Feature: Reining in SWAT — Towards Effective Oversight of Paramilitary
from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #634, 5/28/10
As is periodically the case, law enforcement SWAT teams have once again
come under the harsh gaze of a public outraged and puzzled by their
excesses. First, it was the February SWAT raid on a Columbia, Missouri,
home where police shot two dogs, killing one, as the suspect, his wife,
and young son cowered. Police said they were looking for a dealer-sized
stash of marijuana, but found only a pipe with residues. When police
video of that raid hit the Internet and went viral this month, the
public anger was palpable, especially in Columbia.