This article reminded me of a quote from Cicero I saw today:
I think Radley Balko is somewhat correct when he says that police and prosecutors respond to incentives, but that is insufficient. It's really a cop out (pun intended). Only moral retards would look at this case and judge it morally neutral to inflict so much damage on an elderly couple over such a harmless thing when other means were present to get them to shape up where they weren't compliant. If there is going to be reform, it cannot stop with just the legislative reforms and changed incentives. It must include a top-down house cleaning.
The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris' longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor.Unless the rule of law is taken to mean the arbitrary will of tyrants, cases like this prove that the rule of law is on its death bed in the United States. The fact that heavily armed men could so arrogantly, so violently attack an elderly couple's house and then deprive them of years of peace and thousands of dollars of wealth over such a pathetic, regulatory matter that could have been handled at least by a slap on the wrist just shows how far we've declined.
The six agents, wearing SWAT gear and carrying weapons, were with - get this- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Kathy and George Norris lived under the specter of a covert government investigation for almost six months before the government unsealed a secret indictment and revealed why the Fish and Wildlife Service had treated their family home as if it were a training base for suspected terrorists. Orchids.
That's right. Orchids.
Mr. Norris ended up spending almost two years in prison because he didn't have the proper paperwork for some of the many orchids he imported. The orchids were all legal - but Mr. Norris and the overseas shippers who had packaged the flowers had failed to properly navigate the many, often irrational, paperwork requirements the U.S. imposed when it implemented an arcane international treaty's new restrictions on trade in flowers and other flora.
I think Radley Balko is somewhat correct when he says that police and prosecutors respond to incentives, but that is insufficient. It's really a cop out (pun intended). Only moral retards would look at this case and judge it morally neutral to inflict so much damage on an elderly couple over such a harmless thing when other means were present to get them to shape up where they weren't compliant. If there is going to be reform, it cannot stop with just the legislative reforms and changed incentives. It must include a top-down house cleaning.
I was thinking of the "more laws, less justice" quote, but the one you linked was equally applicable.
It is sad that there was not one single member of that "SWAT" team with the conscience and balls to tell his fellows to behave civily. I am sure they all knew within 5 minutes of their arrival that there was no threat requiring special weapons or tactics.
It is of note that US soldiers in Iraq are taught to behave better than this when searching a house fo possible Insurgent activity.
It is also of note that many police officers are the sort of men who fantasized about going into combat, but who didn't have the stones to do it against an enemy that has a credible chance of killing them.
That reminds me of a throwaway scene in the movie Garden State where the Zach Braff character meets a high school friend who became a cop. This came as a mild surprise to Zach B. (I suppose because this friend was unruly at one point). The cop enjoys the power and authority that comes with his job and relishes that people have to do what he says. At this point, he carelessly pulls out his piece and says "Because they have to!"
They had to be taught a lesson. The orchid is a gateway plant.