SWAT and Your Family's Home

SWAT stands for Special Weapons And Tactics. They are the police officers that get to wear all the soldier-like garb that would not look out of place in Baghdad with the combat helmet, flack vest, boots and assault rifle. They're the ones planning ambushes and then storming crack houses with tear gas and barking orders, "POLICE! Get on the ground NOW!"

What if they used these tactics on my family? I don't really have to wonder, thanks to the Shiflets, a Colorado family near New Castle in Garfield County. The county seat is in my favorite town of Glenwood Springs, where presumably a judge signed an order granting the Sheriff's office permission to search and seize. After the family had returned for the evening from a shopping trip to town, between 10 and 11 p.m., a sheriff approached the home, asked the dad some questions and after a few minutes with the dad trying to resolve things, a SWAT team appears out of nowhere, breaks down the door and holds the man, his wife and children at gunpoint, physically restraining everyone and seizing one of the children. This child is taken against his will and the will of his family and sequestered at a secret facility nearby.

The family's offense? Recognizing an accidental bump on the head as just an accidental bump on the head.

For more: The detailed story on what happened has been picked up by the Associated Press and was first reported in World Net Daily.

Why did they use SWAT? asks WND. The response:

The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a "self-proclaimed constitutionalist" and had made threats and "comments" over the years.

Holy smokes! You mean the guy actually believes in the United States Constitution? By the citizenry and other holy establishments, we must make an example of him by making him stand trial and executing him with the guillotine!

Excuse the sarcasm, but you get where I'm going with this. When people don't want the government intruding in their affairs, aren't they simply going with what the Fourth Amendment says? When confronted about a violation of rights, namely a phone call, the family was told that those rights are "only in the movies." I went to Washington DC just over ten years ago on business. When I had a free day, I didn't go to the Lincoln Memorial or the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I didn't visit Arlington, either. No, I went to the National Archives, to see with my own eyes this scrap of paper, yellowed and faded with 210 years of age, the Constitution. It's not a movie prop; it's something those men at Arlington and elsewhere have spent those two centuries defending. It was the reason I grew up in freedom, and if I can do anything to protect such freedom for my children, I will.

On that note, my own call to the sheriff's office in Glenwood Springs to get a comment from Sheriff Valerio wasn't exactly fruitful. Valerio is out of town and working with a Public Information Officer to create a new press release today. They're clearly in damage control mode, setting spin on whatever they have. Counterspin: Although I've been unable to confirm it, their night vision goggles and other high tech investigative equipment (purchased last fall with $10,000 from the Department of Justice) were probably in use during the raid.

There are two ways for the Sheriff to play this situation. He could possibly come forward and admit his decision to execute the order using the SWAT team was absolutely out of proportion to the situation. This would be an honorable and graceful way to handle it. On the other hand, it seems to be that the Sheriff is circling the wagons and using half-truths to support his story and defend his actions. If it gets that far, I doubt that it will hold up under scrutiny.

HT: Tia, HWTB

Afterthought: Even the most grievous error can be tamed by honesty and accountability.