his letter to the Justice Department he recounts this incident:

Georgia was questioned by a detective named Kim, who in the course of her questioning managed to talk on her cell phone and to make a veterinary appointment for her dog. Georgia overheard Kim tell her friend that, this was her first raid and that it was "exciting" because it was the mayor's house.

Labs, people. Labs running away. And the Prince George's county police department is known for such things and not even apologizing. And there are people who actually say that what we need is more militarization of our police force despite the fact that the violent crime rate is less then half what it was in the 70s.