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.
More will see it when it’s at their door.
Or already inside with a no-knock warrant..
puzzling:
yes and right here in river city no less, on a blog devoted to civil liberties. Rather ironic eh?
Comply or die.
Roco asks
They are. The same government that will strip you of any self-defense capabilities, and then may torture those who call upon it to “serve and protect”, as this 57 year-old woman found out when she called 911 after suspecting a prowler near her house. Particularly disturbing to listen to, she begs for the torture to end and it does not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsypp8JO1uw
This is the result of a mindset of superiority being instilled into agents of an all-powerful government. Yet, I hear calls for more and more government everyday.
why dont you take a look at what the root cause of that violence is. And what types of government exist in which violence takes place.
I dont deny that violence exists, I am just of the opinion that the majority of humanity are peaceful and given the chance would rather trade with others than fight them. Wars are created by the state. Whether an African tribe, a Greek Polis or a Constitutional Republic. Most wars have been started by countries which have statist governments.
which raving are you talking about? the one where I said people are not violent by nature? Or the one where I thought the DOE was full of it to do what they did? Or maybe the one where I thought the grandmother who was evicted by Freddie/Fannie should have kept her house and worked it out?
Or was it the one which I thought Kelo should have kept the house?
Since you seem to think I was raving I can assume you are for unbridled government force when dealing with citizens?
“If humans were violent by nature we would see mass killings, constant fighting and other violent crimes on a regular basis. We don’t, most people are peaceful and want to lead their lives without violence.”
Roco,
Perhaps you haven’t heard of the genocide in Africa, or the violence in the rest of the world. We see everything you claim we don’t see and we see it all too often. The history of humanity is one of violence. Sadly, I your idealized society ever came to pass you would see violence up close and personal as the people with the most weapons take over. The relative peace you have experienced in your life has been because there is a government, but you are too besotted with fantasy to understand it.
Puzzling:
holy shit, she is following legal procedures and Freddie Mac has her arrested. WTF
The statists are out in force in this administration.
But then what do you expect when the Supreme Court’s left wing voted to allow the town of New London to take Kelo’s property for a development which would produce more taxes for the town.
Arent Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac run by the government?
Roco,
You pathetically cling to the same incorrect propaganda that has allowed you to think your innate selfishness as a human being has nobility. The ability of humans to rationalize their lack of caring for any save themselves is unlimited, as all your ravings prove.
i like the part where they arrested a neighbor for watching on the sidewalk.
to bad it was the networks filming, then they could have arrested whoever shot the video.
“Furthermore, as long as LEOs view even the most benign misdemeanants as scum/ dirt bags—instead of innocent-until-proven-guilty fellow citizens—then the abuses we observed in this incident will continue to occur and intensify.”
FFLEO
You point out exactly the problem. Looking at the history of Law Enforcement in the US many LEO’s came to their jobs believing they were protectiing the public. They soon found out that the real purpose of the job was to protect business and wealth. Read Wyatt Earp’s history for instance and you get a microcosm of the real use the elite has made of LEO’s and unfortunately the complicity of many LEO’s with that usage.
The training that emphasises an “us vs. them” mentality and the exposure to the worst in human behavior reinforces the alienation of many LEO’s from the public they serve. Combine this with a press that rapaciously reports infamous cases, violent not white collar. A lack of education as to what the Bill of Rights and our legal system is about, in tandem with politicians (like prosecutors) who ignore the legal niceties for the sake of self aggrandisement. This creates a public all too willing to believe that all who are called criminal, really are and that legal defenses are but ways to escape justice.
The reportage on the Caylee Anthony case is a good illustration of the assumption of guilt by a TV media striving to add drama in the service of ratings. Yesterday, I watched a commentator decrying the defenses effort to impeach the integrity of forensic evidence as trying to “OJ” the case. She then presented a purported expert on body language to pronounce the defendants guilt through her expressions and arm movements.
We are led to believe that SWAT Teams protect the public and LEO’s, so we endow them with totalitarian tactics and advanced weaponry. The result is usually, as in this case, overkill that can turn needlessly lethal. This is all reinforced by network TV that is made up of at least 50% of unrealistic crime series, that have convinced the public to support a kind of law enforcement that only exists in the minds of writers.
Pardon my rant, because at its base is my total astonishment that the DOE needs weapon carrying peace officers to fight “crimes” against education.
SWAT was on-site for this Fannie Mae ordered eviction, a point made in the video description but not fully detailed within this clip.
Pete asked
That’s already been done by Fannie Mae:
“I believe in free markets no matter how many times you try to say I don’t.”
you dont, you are an avowed socialist, by definition you dont believe in free markets. If you think a free market can exist in a socialist state you are wrong and have little understanding of socialism or free markets.
It is sad to watch your mind work.
A school yard fight is a far cry from violent by nature. Since very few children when I was growing up were involved in after school fights and considering when they did happen it was usually to settle some sort of real or imagined abuse by another child. I don’t think you can conclude from a couple of kids fighting because one feels he was wronged by another is violent by nature.
If humans were violent by nature we would see mass killings, constant fighting and other violent crimes on a regular basis. We don’t, most people are peaceful and want to lead their lives without violence.
If people were violent by nature we would not have lasted as a race, we would have killed each other. The state causes violence on a grand scale, typically totalitarian statist states cause mass death and destruction.
I still say you are projecting statist boy.
maybe when DOE gets all of the student loan perps out of the way then fannie may and freddie mac can borrow the swat team for all these mortgage defaulters
I believe in free markets no matter how many times you try to say I don’t. I believe in regulated free markets. Unlike you and your laissez-faire abusive corporatist nonsense. But please. Lie some more. It’s what we’ve all come to expect from you.
Oooooo. Going to try to tell me what I think about something I have expressed no opinion on? I guess you are adding “psychic” to your list of super-troll powers.
I seriously doubt it is a bastion of free market thought.
I’m not advocating violence is what I’m doing. But you sure are. My but you are a good example for the children. Just the kind of example I’d expect a sociopath to set. Try to twist your way out it after advocating violence and then saying violence isn’t a part of human nature. It’s funny.