In Stockton, California, Kenneth Wright was at home with his three young children ages 3, 7, and 11 when a SWAT team burst into his home at 6 a.m., dragged him out on the lawn, threw him to the ground, and put the family (including the kids) in squad cars. His alleged crime: default on student loans. On top of the overkill in using SWAT teams to target defaulting students, the city got it wrong. They were looking for Wright’s estranged wife. The D.O.E. now insists that it was not just about loans but part of a criminal investigation that it was carrying out.
There has been an expansion of SWAT teams with the infusion of federal funds, often connected to anti-terror programs. Departments appear to be searching for ways to use them, including as http://jonathanturley.org/2011/03/25/under-siege-steven-seagal-attacks-home-in-arizona-with-armored-cars-and-swat-members-to-arrest-man-accused-of-cockfighting/.
In this case, Apocalypse Now was unleashed by the Department of Education as it called in the police for a defaulted student. The Office of the Inspector General has a law enforcement branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations. However the Stockton Police Department said that it only provided one officer and one patrol car and did not participate in breaking Wright’s door, handcuffing him, or searching his home.
Does this mean that the Department of Education now has shock troops? The Department admitted that it issued the search warrant. That is pretty disturbing that the Department of Education now has authority to issue search warrants and trigger raids on homes.
Recently when the Education Department bought 27 shotguns it released the following statement:
Here’s a statement from the office in response to a question about why need 27 shotguns with a 14-inch barrels:
“The Office of Inspector General is the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Education and is responsible for the detection of waste, fraud, abuse, and other criminal activity involving Federal education funds, programs, and operations. As such, OIG operates with full statutory law enforcement authority, which includes conducting search warrants, making arrests, and carrying firearms. The acquisition of these firearms is necessary to replace older and mechanically malfunctioning firearms, and in compliance with Federal procurement requirements. For more information on OIG’s law enforcement authority, please visit their Web site at : http://www.ed.gov/oig”
The D.O.E. issued the following statement in saying that it was carrying out its own raid but not over student loans. Here is the statements as found on Reason:
Yesterday, the Depart of Education’s office of inspector general executed a search warrant at Stockton California residence with the presence of local law enforcement authorities.
While it was reported in local media that the search was related to a defaulted student loan, that is incorrect. This is related to a criminal investigation. The Inspector General’s Office does not execute search warrants for late loan payments.
Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, we can’t comment on the specifics of the case. We can say that the OIG’s office conducts about 30-35 search warrants a year on issues such as bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds.
All further questions on this issue should be directed to the Department of Education’s Inspector General’s Office.
Source: NEWS 10 as first seen on Reddit.
Jonathan Turley
Kudos to Elaine for shotgun story.
Puzzling:
“The dangerousness of interacting with government is going parabolic.”
Dont you mean exponential? or maybe Postal?
Swat teams are essentially coward thugs. They exist in stealth mode under color of the law until called. Then they respond with surprise and only when they have overwhelming advantage in size and gun power over their victims. Their greatest exposure to risk of bodily harm comes from their comrades during the raid and possibly from tripping over their own feet.
I would love to be in an equal sized counter-group with the same armaments with five minutes warning of the arrival of these coward thugs and to enjoy the same immunity.
Puzzling,
Putting a leftist spin on words but offering no concrete solutions … just words. The questions you pose have been asked and answered … over and over again.
Prosecution doesn’t stop at the SWAT level … it travels up the chain of command to the person who signed the search warrant, to the person who ordered the SWAT team on sight to the official who set the policy. They all go to prison. Nobody gets off with this or that excuse … all the way up to the Inspector General. She can throw her next cocktail in the prison cafeteria.
Write your congressman, write to the U S Dept. of Ed, write to the White House, write everybody you can think of and demand action … then write them again. Hell, write your local FOP and tell them what you think of maniacs dressing up in funny costumes and dragging citizens out of their houses because some asshole ordered them to. Do something!
Copies of the warrant can be obtained by the news media. They need to get them & post the links like they do here in Vegas on stories like this. Then there is no discrepancy as to why his home was raided.
