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Massive Swat Raid on Organic Farm.

ANARCHit3cht

Call me Archie!
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    • Seen Sep 25, 2020
    Read about it here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/texas-swat-team-conducts-_n_3764951.html fairly old, but brings out a nice discussion topic: militarization of police forces.

    General idea is that they suspected the farm of cultivating marijuana and set up a massive raid that began with aerial surveillance. They held the residents at gun point for at least 30 minutes while they ransacked the property. They seized a multitude of (legal) plants and found no marijuana on the premises. They cited the reasons for their raid was their proposed growing of marijuana as well as various breaches of city code such as the grass being too big, a couch being on the lawn, and improperly stacked wood among other things... The owner of the property said a warrant was not presented until 2 hours into the raid and that the officers shielded their name tags so as to not be identified. For all their effort, only one arrest was made on an individual for outstanding traffic violations.

    yay for the increased militarization of police forces! hooray! it's just what we need to protect ourselves form those pesky people who don't trim their grass or dare have a couch in their yard. the nerve of these organic farms and their choices that endanger my community!!
     

    CoffeeDrink

    GET WHILE THE GETTIN'S GOOD
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    • *slowly places face in palm of hand*

    Texas. . . . this is an example of the failure of the highest rung on the ladder. Who authorized this? I wouldn't be surprised if there was an internal competition looking to see which organization 'got more drugs off the streets'. That sounds like a likely scenario to me, as funding looks at that stuff to determine budgets.
     
    Nah

    Nah

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    They cited the reasons for their raid was their proposed growing of marijuana as well as various breaches of city code such as the grass being too big, a couch being on the lawn, and improperly stacked wood
    Click to expand...

    wut

    wut

    The grass being too tall or a couch being on the lawn violates city codes? wtf

    I'm not exactly against having a militarized police force, but clearly this was not one of those times to use one.
     
    Keiran

    Keiran

    [b]Rock Solid[/b]
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    • Ok, I can see people that live in the area being upset about the place being unkempt (it lowers property value, is annoying to look at etc).. But..really..a SWAT raid? lmao

    They performed aerial surveillance but couldn't tell the difference between marijuana and okra?

    "The police seized "17 blackberry bushes, 15 okra plants, 14 tomatillo plants ... native grasses and sunflowers,"
    Click to expand...
    lmao
     

    ANARCHit3cht

    Call me Archie!
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    Yeah, you get upset about the property being unkempt and you file a report with your city and they send them a notice telling them to fix it or be fined--you don't normally call the swat in on them. The swat came for the marijuana mostly I think, but I want to say that the people who said that were mostly just ones who had grudges against the farm.
     

    CoffeeDrink

    GET WHILE THE GETTIN'S GOOD
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    • This stuff is almost sounds like it came from the Onion. Is it just me or is anyone else concerned about how the way things are going now that the Onion is slowly becoming obsolete because what they used to make up is actually happening?
     

    ANARCHit3cht

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    CoffeeDrink said:
    This stuff is almost sounds like it came from the Onion. Is it just me or is anyone else concerned about how the way things are going now that the Onion is slowly becoming obsolete because what they used to make up is actually happening?
    Click to expand...

    I think what concerns me about that is what we once considered examples that were so over the top and asinine that they HAD to be satire because they'd NEVER actually happen are... actually happening.
     

    CoffeeDrink

    GET WHILE THE GETTIN'S GOOD
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    • ANARCHit3cht said:
    I think what concerns me about that is what we once considered examples that were so over the top and asinine that they HAD to be satire because they'd NEVER actually happen are... actually happening.
    Click to expand...

    Exactly. I believe us to both be on pg.103 Ch. 2. On another note of the same subject, someone (not here on these forums) was arguing that people that 'swat' others are not 'violent criminals' and shouldn't be punished to the fullest extent of the law. I think the people that do the 'swatting' should be subject to a minimum ten year sentence. Conspiracy to commit murder (that wii-mote 'sure looks like a gun'), extortion, false imprisonment, false reporting of a crime, criminal negligence, and wasting $10,000 of tax payer's money. What do you think? I think if you're going so far as to put people in danger, invade their privacy and potentially have them imprisoned I think you should feel the weight of the book.
     

