SWAT team rescues us from organic okra
Aug 17, 2013
A small organic farm in Arlington, Texas, was the target of a massive police action last week that included aerial surveillance, a SWAT raid and a 10-hour search.
Members of the local police raiding party had a search warrant for marijuana plants, which they failed to find at the Garden of Eden farm. But farm owners and residents who live on the property told a Dallas-Ft. Worth NBC station that the real reason for the law enforcement exercise appears to have been code enforcement. The police seized "17 blackberry bushes, 15 okra plants, 14 tomatillo plants ... native grasses and sunflowers," after holding residents inside at gunpoint for at least a half-hour, property owner Shellie Smith said in a statement. The raid lasted about 10 hours, she said....
She said the police didn't produce a warrant until two hours after the raid began, and officers shielded their name tags so they couldn't be identified. According to ABC affiliate WFAA, resident Quinn Eaker was the only person arrested -- for outstanding traffic violations....
The raid on the Garden of Eden farm appears to be the latest example of police departments using SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics to enforce less serious crimes.
COMMENT: It sounds to me like the SWAT teams don't have enough terrorist work to do, so now they are expanding their scope to justify their jobs. The police claimed they were searching for marijuana plants, so why did they sieze blackberry plants, okra, and tomatillo plants? Perhaps the SWAT team doesn't know the difference.
I wonder how much this ten-hour raid cost the taxpayers.