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CA Police Ransacked Public Apartments Without Warrants Under ‘Neighborhood Blitz’
California Police Ransacked Public Apartments Without Warrants Under ‘Neighborhood Blitz’ Program
In an invasive, war-like operation known as the Neighborhood Blitz, police officers in Stockton, California illegally searched the apartments of poor minorities and physically disabled people, according to a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday. Under the guise of standard housing inspections, armed officers routinely burst into homes with little to no warning, ransacked the premises without warrants, demanded personal information from tenants that had nothing to do with their homes, and threatened renters with arrests and homelessness.
The nine plaintiffs — all of whom are African American, Hispanic, or disabled — allege the Stockton PD stormed into their Gateway Court apartments and subjected them to unconstitutional searches. Rather than giving tenants 21 days’ notice, per Stockton’s municipal code, police entered the units with less than 24 hours’ notice and often walked in without the permission of the people living there. Lacking warrants, the cops examined mattresses, closets, drawers, and cupboards — throwing the contents on the floor. They also searched plaintiffs’ medications and demanded to see personal documents, including bills and rental papers. Officers would come at any time of day or night — barging in when people were eating or sleeping — and several searches of pregnant women’s apartments were conducted without taking the women’s health into account.
If tenants tried to deny entry or failed to comply with officers’ demands, the police threatened to arrest them, place them in homeless shelters, and shut down the apartments altogether. An armed officer was present during all of the searches.
Ultimately, no arrests were made. But the lawsuit follows a long line of complaints against the police department for its police brutality and racial profiling.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/09/10/3700184/california-police-ransacked-public-apartments-with-no-warrants-or-probable-cause-a-lawsuit-says/
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Originally Posted by Safety
