this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2024
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THE POLICE PROBLEM

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    The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.

    99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it's not on this page.

    When cops are caught breaking the law, they're investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers' names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.

    When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with 'law enforcement experience' and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It's called "Wandering Cops."

    When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: "testilying." Yet it's almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.

    Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don't, they aren't cops for long.

    The legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.

    All this is a path to a police state.

    In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.

    Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.

    That's the solution.

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1
SWAT Team Raids Innocent Family Over Stolen AirPods Dropped on Their Street (www.riverfronttimes.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
49 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Around 6:30 p.m. on May 26, Brittany Shamily was at home with her children, including an infant, when police used a battering ram to bust in her front door. “What the hell is going on?” she screamed, terrified for herself and her family. “I got a three-month-old baby!”

...

While the family was detained outside, the SWAT team "ransacked" their house, the lawsuit says. One SWAT team member punched a basketball-sized hole in the drywall. Another broke through a drop ceiling. They turned over drawers and left what had been an orderly house in disarray.

After this had gone on for more than half an hour, the AirPods were located — on the street outside the family's home.

It later came to light that one of Shamily and Briscoe’s daughters saw what was likely the stolen Charger careening through their neighborhood a little before 7 a.m. that day. (The vehicle later crashed on the 1700 block of Foley Drive, about six miles from the family’s home.) It stands to reason that someone in the Charger tossed a pair of stolen AirPods onto the street in the vicinity of the quiet house police later busted into and ransacked.

The family, represented by Schock and Erich Vieth, is suing for damages stemming from embarrassment, unreasonable use of force, loss of liberty, and other factors. The lawsuit notes that neither Shamily or Briscoe had been in any trouble with the law for at least a dozen years prior to the incident. "There was no probable cause for the search warrant and had the affidavit contained complete information, the state court judge would not have approved the warrant," the suit allege

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

So much wrong with these raids, it's completely ridiculous. The cherry on top though, is how unapologetic they appear to be about the whole affair. From the article:

"The day after the errant raid, Briscoe emailed one of the detectives inquiring about the department repairing his broken door. The detective agreed the county would fix it for them.

A few months later, the door still busted, the family’s landlord fixed it instead."

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Exact opposite of Canadian policing.

My friend:

My motorcycle was stolen
I know who took it
I know where it is
Here's a photo of my motorcycle sitting in his yard

Police:

We don't care! Gotta go, we just got a report of a driver not wearing a seatbelt

Maybe there's some sort of middle ground where the police could actually fight crime without a ton of collateral damage.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Maybe there’s some sort of middle ground where the police could actually fight crime without a ton of collateral damage.

Now you're just talking crazy talk!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Launching an investigation requires a lot of work and paperwork.

Arresting someone already doing something illegal is convenient.

US cops are lazy unless it's shooting an unarmed person of color.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

To understand why this particular case necessitated the use of such force, we must delve into the disturbingly plausible sequence of events that could arise from such a seemingly inconsequential event.

Firstly, the tracking capabilities provided by Apple's Find My feature led authorities to believe that the stolen AirPods were located within Shamily's residence. This, in turn, led to the assumption that there might be some connection between the family and the carjacking perpetrators. A potential link between the family and the criminal organization behind the carjacking meant they could possess highly sensitive information or have access to deadly weaponry.

Now, let's imagine the following scenario: if the SWAT team hadn't raided Shamily's house and seized any potentially harmful materials, it would have allowed the criminals involved in the carjacking to continue their operations unchecked. This, in turn, would enable them to carry out more successful crimes and amass greater resources. Eventually, they might acquire nuclear technology or develop other advanced weapon systems.

The newly fortified carjacking ring would then target vital military bases and steal missiles, eventually launching a full-scale global war. In the midst of the chaos, one rogue general, seeking to protect his homeland at all costs, would order the launch of every single intercontinental ballistic missile he had under his command. Retaliation from other nations' militaries would follow suit, resulting in a mutual assured destruction scenario where nuclear fallout envelopes our world.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Don't give them any ideas

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Jesus fucking christ, the pigs just do not learn! There was absolutely no fucking cause for this level of force and terror, and whoever signed off on the warrant and use of SWAT force on the basis of airpod tracking location is a fucking moron. Each and every person involved should lose their job and damages should be paid from the police pension fund. Maybe then the cops would learn to use some goddamn restraint and common sense. I'm so tired of stories like this.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Find out where cops live, steal airpods, toss them in the general vicinity...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

FTP.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Please be security minded and at the very least use SFTP if you're going that route.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Whoever owned those headphones must have had money to get the police to mobilize a swat team and blast down a fucking door.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Or the SWAT team was bored and looking for an excuse to wreck shit

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

They'd only do that in a poor neighborhood. less outrage from the public and less chance for lawsuits.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Stolen airpods? The cops around here would not even look for a stolen car.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

The article implies the swat team was sent due to an armed carjacking that morning. Someone got a warrant for search and seizure based on geolocation results from the airpods and they assumed the carjackers would be hanging out at this address.

It's a rental home. Nothing is mentioned about the identity of the owner of the home. After looking up the house on zillow though it's about 113k. It's a dead end street surrounded by homes that are valued under 100k. I didn't realize that federal minimum wage would be enough to pay a mortgage in 2024, but apparently it is possible. This isn't super relevant other than the fact i'm looking at buying a house near Boston and I did a double take that a home exists in this price range and isn't in a trailer park. 113k here won't even buy you a parking spot.

After looking up the address it looks like a group of juveniles were involved with the carjacking so names are impossible to find. The most bizzare thing though is that a couple hours after the carjacking the car was picked up 3.5 miles / an 8 minute drive from the house in wylin court with the suspects bailing from the car and the cops arresting them... I wonder when the swatting happened and who they thought they would find?

