Austin, Restrict Police Use of SWAT Teams and No-Knock Warrants!
- by: Susan V
- recipient: Austin, Texas City Council and Mayor Steve Adler
The City of Austin Texas has recently come under attack by critics for what they call unwarranted use of SWAT teams and no-knock warrants. Most cases, says a report by the ACLU, involve drug search operations, which is not what these tactics were originally created for.
A recent example of how this unnecessary use of force and deployment got out of hand is a case involving a teen, living with his parents, whom police suspected of being a “large-scale drug dealer.” According to a report by My Statesman, when police forced their way into the family home without any prior warning, the teen, who had a legally owned gun, shot one of the police officers in the leg, allegedly mistaking him for an intruder. Also during the commotion, the family dog was killed.
The only drug suspected in this case was marijuana. And, in the end, says the report, the massive operation yielded minimal reward: Officers recovered 1.2 ounces of marijuana." The only charges the teen faces are those connected with the shooting.
The teen’s parents, one a former and the other a current state employee, both believe their son’s case should have been handled differently and warn that this could happen to anyone. Others also believe this use of risky military-style tactics by municipal police, especially for lower-level offenses, is unwarranted and should be prohibited.
Sign this petition to insist that Austin adopt more reasonable standards for deploying SWAT teams and issuing no-knock warrants.
To Mayor Adler and Austin City Council Members;
As an advocate of human rights, safety and basic common sense, I am writing to strongly urge the City of Austin to severely restrict police use use of SWAT Teams and no-knock warrants and prohibit them altogether in cases involving minor drug issues and those that don't present a clear threat to officer safety.
[Your Comments]
It is clear from My Statesmen's two examples of use of unnecessary force by Texas police that these operations are not only unwarranted, but they are causing more harm than good and more risk to the officers that the operations purport to protect.
The other example involves a raid in 2014, not far from Austin in Burleson County, "which turned deadly when a Somerville police sergeant was shot and killed while helping serve a no-knock search warrant for drugs and weapons." In this case, according to the report, the police found "a small number of marijuana plants" and legally owned guns.
As the report notes, the use of SWAT teams "were originally formed to handle active shooters and hostage situations," but an ACLU notes their use and the use of no-knock warrants have "grown nationally, in part as local law enforcement agencies increasingly have used federal funding to purchase military-type equipment for SWAT teams."
Having this equipment on hand doesn't justify using it when the situation doesn't warrant its use. Therefore I, the undersigned, request that Austin adopt reasonable standards for deploying SWAT teams and using no-knock warrants.
[Your Name]
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