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.
Bdaman:
interesting article, how much you want to bet most of the hire-ups in the DOE think like Buddha is Laughing does?
lets look at the entire quote:
“The kid should just find them each alone and kick their skanky asses. But then their mothers would probably have the kid on death row or facing life in prison.
Kids used to handle this type of thing themselves after school.”
So you are equating school yard justice by 11 year olds to the rational thought process of a grown adult? Are you projecting again?
Why is the Education Department purchasing 27 Remington Brand Model 870 police 12-gauge shotguns (all new, no re-manufactured products, thank you)?
The guns are to replace old firearms used by Education’s Office of Inspector General, which is the law enforcement arm of the department.
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”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/education-secretary-duncan/ed-department-buying-27-shotgu.html
“Maybe you are the one who is violent by nature and are projecting your nature onto the entire human race?”
Really. I wasn’t the one suggesting finding a bunch of little girls and “kicking their skanky asses” as an appropriate method of dispute resolution, sport. That’d be you.
where does the authority come from to have a swat team?
If DOE has one, you can bet the others do as well.
It doesnt matter if they dont send the SWAT team out for loan defaulters, they shouldnt even have a SWAT team. The friggen police shouldnt either. If you dont like the drugs, then make them legal and allow honest farmers to make a buck.
Violence should only be used in retaliation as a last resort. And an 11 year old kicking the ass of someone who took his clothes off is hardly an example of violent nature. More like a desire for justice, which is a human trait.
But most violence is perpetrated by nation states or primitive tribes of people over resources.
The fact that we have a Constitution which provides for a way to settle disputes is pretty good evidence that rational men are not violent. Now men of a different stripe, the ones who orchestrated and provided the philosophical foundation for the French Revolution are violent by nature but then they were statists and so it is no surprise.
Maybe you are the one who is violent by nature and are projecting your nature onto the entire human race?
Education Department says it doesn’t send SWAT teams after loan defaulters
By Liz Goodwin
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110608/us_yblog_thelookout/education-department-says-it-doesnt-send-swat-teams-after-loan-defaulters
Excerpt:
But Education Department Press Secretary Justin Hamilton said in a statement to The Lookout that the department “does not execute search warrants for late loan payments.” He said the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) “conducts about 30-35 search warrants a year on issues such as bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds.” Hamilton said the department cannot comment on this particular case until the investigation is over, but did add that the claim the warrant was executed for late loan payment is untrue. The raid was related to a criminal investigation of Wright’s wife.
The OIG lists some of its recent investigations on its website, including the case of a Boston man who was sent to prison last month for lying on a federal student aid form.
About 8.9 percent of all federal loan recipients (about 330,000 people) defaulted between 2008 and 2010, the highest percentage in more than a decade. Unlike students who have some types of private student loans, borrowers with federal loans can’t declare bankruptcy as a way to get out of repayment, no matter how dire their financial situation.
Still, Wright was not the subject of the agency’s investigation, and he is demanding an apology for being treated like a criminal in his own home. He animatedly explains in this video that he was handcuffed while still in his underwear and was made to wait in a police car for several hours with his three young children while the 15 law enforcement officers searched his house.
Two statements I never thought I’d read in the same sentence: ‘Department of Education’ and ‘SWAT Team’. Every time I think I couldn’t be surprised by anything political I get a surprise. DOE has a SWAT team. That’s insane. I.N.S.A.N.E. Our government is insane.
I wonder which other departments we normally wouldn’t think of as militarized are now militarized? I can only agree with the other posters here that want this victim to sue, want to have the Director of DOE fired etc. I wouldn’t bet money on reform though.
ROFLMAO
I suppose libido and hunger are constructs of the state too. You are especially ridiculous today, Corporate Bootlick. Do you even know what the first tool was?
A club. And it wasn’t just used for hunting either.
That above statement of yours is particularly funny in light of your solution on the thread about the little girls attack the little boy.