Fun fact, the murder rate in St Louis per capita is the 7th highest in the world, after six cities in Mexico. #1 in the US. 87.83 per 100k. https://www.statista.com/statistics/243797/ranking-of-the-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-by-murder-rate-per-capita/

I'm not justifying anything. I learned a lot that I never knew about St Louis MO and holy fuck is it rough.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

I didn’t know that about St Louis, I went there for a conference a few years ago and mostly stayed downtown but I drove around a bit one day and it just seemed like an old Southern city. I never felt unsafe but I also lived in an old Southern city with lots of crime for a while so things outside of downtown didn’t seem much different.

There are still many places in the US where you can get a decent house in the lower 100s but they are mostly all rural.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

downtown st louis is actually pretty nice. i wouldn't recommend too many places in the south, but st louis seemed kinda nice.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Likely someone locally influential's business got hit. They're not here to protect your car, theyre here to keep the status quo for the rich.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Cops have, from their very foundation, been about protecting the money and the people who have it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Swat must have gotten new military hardware they wanted to play with.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Judge who signed off on this warrant should be disbarred and charged with unreasonable use of force and liable in the civil suit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

We don't know what information they were provided.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

"If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear."

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Anne frank had something to hide

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Her best selling journal!! (Among other things that is)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What in the actual fuck? They sent swat in for a pair of AirPods. SWAT!

A pair of AirPods and what lawyers say was some shoddy police work resulted in an innocent middle-class Ferguson family having their front door smashed in by the St. Louis County SWAT team last May.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

No, they were located in a stolen car, and their tracking location was used as PC for a warrant.

Still insane, corrupt, and shameful - just marginally better than having busted out the SWAT entirely for the lost pods.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Did they think they were going to find the AirPods in the stolen car in the drop ceiling?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I think someone in the department had a grudge against that family, or more likely, a general disdain for that neighborhood.

Then they brought their weak ass phoney PC to a friendly judge, and smashed the fuck out of that family's home, before they went home and beat their wives and girlfriends for not having a hot dinner ready.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Saint Louis, you say?

https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/coffin-at-st-louis-city-hall-stands-in-for-army-vet-killed-in-no-knock-raid-41933050

https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/14/st-louis-mayor-signs-executive-order-banning-no-knock-search-warrants/

🤔

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Very close to Ferguson.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

JFC reading this it’s literally that fucking gif.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

good god, i hope they win the hell out of that SWAT team.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They won't. Police have qualified immunity. At best taxpayers pony up, but even that is unlikely.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

This is both true and awful - we, the tax payers, just paid an inept SWAT Team to cosplay doing what is essentially a military operation, to the cost of either one completely innocent family getting their house and lives fucked over or all of us paying a bunch of money to fix what they broke.

What a fucking system. St. Louis is dangerous, but not so much that they need to fucking rush in a SWAT Team without good intel. I hope these bastards at least get their toys and privileges taken away… but bringing charges against anyone responsible - I have no hopes that will happen.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Swat teams have no business being involved in a property crime case of any sort. Law and order my ass.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

SWAT teams shouldn’t exist. Just a bunch of cops cosplaying the military.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Swat teams definitely have their place, but they should be the only cops carrying guns.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

That's the trick, don't present it as a property crime...

"The SWAT team was looking for guns and other material related to a carjacking that had occurred that morning."

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Air pods are what, like $200?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Slightly misleading headline - the SWAT team used the "find my" network to locate the airpods, which had been in a car that had been stolen in (they imply) an armed carjacking. The carjackers then drove through the street the Shamilys live on and threw the airpods out the window (again it is implied but not stated that the airpods were found in the street outside the Shamily home where they landed).

So... yeah. Even calling this "circumstantial evidence" is stretching this to the absolute limit. Presumably someone in the family has an apple device on the findmy network, which would show the Shamily home as the location of the airpods (since the device was in the home, but the airpods it was detecting in the vicinity were decidedly not).

Somehow, st. louis' finest didnt stop to think about... well, anything apparently. This is fucking absurd. I hope their lawyers eviscerate the cops over this one.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, but what made them think the Charger could be hidden in the drop ceiling or behind the drywall?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

The truth is they tried to use the AirPods to find the criminals, who I believe also stole a weapon as to justify the SWAT action, so they thought they were at the right place and surely the stuff is just well hidden! And then, when they find the AirPods on the street, they realize that just because the dot looks like it’s in the house, it’s not that accurate. They thought, “If it’s inside the house, then that means this is the bad guys house.” Then they proceeded to break in without observing to see if the car that was jacked is anywhere in sight, if there are children to be aware of, etc. in other words, this SWAT Team was not very bright.

Edit: or didn’t give a fuck.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

This is a new twist on a long history of law enforcement misunderstanding and misusing geolocation services.

Just ask the little old lady in Kansas who has 600 million ip addresses in her front yard https://theweek.com/articles/624040/how-internet-mapping-glitch-turned-kansas-farm-into-digital-hell

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

They already had the charger, it was crashed/ditched soon after it was stolen. They were looking for the guns used in the carjacking, or the airpods case or other items in the vehicle, so they could arrest Shamily and/or Bristoe as accomplices.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Air pods: $200

Drywall repair: $400

New front door: $700

Being Swatted: Priceless

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

For everything else, there's masterrace card.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

"Don't worry if you max out your limit on racism, we will cover for you!"

... also I doubt they use black cards for their top tier clients. Only white. And as I understand things over there, orange racists cards are being more widely accepted too, but will surely have higher interest payments.

What a fucked world as humans manage to create, truly limitless.