Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jan 2003
Source: Eugene Weekly (OR)
Copyright: 2003 Eugene Weekly
Contact:  http://www.eugeneweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/136
Author: Patricia Binder, Sherry Franzen and Randy Gicker

UNIFORM ABUSE

Local Police Attack Unarmed Citizens

Eugene's daily newspaper recently presented a front-page series of
articles designed to create fear of increased crime in the streets and
terror in the home. This is an obvious attempt to promote passage of
Measure 28. State and local agencies threaten cuts to public safety
and closing of jails and prisons, and the subsequent release of
"dangerous" criminals if this measure is defeated.

The city of Eugene spends $432,000 per year for the Interagency
Narcotics Enforcement Team (INET) and $4.5 million annually for
investigations but is unwilling to disclose the actual costs of
conducting INET/SWAT raids, such as the one on Oct. 17, 2002 in the
Whiteaker neighborhood in which a couple was accused of a drug
operation that never existed. These military actions involve large
numbers of personnel and weaponry.

The Whiteaker raid was only one of several reported to the INDEPENDENT
Police Review Project (IPRP) in 2002. Many raids go unreported by the
mainstream media but are equally violent and unjustified:

A local teacher was forced to allow armed SWAT team members to enter
her home without a warrant. She says they woke up her children and
asked them questions like, "Who does Mommy sleep with?"

The Whiteaker raid included malicious property damage, including the
destruction of a 100-year-old door.

A reported SWAT team member, in his capacity as a Springfield cop,
severely beat a woman in broad daylight in her home. We've seen a
police report where he admits they forced their way into her home.
We've also seen moving hospital photographs of her injuries.

How does the SWAT team protect children and animals during their
forays?

Reportedly, SWAT team members routinely point loaded assault weapons
at children. A 4-year-old in Bethel, children playing on their lawn,
and a 22-month-old in Creswell have all had loaded guns pointed at
them by the SWAT team. As Alan Pittman wrote in EW May 3, 2001: "At
one point, Wendy says a helmeted SWAT officer aimed a 'machine gun' at
her 22-month-old son, Cole. 'He's got the gun pointed, his finger on
the trigger, and he's shaking,' she says."

In Bethel the SWAT team let a man's dogs loose, according to
neighbors. (They don't fix the doors they break in.) The man later
found his dogs two miles away.

The best thing we can say about the Lane County SWAT team is that it
is enormously and dangerously incompetent. In its periodic attacks on
local people in their homes, it achieves a consistent level of abuse,
which exceeds innocent error and exposes the tyrannical impulses of
local government. It hasn't been proven effective. It's never been
independently monitored or reviewed. We question that it has had any
benefit at all. Cops are uniquely unqualified to deal with the problem
of drug abuse, so why are we giving them guns to deal with this issue?
It is disingenuous for the cops to say that they are concerned about
citizens' safety when they so consistently attack unarmed residents.

Government needs SWAT teams to intimidate the public and create the
illusion of safety. An armed police presence suppresses dissent while
creating the inevitability of military tactics being practiced on the
community, since the police will naturally seek out (safe)
opportunities to try out their skills and equipment.

Schools and social services are being held hostage by legislators who
have threatened cuts to law enforcement and prisons as well, but have
hinted that funding will be restored to the judicial system regardless
of whether Measure 28 passes. Funding of services such as library and
recreation with a combination of dedicated tax revenue and bond issues
allows funds to be transferred from those services to law enforcement
during the budget writing process.

When addressing the current budget crisis in funding education, health
and social services, the potential loss of revenue for the punishment
industry should be viewed as a positive development by elected
officials. Prioritizing public safety funding would free us from the
cost of militarizing the police, allowing us to focus on services that
are truly of value to our community. Drug prohibition exists to
provide employment for police and has no place in the treatment of
substance abuse.

Trimming the fat from state and law enforcement budgets will not
increase crime, and may reduce police violence committed in the name
of public safety.

Patricia Binder, Sherry Franzen and Randy Gicker are Eugene residents
and members of the INDEPENDENT Police Review Project.
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