Why Do SWAT Teams Exist?
The non-pot-dealing Mayor’s dead dogs are just the latest victims of misplaced use of deadly force by a local SWAT team.
Remember Sal Culosi? He got gunned down outside his house by a Fairfax County SWAT team member while being arrested for alleged football gambling offenses. He was unarmed. He had no police record. He was an optometrist.
Culosi’s killer said it was an accident. He kept his job.
Why would SWAT teams get involved in pot and gambling busts? My guess is there’s not enough of the work the whole SWAT concept was designed for to justify the teams’ existence, so police chiefs send the gung-ho specialists into situations where gung-ho is wholly inappropriate.
Thanks for nothing, Steve Forrest…
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August 8th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
First, I want to thank you for remembering Dr. Culosi… he was a good friend of mine, and we all miss him every day. My heart goes out to the Mayor for the loss of his dogs. I too can’t believe that that kind of force was needed to investigate the incident. Why didn’t they just keep the pot and then swing by and question the Mayor?… did they even do enough research to know he was the Mayor? If they know, were they just looking for headlines? Once again law enforcement has proved that “to serve and protect” isn’t very high on their list. What ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty”? Have we elevated drug possession to a capital offense? This sort of police work (and I use that term loosely) creates more danger that the alleged crime created… just asked the dogs. In Dr. Culosi’s case, he was gambling $50-$100 with his friends (bar bets) on sports games. An underrcover cop pushed the bets up so he could have Dr. Culosi classified as a “bookie”, and then sent a SWAT team in to arrest him, shooting him dead. We should all feel afraid.
Caby Smith, Jr.