Dynamic Entry Gone Wrong

Another dynamic entry gone wrong. Just how hard is it for police to get the address for a raid correct? I believe it was Kim du Toit who suggested that every time this happens the police has to pay an automatic one million dollar fine to the person whose home they wrongfully broke into. And if one of them is shot in the process by the home owner, no charges be pressed. Sounds reasonable to me.

Annapolis police raided the wrong apartment Wednesday night, using flash grenades and kicking a resident in the groin before they realized their mistake, police and the family said.

And demonstrating the keen intellect and razor sharp logic that got them into this situation-

Police spokesman Hal Dalton said something must have gone amiss in the briefing beforehand. "We don't know how the mistake was made," Dalton said.

Right. Maybe you didn't bother to check the address on the search warrant? I'm assuming that it isn't that easy to obtain a no-knock warrant.

Silvia Bernal, 30, told The (Annapolis) Capital that about 15 officers burst through the front door of her apartment while she was cooking dinner about 8:20 p.m. She said the officers kicked her husband in the groin while she fled into a bedroom and barred the door with her body.

Then she said both of them were taken to the ground and handcuffed. The Capital said a police officer went outside and realized they had raided the wrong residence.

Fifteen- fifteen- and yet not one of them was switched on enough to realise that they were at the wrong apartment until after the raid had taken place? Unbelievable.

Spa Cove apartment manager Latisha Marshall says there is a large dent in the front door. And she said there are two large black stains from the flash-bang grenades police deployed after entering the apartment.

When officers and the city's tactical squad went to the right unit, they said it was empty.

Fifteen cops, flash bang grenades, busting a door open and kicking a suspect in the groin- does that count as excessive force? One would have thought that perhaps, just maybe, the police would have had a look around first and made sure that the person they were so intent on arresting, the one they obtained a warrant for and went to all that trouble to assemble a tactical team for, was actually at home first, before they went barging in? You'd think that if they took the time to think about what they were doing and carry out even a brief reconnaissance they might have gotten the right address. Instead they appear to have been too busy as playing soldiers.

Let me just sum up here- the cops want to raid a house, not just search it, but use a no-knock warrant to break in. They plan to throw flash-bangs around, presumably to disorient an armed person inside (I can think of no other reason to use such devices) and they also need to use a team of fifteen officers. That suggests to that they were either after a seriously dangerous criminal or that it's far, far too easy for the police to obtain such powers. If it was the former then why the hell didn't they use the most basic tool in their arsenal- and have a look around to make sure they had the right apartment and perhaps carry out some surveillance to make sure that the suspect was at home before they barged in? Or just maybe they could have used that surveillance technique to apprehend the subject when he left his home- and hence do away with the requirement for a dangerous tactical entry?

It seems to me that it's high time that a long, hard look was taken at the frequency with which the police resort to dynamic entry techniques- surely it should be a last resort when other tactics have failed?