Oklahomas No Knock Cops

Thanks Norma, Oklahomas Chapter President of NORMAL


Author: Ronald Fraser, Ph.D.

Note: The Author writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project, a Washington-based civil liberties organization.

OKLAHOMA'S NO-KNOCK COPS

You and your law-abiding neighbors in Oklahoma might be just one street address away from a life-threatening midnight raid by a local paramilitary police unit. As these so-called SWAT squads increasingly become America's favored search warrant delivery service, bungled raids - including many to the wrong address - have skyrocketed. In these assaults on private property, scores of innocent citizens, police officers and nonviolent offenders have died.

In a recent Cato Institute report, "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America," Balko writes: "Over the last

25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police - or Special Weapons and Tactics

(SWAT) units for routine police work. SWAT teams today mainly serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home."

These raids -- as many as 40,000 per year -- terrorize nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders and wrongly targeted civilians when teams of heavily armed paramilitary units, dressed not as police officers but as soldiers, invade their homes in the dead of night.

Balko reports that in 1996, Tulsa police raided the home of Mary Lou Coonfield, 68, on a drug warrant. Coonfield awoke to find a man in black standing in her bedroom, holding a gun. Thinking she was being robbed, she grabbed a .22-caliber pistol and wounded a deputy sheriff. In 1997, the warrant was ruled illegal. In 1999, a jury acquitted Coonfield of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon due to Oklahoma's "Make My Day" law, which allows residents to use force against intruders in their home.

SWAT units were originally formed in response to civil riots and bomb-toting radical groups in the 1960s. By 1995, one study found, 89 percent of police departments, including 65 percent of smaller towns'

in the 25,000-50,000 population range, had a paramilitary unit.

SWAT squads found new life in the emerging tough-on-drugs culture of the 1970s. By 1995, serving search warrants, mostly in no-knock drug raids, accounted for 75 percent of the actions of the nation's SWAT squads.

Why are SWAT squads a threat? First, they depend on notoriously unreliable informants when picking raid targets. Second, SWAT teams trained by U.S. Army Ranger and Navy Seal units blur the line between war and law enforcement. Citizens are treated as if they are combatants.

Third, the use of military assault weapons and tactics actually turn otherwise nonviolent situations into violent confrontations when startled occupants try to arm and defend themselves.

Finally, police departments in the United States received money from the sale of boats, cars and other assets seized during drug raids.

This money is then used to outfit more SWAT teams for more asset-seizing raids -- a practice that serves as a license for SWAT teams to confiscate private property for their own use.

To rein-in out-of-control SWAT units, Oklahoma's state and local governments should limit the use of these squads to their original purposes; end corrupting asset forfeiture policies; and pass laws that safeguard families' rights to the privacy and sanctity of their homes.