Troy cops faulted for "no knock" raid

[buckthesystem]

The old cliched "we were only following orders" was found to be "no excuse" at the 1946 Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. I guess these people hadn't heard of that, so thought they'd get away with it.

http://www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?ne...=7021&rfi=6

09/17/2008

Troy Cops faulted for 'no-knock' raid

By:James V. Franco , The Record

J.S. Carras - The Record. Troy Police cars parked on State Street on Wednesday.

TROY - An investigation by the Rensselaer County Drug Task Force that led to a botched raid at 396 First St. relied too heavily on information obtained through a confidential informant and not enough on traditional investigative tools like surveillance or controlled buys.

In addition, according to a "confidential report" authored by Troy Assistant Police Chief John Tedesco and obtained by The Record there were other errors with the four search warrants executed on July 3, including at First Street and one at a vacant Troy Housing Authority apartment, and "the results of this investigation yielded little."

The report was also critical of the Troy Police Special Operations Section, which is the department's drug task force and is a part of the broader county task force along with the Sheriff's Department.

The bulk of this investigation was predicated upon the spoken word of the CI absent further investigation," Tedesco wrote in his report to Police Chief Nick Kaiser. "Arguably, the reputation of the CI was established. However, this fact alone does not negate the need to substantiate the CI's claims. Surveillance or controlled buys at the remaining locations is the seemingly appropriate investigative pursuit to accomplish this function."

Furthermore, the report is critical of the investigation's timeline. There was one controlled buy, where police send in a CI to purchase drugs from a known dealer, on June 23. The warrants were signed on June 27 but were not executed until July 3.

"During this period, no efforts were undertaken to substantiate ongoing activities at these locations," according to the report. "Ostensibly, this detail should have been formed in a much more expedient fashion and prior events support this agency's ability to do so."

The report also faults the head of the Special Operations Section, Sgt. Pat Rosney for not providing "adequate oversight" to the investigation conducted by the task force, which is under the auspices of the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office.

"Supervisory members of the Rensselaer County Drug Task Force failed to provide sufficient oversight of this investigation," according to the report. "The lack of corroboration of the CI's assertions reflects shallow investigative efforts. Rather ... basic investigative protocols were ignored."

While Ronitta McColley was sleeping at her 396 First St. home during the early morning hours of July 3, the Emergency Response Team, a group of highly trained usually heavily armed police officers, conducted a "no-knock" raid that included breaking down her door and lobbying a fake grenade, known as a flash-bang, through her window. They rifled her things, turned the couch upside down and burnt a hole in the carpet looking for drugs that were not there.

That night, members of ERT thought they had the wrong address but as Tedesco points out it in his report, it was the right address but the single mother of a 5-year-old daughter had no drugs in her home. The report did not fault ERT as they were simply following their orders and acted in accordance with their training.

The warrants was requested by Mike Reilly, an investigator with the DA's office, and signed by Troy Judge Matthew Turner. Rensselaer County District Attorney Rich McNally said he has not seen the report and refused to comment.

McColley's attorney, Terry Kindlon, said he filed a notice of claim, which is the first step in filing a civil suit.

"It's a very straight forward case. The police came to her house, they broke the front window and penetrated deep into her house. They burned a big scorch mark into her rug. Basically they scared the hell out of her," he said, adding they are not asking for a specific dollar amount at this time.

"I sometimes think that at this point in a very real sense, rather than doing thoughtful, through police work they are phoning it in and they end up throwing bombs at one of the nicest, sweetest women I have ever met," Kindlon said.

"There is a saying that the best time to eat crow is when it's still warm and that may not be bad advice in this case."

The other addresses on the warrants were building 5, apartment 17 of Griswald Heights, which was vacant, 520 Second Ave., and 17 101st St. Three were arrested for minor infractions and a small amount of marijuana was confiscated as was $5,000 which has yet to be declared seized.