“Roco 1, June 6, 2011 at 9:52 am
The kid should just find them each alone and kick their skanky asses. ”
http://jonathanturley.org/2011/06/06/florida-boy-attacked-stripped-naked-in-public-and-videotaped-by-three-girls-resulting-in-no-charges/#comment-236831
Hypocritical much?
That’s the problem with sociopaths.
They hinder civilization because they don’t understand it.
violence is not in human nature, human beings are, for the most part rational animals and most would rather trade than fight.
Violence is a construct of the state. Wars are not started by individuals but by governments and usually for stupid reasons. People if left alone in an environment of freedom with an objective rule of law will trade with rather than attack their neighbor.
anon nurse,
That was addressed to “puzzling” who seems to be asking the old questions which you and I answered to our own satisfaction at least a year ago, if not longer.
You and I know what needs to be done which makes puzzlings’ questions meaningless for me.
I don’t care what the probe is … grabbing kids like that and shoving them into a car … breaking into a house … over the top and damned scary and a complete unamerican activity that should be fully investigated by congress. (Which might lead to other investigations…)
Looks like every government department needs their own costumed maniacs to terrorize the children of this country.
Turn about is fair play … let’s run a criminal probe on them!
You’re probably catching the tone of my anger towards the SWAT, I’m a tough guy ’cause I can scare a three year old, posers, and the Dept of Ed.
I’d give you a smiley face but … well, you know how I feel.
I am hoping this is a tipping point and I’m waiting to hear just how far the government is going to go in their spin. It’s going to have to be a pretty good one.
They are just saying it’s criminal to try to get themselves out of trouble, in mt opinion.
I remember when the SWAT teams were developed to use in the Watts riots in 1968. I don’t have the fond memories of the good old days that some here have.
Violence is inherent in human nature, Brian. Change human nature and you can end violence. Anything short of that simply won’t work.
Some years ago, a request for funds came to me by mail for the proposed “National Holocaust Museum.” The letter was apparently written by an officer who was one of the first U.S. soldiers to enter one of the main Nazi death camps.
In the letter to me were words to the effect that we (the U.S.) needed the National Holocaust Museum because we are not like the Nazis.
I sent as much as I could reasonably afford, being a strong believer in “Niemal wieder, vergesse nicht,” and also wrote that I was sending money because, in every way not trivial, we (the people of the U.S.) are the same as the Nazis.
I had hoped my view would be shown wrong. Alas, day by day, events seem to increasingly validate my view that there is no significant contrast between the Nazis and the citizenry of the U.S.
If the predicament is not about people, not about nations or cultures or tribes, not about good or bad people, not about crazy or sane people, not about politicians or politics, not about economics, not about law, what is the predicament of violence about?
Something situational?
Something situational which, because of situational factors, we are yet unable to effectively, accurately recognize and understand?
Surely the apparently escalating state of terror might be an indicator that no one has yet really figured out the nature of human violence completely?
It occurs to me to wonder whether we might only be looking where the problem is not, and so cannot find it…
What if someone happens to look where the problem really is, observes it accurately, and identifies a practicable remedy? Would anyone tolerate that?
http://www.news10.net/news/article/141108/2/Questions-surround-feds-raid-of-Stockton-home
obama has put us trillions in debt along with congressmen and senators. Can we kick in their doors and beat the crap out of them at 5 am???
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56530.html TV station has taken down the original story after it went viral. It is a criminal probe.
“I don’t care what kind of “new” excuse the Dept of Education comes up with to justify their thugs …”
Maybe the problem is the Department of Education. They shouldnt even be a department and they shouldnt provide student loans. College costs have escalated because of easy money. But then government will always trample the rights of the people. It is in its nature. Our founders understood this and tried mightly to limit the scope and size of government. The Department of Education is not something the founders would have considered necessary to a society.
Leviathan is here.
“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.” -Blouise
Am I misunderstanding you? I agree with you…