SWAT teams run amok

Bejus. Yet another botched SWAT team raid. "Good" warrant, wrong address and the usual strong arm tactics -- breaking down doors, throwing smoke bombs, surrounding an innocent elderly citizen with drawn guns and demanding information from her. At least this time the 68 year old grandmother didn't get killed. But she's been suffering from post traumatic shock since the raid and as she says,

"I've never seen such nasty people in all my life," she said. "You don't talk to an old lady like that. At least show some respect."

I think that's what's changed with the focus on SWAT team raids. A uniformed officer knocks on the door and shows respect. A SWAT team breaks down the door and shows none. And when an innocent citizen suffers that kind of abuse, it doesn't just break a piece of wood, it breaks the trust Americans once had in their law enforcement officers to protect and serve and they also lose their respect for the law.

It's all about the breakdown of order. Without respect for the law, you have anarchy and that is how the war on some drugs destroys the fabric of civilized society.