SWAT Wrong-Door Raids: Are You Next?

If you think working, paying taxes, and obeying the law will keep police out of your house, well, you must not be living in America.

It's happening all across the country: police plan raids on the homes of criminals, from murderers to poker players, and they get the wrong house. At best, the victims are terrorized by paramilitary SWAT, or Special Weapons and Tactics, teams.

Using squad tactics, military weaponry, and raw fear, SWAT teams exist in every large city and in many smaller ones, such as Paradise, California, with a population of 26,000. There was a time these teams were deployed only to arrest high-risk targets, like suspected murderers and barricaded suspects. Nowadays it seems like SWAT teams are called out for almost anything: drug use, gambling, even pornography charges will bring armed and armored police to the scene.

The fear a SWAT team can impart is hard to overstate. While touring New York I stopped at the World Trade Center site, trying to take in what had happened there. I turned to leave and nearly ran into a HERCULES officer's assault rifle. He was gigantic and not entirely human, his face hidden behind a ski mask and a Kevlar helmet.

In SWAT raids, property damage is normal. Nonlethal "flashbangs," used to disorient its victims, can burn carpets and even start fires. Family pets are frequently killed.

Frank and Betty Granger, both in their sixties, had their Illinois home raided after police received a tip that guns were in the house. Doors were broken and windows were smashed, but city workers were there the next day to fix the damage. An officer even apologized to them. This is one of the better stories.

Alberta Spruill wasn't so fortunate. After a bad tip from an informant, a New York SWAT team breaks down her door, flashbangs her apartment, and handcuffs her. She dies from a heart attack. The police had the wrong house. Radley Balko and Joel Berger write that, by September 2006, there had already been "at least 15 mistaken raids" in New York City alone.

What's worse is that criminals are learning to mimic SWAT teams to enter homes. One woman was beaten, raped, and murdered after men claiming to be FBI agents entered her home. Judging by the 911 tape, she let her guard down after she learned their "identities."

Really, SWAT-style raids are ideal for burgling: the element of surprise and fear, the victims will comply, lest they go to jail, and plenty of time and freedom to search for valuables. Handcuffs are cheap and easy to buy. And when wrong-door raids are not uncommon, what should the average American do when "the police" are at her door?

The overzealous use of paramilitary police forces obviously is not working. So what should be done? I don't think all SWAT teams should be disbanded. They were created for a good reason, but are used more than they were intended to be.

First and most importantly, there is no reason why police should ever raid the wrong house. If they are willing to risk injury or death to both officers and citizens, the police had better be certain there is no chance that they are storming the home of a law-abiding family.

SWAT teams also need to be used only for truly high-risk situations. Poker games are not high-risk situations. Drug suspects with no criminal history do not need to be assaulted by confrontational paramilitary forces. Send in SWAT to deal with robbers, holed-up madmen and murderers. Regular police, not expensive and violent commando teams, should be arresting the petty criminals.

Sadly, it does not seem that either is going to happen any time soon. Paramilitary police is the stuff of reality TV now, with shows like Dallas SWAT entertaining the masses. Politicians and adrenaline addicts love nothing more than a dramatic show of force, and all you can do is hope that you're not their next fix.