Armed invasion of a home to serve a search warrant should be illegal unless there is some danger indicated. In our case, the agents could have stopped my husband when he was outside mowing the yard or getting the mail. It wouldn't have been difficult at all to avoid the need for drawn guns.
I remember asking for the names of all the agents who were at the house that day. They looked at each other and I knew I wasn’t going to get names. One of them gave me the name of the lead investigator. Cowards.
I suspect that armed invasions like the one at our house are used to keep the agents "sharp," as practice sessions for times when a search could actually be dangerous. Oh, but the unknown makes every search potentially dangerous, you say? So is every traffic stop. Every time a lone cop approaches a car for a traffic stop, he is facing the unknown and yet cops do that every day.
The home invasion approach to serve a search warrant on a non-violent crime is itself a crime. Bringing a dozen guns into a house, acting as if the agents were in danger when they most certainly were not…all that makes for instability, insecurity, and more likelihood of a mistake. The judge who signed the warrant should be held responsible for approving the home invasion.
Why did you want the names of the agents? To report them? They didn't do anything illegal and furthermore they HAD a search warrant signed by a judge. They didn't give you their names because they knew for a fact nothing would come of you complaining about them doing the job they were sworn to do and doing it correctly. Sorry Marie I understand you wish your children had not seen and heard what they did that day but the blame rests on your husband not to agents and officers who were doing their jobs,They are not cowards and in fact each one of them is a hero doing a dangerous job that needs to be done.Not every door they knock on belongs to that of a middle aged man with no violent history. Some of those doors conceal very real dangers, all of which they have seen in the line of duty. They CANNOT make exceptions as to how they perform their job simply because your kids happen to be at home.
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