Medary.com

Into my news feed this morning (it used to be the Sunday paper, back in the days Before Internet) comes an op-ed from the Washington Post via Reason Hit & Run. A Maryland mayor's home was invaded by a rogue police SWAT team. He tells the tale:

An errant Prince George's County SWAT team had just forced its way into our home, shot dead our two black Labradors, Payton and Chase, and started ransacking our belongings as part of what would become a four-hour ordeal.

The police found nothing, of course, to connect my family and me to a box of drugs that they had been tracking and had delivered to our front door. The community -- of which I am mayor -- rallied to our side. . . . Ultimately, we were cleared of any wrongdoing, but not before the incident drew international outrage.

This was 14 months ago. We have since filed suit, and I am confident that we will find justice more quickly than most.

. . .

In the words of Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson, whose deputies carried out the assault, "the guys did what they were supposed to do" -- acknowledging, almost as an afterthought, that terrorizing innocent citizens in Prince George's is standard fare. The only difference this time seems to be that the victim was a clean-cut white mayor with community support, resources and a story to tell the media.

. . .

Let me give you three specific concerns underscored by our case.

First, the Prince George's Police Department's internal affairs function is broken. . . . Internal affairs division (IAD) investigations were required to take no longer than 90 days. More than a year after our ordeal, my family awaits the IAD report on what happened at our home. The statute of limitations for officer misconduct is 12 months, which means that any wrongdoers are off the hook.

Next, there is significant evidence that the county is broadly violating the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure. After initially claiming that they had a "no-knock" warrant to forcibly enter our home, county police acknowledged that they did not have one. But they went on to contend that there is no such thing as a "no-knock" warrant in Maryland. But this isn't true. A statewide "no-knock" warrant statute was passed in 2005.

. . .

Finally, and perhaps most disturbing of all, county police may be lying to cover up their civil rights violations. A county officer on the scene told Berwyn Heights police a fabricated tale to justify the warrantless entry into our home. The lie disappeared after police learned that I was the mayor.

A nation that calls itself "civilized" can not tolerate this level of lawlessness from those whom we charge to enforce our laws.

Who watches the watchers?

One more thought--which should shake you down to your core: If a city mayor is not immune from abuse at the hands of the police, what about you?

This is a result of the confluence of two really bad ideas--first, that the people should depend entirely on the police for protection from the truly criminal element among us. This idea breeds an arrogance on the part of the police which is antithetical to the American tradition of liberty and self-reliance. The second bad idea is the overwrought "war on drugs" which not only distorts our entire judicial system but also provides vast amounts of money to domestic and international organized crime, terror, and anti-democratic organizations around the world. That money fuels the bad-guy side of the urban arms race to which SWAT teams are the government response.

If we legalize and regulate 'recreational' drug use, we regain control over this segment of the economy that is now completely lawless--and is dragging the rest of society into lawlessness with it.

This isn't about "advocating the use of drugs." Drugs are bad, m'kay? But people will seek out drugs for reasons good and bad--it's part of our flawed human nature.

And when we attempt to ignore human nature, we get ourselves into trouble--like mistaken no-knock SWAT raids on city mayor's houses.