More on the raid: Lima’s police chief inadvertently explained a huge part of the problem:

Garlock said the SWAT team is highly skilled and has conducted thousands of other raids without problems. Such raids always are dangerous and “high risk,” he said.

Perhaps Garlock is employing some hyperbole to overstate the safety record of the SWAT team. I’d hope so. Lima is a town of 40,000 people. If the SWAT team really has conducted “thousands” of raids over the years, that’s in itself is a big reason for concern. Unless a good percentage of Lima’s population are violent criminals.

Also, it looks like a member of the Lima city council owned the house in question, and was leasing it to the couple that was raided. That at least means there will likely be a pretty thorough investigation.

So far police haven’t revealed (a) what quantity of drugs they found, or (b) whether the suspect fired on them. That they haven’t yet passed this information on suggests the answers to those questions are (a) not much, and (b) no. We’ll see, I guess. But the initial reaction from police departments in this situation is to release everything they can that makes the suspect/victim look bad.

Debear, the alcohol business was, for a time, a bad business to be in, too. When was the last time you heard of hoodlums murdering each other over the booze business?

I do think drugs should be re-legalized. Not because I like them, or think they are a good idea, but because no one has the right to tell you or I what we should or should not put into our own bodies. I will point out, however, that alcohol abuse has ruined more lives than opium--or any other drug--ever has.

Onward and upward,
airforce