[MorningGlory]

The old cliched "we were only following orders" was found to be "no excuse" at the 1946 Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. I guess these people hadn't heard of that, so thought they'd get away with it.

I fail to understand your 'Nazi' comment, bts. When police officers conduct a raid such as this do you think that each and every one of them has canvassed and surveilled the neighborhood and the target? NO, they don't do that; they act on information given them by their superiors. It appears that, surprise!, even superiors make mistakes. What is your obsession with American law enforcement? There are 20,000 police officers on the streets of my city (Houston), just this one city, New York City has over 40,000 and these kinds of mistakes are not a common occurrance. Comparing them to Nazis is offensive.

[buckthesystem]

The old cliched "we were only following orders" was found to be "no excuse" at the 1946 Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. I guess these people hadn't heard of that, so thought they'd get away with it.

I fail to understand your 'Nazi' comment, bts. When police officers conduct a raid such as this do you think that each and every one of them has canvassed and surveilled the neighborhood and the target? NO, they don't do that; they act on information given them by their superiors. It appears that, surprise!, even superiors make mistakes. What is your obsession with American law enforcement? There are 20,000 police officers on the streets of my city (Houston), just this one city, New York City has over 40,000 and these kinds of mistakes are not a common occurrance. Comparing them to Nazis is offensive.

MorningGlory we all have to be personally responsible for our actions. Policemen are people just like the rest of us, with the same ability to think and know right from wrong as anyone else, they are not automatons programmed to blindly obey their "superiors".

In this particular instance an innocent woman was woken in the early hours of the morning by thugs who broke down her door and lobbed a fake grenade, known as a flash-bang, through her window. They rifled her things, turned the couch upside down and burnt a hole in the carpet looking for drugs that were not there. An ability to reason would have made it obvious to them that that was WRONG!!!!

Now would you do that to somebody? Under any circumstances?

The Nazi analogy is quite appropriate because: "If a member of the Gestapo had done something similar, they could not get away with merely blaming their "superiors". They knew what they were doing was wrong, just like members of this SWAT team also knew what they were doing was wrong.

If these kinds of mistakes are really "a common occurrance" as you say, well there is definitely something wrong, and it's about time that EVERYBODY involved was held to account.

I find it pretty offensive that you seem to think that this is normal behaviour and police are somehow above the law, are allowed to "make mistakes" and never be accountable for them.

[MorningGlory]

MorningGlory we all have to be personally responsible for our actions. Policemen are people just like the rest of us, with the same ability to think and know right from wrong as anyone else, they are not automatons programmed to blindly obey their "superiors".

In this particular instance an innocent woman was woken in the early hours of the morning by thugs who broke down her door and lobbed a fake grenade, known as a flash-bang, through her window. They rifled her things, turned the couch upside down and burnt a hole in the carpet looking for drugs that were not there. An ability to reason would have made it obvious to them that that was WRONG!!!!

Now would you do that to somebody? Under any circumstances?

The Nazi analogy is quite appropriate because: "If a member of the Gestapo had done something similar, they could not get away with merely blaming their "superiors". They knew what they were doing was wrong, just like members of this SWAT team also knew what they were doing was wrong.

If these kinds of mistakes are really "a common occurrance" as you say, well there is definitely something wrong, and it's about time that EVERYBODY involved was held to account.

I find it pretty offensive that you seem to think that this is normal behaviour and police are somehow above the law, are allowed to "make mistakes" and never be accountable for them.

I can't believe you totally misread what I wrote....read it again, please.

There are 20,000 police officers on the streets of my city (Houston), just this one city, New York City has over 40,000 and these kinds of mistakes are not a common occurrance. Comparing them to Nazis is offensive.

I still don't understand why you try to tell us how things are here in the U.S. Come here, live here awhile, and then you will be qualified to tell Americans about their country. I would never presume to tell you how things are in N.Z. for the simple reason that I HAVE NEVER LIVED THERE! SWAT teams are not regular police; they are special units. And I reiterate that comparing them to Nazis is offensive.