    ANARCHit3cht

    Call me Archie!
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    CoffeeDrink said:
    Exactly. I believe us to both be on pg.103 Ch. 2. On another note of the same subject, someone (not here on these forums) was arguing that people that 'swat' others are not 'violent criminals' and shouldn't be punished to the fullest extent of the law. I think the people that do the 'swatting' should be subject to a minimum ten year sentence. Conspiracy to commit murder (that wii-mote 'sure looks like a gun'), extortion, false imprisonment, false reporting of a crime, criminal negligence, and wasting $10,000 of tax payer's money. What do you think? I think if you're going so far as to put people in danger, invade their privacy and potentially have them imprisoned I think you should feel the weight of the book.
    Click to expand...
    Yeah, I think it's a pretty serious thing--if for no other reason than: What if a serious crime was actually going on and they needed the resources that were being used to conduct this sham operation? It's a pretty sad world that we live in anyway where it takes a dozen guys with guns to come take away a few plants. Despite the popular conception of people who grow marijuana, unless they're some mob aficionado, they aren't over violent people that are going to shoot at someone, least of all a police officer, for nosing around their crop.
     

    PoK3Matr1x

    A ROM Hackerino ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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    • S.W.A.T Officer: I think they are growing vegetables!
    S.W.A.T Commander: All Organic?
    S.W.A.T Officer: Yes.
    S.W.A.T Commander: GET THEM!
    Farmer: Ayy lmao
     
    Alexander Nicholi

    Alexander Nicholi

    what do you know about computing?
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    • Zekrom said:
    wut

    wut

    The grass being too tall or a couch being on the lawn violates city codes? wtf

    I'm not exactly against having a militarized police force, but clearly this was not one of those times to use one.
    Click to expand...
    It's part of redneck culture to have all of your large appliances and belongings out in your front yard! I've been all up and down the South, my entire family is from West By God Virginia, I would know. D:

    The surveillance is what I find most interesting. The fact that they can have a hawk's eye on you for silly shit like this is another testament that you have no freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they make all the important business decisions, they own and control the corporations and have bought and paid for the media and therefore control just about everything you see and hear! They got you by the balls!

    Have a tangent, I don't care. There's nothing fucking wrong with them, they contribute plenty. Read if you want, I ain't your boss.

    Given this they're also apparently comfortable in letting you know about it because they're okay with letting dumbasses into the loop that spill out in moronic bouts of idiocy like this. They would only let you know you're without a single privilege to name (because yes, "rights" are made up) if they're confident that you can't do anything about it. The reality is 90% of American citizens won't, and have ample power to do so and simply refuse.


    This notion reminds me of two conversations I had in the car earlier today with my mother. They're anecdotes, you can read them if you want.
    Spoiler:


    ...phew. Yeah, anyway. You have no rights. People are stupid and will try to get over. The police will continued to be increasingly heavily armed for next to no threat because it scares people. And apparently they're idiots with guns at that... ugh.
     

    Kyoe

    working on it
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    • Ah, yes, aren't instances of steps towards a police state lovely?

    Regardless of whether you can look past the abuse of power, delayed warrent, and the fact that a family of farmers of all people were held at gun point, this is a massive waste of tax payer dollars.

    Among the worst things about this is probably that so many people consider it justified because the police were "looking for marijuana", a substance less harmful than tobacco.
    As we accept more and more negligence of the proper role of the police and martial offices of the government, we'll be bound more and more towards a path of servitude and oppression.

    A single unit, with a warrent, would have been plenty to inspect the location. Not to mention more respectful and fair. If you feel the need to call in a SWAT team for fear of a redneck farmer with a pitchfork and maybe a shotgun, growing dope, then this country has more problems then we care to think about.
     
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