I don’t care WHY they came in the first place, busting down the door is totally uncalled for! Had Kenneth moved in such a way for the cops to claim they felt threatened he would have been DEAD. The ONLY time a raid should be done is IF they know FOR SURE the person is in the home & is a rapist, murder or known record of violent criminal history, even then they can knock on the door & wait for an answer. If no answer then maybe kick the door in.
The image at 2:00 on that video is our future.
Blouise wrote:
Some say that police are the “edge of the knife”. You need to consider who is holding that knife in the first place: your government.
This cannot be solved bottom up by rare prosecutions of individual police. There are thousands eager to claim a spot on DOE SWAT teams if a handful of “operators” are dismissed for one reason or another. Those prosecutions are a diversion from acknowledging a larger problem.
You need to ask why that SWAT team exists in the first place. Why is government vesting an education department with capability for such violence? Will even routine traffic stops one day be met by SWAT-like tactics in order to intimidate, condition and coerce? And will the situation continue to escalate until we have a full-fledged police state? I think that is likely. And they will not want it on tape:
Buddha,
Needless to say, I’m incensed
Student aid fraud and embezzlement of federal aid justifies SWAT (special weapons and tactics).
This country, as far as I’m concerned, has now officially gone mad.
The Russians say “A fish rots from the head.”
Politicians need to start paying for the illegal policies they set and crimes they commit while in office by going to prison.
Why not include a paragraph in your letters demanding the criminal investigation and trial of the Bush Administration and any pols who enabled them to subvert the Constitution in the name of personal profits.
A recent “survey”/”quiz” of FBI agents and supervisors, concerning bureau policy about issuance of National Security Letters, had a 20% failure rate…. Is this any less surprising?
anon nurse,
Pontificating is all fine and dandy but now it’s time to move against these out of control maniacs and get them off our streets and out of our lives … that’s what prisons are for and that’s where they belong until they’re too old to be a threat to anybody. Those who follow the orders are just as guilty as those who give the orders and they, in turn, are just as guilty as those who set the policy.
“to rid ourselves of oil companies ”
anon nurse,
One lives to be of service.
raff,
I’m thinking the way we used to: with common sense, protecting the people’s rights foremost over any other consideration, and sound foreign policy that isn’t centered around being the World Police or bullies for alleged allies like Saudi Arabia.
Well said, Blouise… and I agree that this is the time for some serious action.
“To call for the heads of the officers involved is to miss the problem entirely.” (puzzling)
Bullshit … I noticed that although you enumerated the abuses and present/future possibilities you called for no solutions or punishments.
I’m sick to death of talk … action is what is needed.
Start with the thugs who stuffed those kids into the back of a squad car and work the way up their chain of command … put each and every one of them in Leavenworth and show them no more mercy or understanding than they showed that 3 year old little girl.
I don’t care what kind of “new” excuse the Dept of Education comes up with to justify their thugs … no 3 year old should be collateral damage for a bunch of men who like to dress up in scary costumes and drag citizens out of their homes.
puzzling,
That is one scary video.
Buddha,
How will we protect ourselves if we do away with the Patriot Act??? 🙂
“Write your Senators and Representatives today and tell them you’ve had enough security theater, goon squad tactics against citizens, and would like to curb the growing police state by first repealing the Patriot Act.” -Buddha
Please. (Thanks, Buddha.)
I have an idea. Instead of paying for more SWAT teams, how about paying for necessary infrastructure repairs and improvements and social programs the boost national security like universal health care and alternative energy R&D to rid of of oil companies and assholes like the Saudis for good. Government is a tool. It only harms you when you abuse it or let it abuse you. By allowing the Patriot Act to stand, We have abused government by allowing it to abuse us.
Write your Senators and Representatives today and tell them you’ve had enough security theater, goon squad tactics against citizens, and would like to curb the growing police state by first repealing the Patriot Act.
What we’re seeing here is such a small piece of what’s really going on…
Thanks for posting that vid, puzzling.
SWAT execution from earlier this month:
Thank God Mr.Wright and his kids were not killed in all this. Also thank God of the location because i too have the same name and live in Stockton.
“I don’t know how to even begin to respond to this story. I just wish I could get the case.” -Mike Appleton
So do I…