outrageous drug sweep in SC school

The message they are sending the students is that violence is the solution to any problem. Fascist state, here we come!

 

Ever have the feeling that some of these things are just dress rehearsals?

 

Old news, 15 years old.

They did this at my High School 15 years ago. Sent dogs and everything. Found one small bag of weed. Never did something like that again.

 

> Never did something like that again.

So this activity doesn't lead to the creation of a fascist state? Oh, well. I guess I need a new idea.

 

The message it would send to me is that I need to cut out my Internet connection & satellite dish & spend the money on sending my kid to private school.

The other message it would send is that I would need to start a recall campaign against the school board.

But as for drug laws, get serious. Do you think that Anheuser Busch & Terrance & Phillip Morris are going to let the congressmen they own change any drug laws?

Drug producers & growers need to start buying up congressmen.

 

So no drugs were found, but the higher ups believe the drug dealing students were tipped off.

So who tipped off the dirty little drug dealers, the principal or the police?

 

I saw the footage from this, and it was outrageous. In my high school, they just locked us in our rooms while the K-9 units scoured the place. We never even saw the officers.

Why on earth were their guns drawn??

 

Manny, you should know why already.

Their guns were drawn so that the officers involved could get promotions & commendations & so that the department could use the kewl footage as justification for increased funding.

Ending drug prohibition is bad for business, if you are in law enforcement.

 

Their guns were drawn in a show of force. Do any of you know anything about this high school? Do you know if there have been any violent crimes or any known firearms violations there? If you look at the video, they have their guns drawn and pointed directly at the ground, which is the standard procedure when weapons are drawn for strictly defensive purposes.

I didn't see any police brutality, nor did I see anyone react strongly to the police presence there. Maybe the kids had nothing to hide, but maybe they just didn't want to *#*#*#*#*#*# with the police. Beyond that, at a meeting after this incident occurred, many parents apparently cooled off and accepted the reasoning behind the actions.

 

There's normally *#*#*#*# like this that doesn't make the news. Kinda like how Rodney King was high as kite on cocaine and he was running from the police.

Huh. Well thanks for some extra info.

 

The guns drawn was probably unnecessarily dangerous. All safety procedures duly considered, hopped up cops with drawn guns and scared, confused kids is still a recipe for pointless disaster. There are plenty of better ways this could have been handled without needlessly endangering other kids. The only way doing it this one way makes sense is if general intimidation was the primary objective. Or if, as spejic says, this is merely a dress rehearsal to see what Americans are willing to accept. If you're going to attack peoples' freedoms, it is always best to start with feared or despised groups likes immigrants, minorities, the poor - or teenagers.

Even if this school is a war zone (and whose fault would THAT be, anyway?), sending in cops with guns isn't exactly a good long term answer.

 

Ave Maria Purisima! I agree with Joseph Pakovits on something!

Between that & Sunday night, I am definitely going to have to chug a 6-pack of Formaldehyde.

 

The principal should be fired, and the police administration smashed.

 

"I'll take 'Reasons for Ending the Drug War' for $2000, Alex"

 

Where's the "*#*#*#*#ing excuse" you claim I made? I asked a question. Thanks for answering it.

In that case, I think it's heavy-handed...of course, unless there's something a little more we don't know. What I don't get is why there were many parents who accepted the reasoning behind getting the police so involved.

Any takers?

Beyond that, my reactions to this have nothing to do with my take on the "drug war", just in case anyone thought otherwise...

 

My friend is a chicago cop (anyone from chicago knows what that means). Even though he's not the brightest one out there he was telling me he saw this thing on TV and said it was just insane. He says you don't draw your weapon unless you will actually shoot someone. We're those "cops" (I used that term loosely here) gonna blast a 15 year old kid to make an example? Or if one bolted, is wasting him/her even close to reasonable response?

Furthermore, on NBC news they said there were drugs being brought into the school but there weren't huge problems with violence.

I mean, hell, what does this say about our society? We give corporate crooks who pilfer millions a limo ride to the resort jails and, on the other hand, there's steak-necked, wanna-be toughguys being sent into highschools with handguns drawn to terrorize kids who *MIGHT* have been guilty of possession of a dimebag or two.


This might be crass (cause I get awfully worked about about jackbooted thugs and all) but the dictionary definition of terrorism is as follows: Terrorism The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. I can see the application of that definition to what happened in these tapes.

 

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/kathleenparker/kp20031112.shtml

Paleoconservative Townhall.com is against it.

Well, at least in Civics class, the kids will have an easy time remembering what the 4th Amendment covers..............

 

Just a few more thoughts about this event.

If al-Qaeda is watching this, I bet they're thinking to themselves: "Holy Freaking Ali Mullah, we need to get us some cop uniforms and fake badges. If the Great Satan is willing to up with this kind of stuff against their own children, all we need to do is pretend to be cops and we could go anywhere - with guns drawn even! - and nobody will dare challenge us."

As for the reactions of some parents who don't seem to care about this thing, I think bluedaddy has hit the nail on the head - they have achieved a remarkably ovine state of mind.

Also, what Hard Karl said bears repeating for those who missed it: "We give corporate crooks who pilfer millions a limo ride to the resort jails and, on the other hand, there's steak-necked, wanna-be toughguys being sent into high schools with handguns drawn to terrorize kids who *MIGHT* have been guilty of possession of a dimebag or two."

Lie, steal, and ruin the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people in the process and you get the red carpet treatment as long as you're wearing a $3,000 suit. But don't you dare be a teenager going to school! That calls for drawn guns.

Again, if they thought they had a drug problem and even if the school is an inner city war zone, there are many better ways of handling the situation. I don't have a criminal justice degree or 20 years on the force, but just sitting here even I can think up half a dozen better, safer ways to find and get rid of drug dealing students. The prinicpal and the police chief need to be canned for incompetence if this is the best idea they can come up with.

 

I hate to recall the legacy of Columbine once again, but for some reason, the policy must think when they go into public high schools now, "draw gun first, ask questions later."

The principal should be sacked. The police chief should be sacked, and the police involved in the raid should have to go through another round of training. Pulling a gun on an unarmed student who might have drugs?

So the cops were ready to shoot some of these kids if they responded, defensively to this raid? Thank God these kids were too petrified to move, or one of these boneheaded cops could have busted a cap and we'd be looking at an accidental death for no reason, especially with no drugs found.

 

Ok, first of all let me say that while I don't have a problem with the raid in general I do not think that the officers should have drawn their weapons. Now let me play devils' advocate for a second:

You are a cop going into this school. You are in a situation where there are a large number of students in a small hallway. You have memories of various kids coming to school with guns. You are looking for drugs and ptential sellers who could have ties to a gang or some sort of organized crime. You are dealing with 14-18 year olds who may "freak out" if they have drugs with them and do something irrational. Think about what a lot of "mature" adults would do in this situation. I can see why a cop would want to have his weapon drawn.