SWAT team honoured for raid on wrong house

[David of Derby]

Got to admire the bloke's guts, though. He comes down the stairs with a shottie and takes on an Entire SWAT team. Most guys would have chucked the weapon and surrendered to eight blokes with SMGs...

There again, that would have been the smart thing to do...

[Axxman]

Oh goody...

Another BASH the Policeman thread! Nevermind the fact that they put themselves in harms way, on a daily basis, to serve their community. The family should sue..and they should definitely get compensation. And the police dept. should take EVERY opportunity to make sure that this situation doesn't repeat itself...

[buckthesystem]

Oh goody...

Another BASH the Policeman thread! Nevermind the fact that they put themselves in harms way, on a daily basis, to serve their community. The family should sue..and they should definitely get compensation. And the police dept. should take EVERY opportunity to make sure that this situation doesn't repeat itself...

Oh that makes breaking into the wrong house at night and terrorising the family OK then!

[Axxman]

Oh goody...

Another BASH the Policeman thread! Nevermind the fact that they put themselves in harms way, on a daily basis, to serve their community. The family should sue..and they should definitely get compensation. And the police dept. should take EVERY opportunity to make sure that this situation doesn't repeat itself...

Oh that makes breaking into the wrong house at night and terrorising the family OK then!

hmmmm.... I Don't think I said that! In Fact, I think I said the family SHOULD sue...and SHOULD BE compensated. However...I think that the sacrifices police officers make on a daily basis (something which you are not even able to comprehend, even if you cared) should get them a bit more respect than all of your police bashing.

[David of Derby]

Woah, Axxman. The police are worthy of respect. These particular officers, who bungled a simple operation, are probably not. Let's see, what were they trying to do? Enter a suspect's house and arrest him. Bad intell sent them to the wrong address, ok, not their fault. They enter the house and are confronted by one man with a weapon largely ineffective against their body armour. A firefight ensues, one man against at least eight, and they fail to nuetralise him. He's unarmoured, he's one man, opposed by a whole SWAT team with automatic weapons, and allegedly, anyway, CQB training. They need to spend more time on the range and in the killing house, I think. Then they might be able to arrest a suspect if they get sent to the right house next time...

[Axxman]

Woah, Axxman. The police are worthy of respect. These particular officers, who bungled a simple operation, are probably not. Let's see, what were they trying to do? Enter a suspect's house and arrest him. Bad intell sent them to the wrong address, ok, not their fault. They enter the house and are confronted by one man with a weapon largely ineffective against their body armour. A firefight ensues, one man against at least eight, and they fail to nuetralise him. He's unarmoured, he's one man, opposed by a whole SWAT team with automatic weapons, and allegedly, anyway, CQB training. They need to spend more time on the range and in the killing house, I think. Then they might be able to arrest a suspect if they get sent to the right house next time...

Sorry David...in complete disagreement with you here. These police officers went into a home that they were told housed a violent criminal. They then came under fire with 2 officers getting hit by shotgun schrapnel. Because of their professionalism and calm under fire...this family walked out of the house without ANY injuries. This was NOT a long drawn out gun battle. I'm not exactly sure what you expected the officers to do differently. It sounds to me like you think they should have killed the guy...which is NEVER the mindset. I can guarantee you that these officers would have won this battle had the guy not surrendered when he did.

Also...its important to point out that all 8 officers were probably not involved in the gunfight. Two, maybe three, at most. The others were more than likely clearing the rest of the house, covering retreat access, and possibly even at the back of the house. Based on reports the police identified themselves to the mans two son's who began yelling at their father to stop shooting at the police. Thats when the man put down his gun. It is highly unlikely that this "Rambo" faced 8 Swat team members all at once. This was a very short gun fight, not very many rounds were fired.

I just think it is highly unfair and unjustified to attack these officers for doing their jobs well. Everyone of them was probably very upset at the situation. I know most of you think of police as cold-blooded killers with attitude problems...but the reality is that stuff like this effects them on a deep level. They were probably very upset at the idea that they could have killed an innocent victim...or that one of them could have been killed in this foul-up.

Personally, I think the man should be proud of himself. He protected his home, and his family and was still focused enough to realize it was the police and stop shooting and lay on the ground. Maybe the police dept. should give him a medal too...along with a sizeable check!

[Guest man]

Tagged as in, walked up to them and touched them on the shoulder?

"Tagged" as in hit what he was shooting at.

[buckthesystem]

Oh goody...

Another BASH the Policeman thread! Nevermind the fact that they put themselves in harms way, on a daily basis, to serve their community. The family should sue..and they should definitely get compensation. And the police dept. should take EVERY opportunity to make sure that this situation doesn't repeat itself...

Oh that makes breaking into the wrong house at night and terrorising the family OK then!

hmmmm.... I Don't think I said that! In Fact, I think I said the family SHOULD sue...and SHOULD BE compensated. However...I think that the sacrifices police officers make on a daily basis (something which you are not even able to comprehend, even if you cared) should get them a bit more respect than all of your police bashing.

So by that logic: I break into a house and kill the occupants, when challenged I say "but I am in the volunteer fire brigade and put my life on the line on a daily basis, so I should get respect for that and this has far more weight than what I have just done".

I contend that no matter what these people "do on a daily basis" is irrelevant. These people should not only be compensated, the members of the SWAT team should be accountable for their actions and go to jail. You or I would if we did something like that, what is so special about a SWAT team?

[Guest shiloh357]

Oh goody...

Another BASH the Policeman thread! Nevermind the fact that they put themselves in harms way, on a daily basis, to serve their community. The family should sue..and they should definitely get compensation. And the police dept. should take EVERY opportunity to make sure that this situation doesn't repeat itself...

Oh that makes breaking into the wrong house at night and terrorising the family OK then!

hmmmm.... I Don't think I said that! In Fact, I think I said the family SHOULD sue...and SHOULD BE compensated. However...I think that the sacrifices police officers make on a daily basis (something which you are not even able to comprehend, even if you cared) should get them a bit more respect than all of your police bashing.

So by that logic: I break into a house and kill the occupants, when challenged I say "but I am in the volunteer fire brigade and put my life on the line on a daily basis, so I should get respect for that and this has far more weight than what I have just done".

I contend that no matter what these people "do on a daily basis" is irrelevant. These people should not only be compensated, the members of the SWAT team should be accountable for their actions and go to jail. You or I would if we did something like that, what is so special about a SWAT team?

Wrong. the family needs to be compensated, but the SWAT members did not commit a crime. They were in the course of duty when the event occurred. It was mistake made in a sincere attempt to bring a known criminal to justice. A reasonable person can draw a moral distinction between that some hot-head who just barged into a house and started shooting without cause or provocation.

If they just drove by a house and decided to raid it on a random whim, you might have a case. As it stands, you don't have a case.

[nebula]

I agree with Axxman. The fault is with whomever bungled the information that sent the Swat team to the wrong house. But the fact that no one was killed should speak volumes to the discipline of the team.

Unfortunately, the department truly ought to compensate the family for the damage done at minimum.