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View Full Version : If you don't want SWAT to raid your house, don't drink tea



Codename Section
03-29-2014, 12:37 PM
This is some fucked up shit...

http://reason.com/blog/2014/03/26/if-you-dont-want-a-swat-team-at-your-doo


Why did a SWAT team raid Bob andAddie Harte's house in Leawood, Kansas, two years ago, then forcethe couple and their two children to sit on a couch for two hourswhile officers rifled their belongings, searching for "narcotics"that were not there? KSHB, the NBC station in Kansas City, reports (http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/investigations-extras/discarded-tea-leaves-false-positive-drug-tests-prompt-search-warrant-of-joco-familys-home) that the Hartes made two mistakes: Bob went to ahydroponics store in Kansas City, Missouri, with his son to buysupplies for a school science project, and Addie drank tea. It costthem $25,000 to discover that these innocent actions earned them anearly-morning visit by screaming, rifle-waving men with a batteringram.

The Hartes, who tried to reassure their neighbors by showingthem the search report indicating that nothing was taken from theirhome, were naturally curious what they had done to attract policeattention. But the Johnson County Sheriff's Office would not say,so the Hartes hired a lawyer to help them obtain the relevantrecords, which according to KSHB is not easy in Kansas becausestate law favors darkness over sunshine. Eventually the Harteslearned that a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper saw Bob at thehydroponics store on August 9, 2011. Seven months later, statepolice passed on this hot tip to the sheriff's office, which spranginto action (after a few weeks), rummaging through the Hartes'garbage three times in April 2012. On all three occasions, theyfound "wet plant material" that a field test supposedly identifiedas marijuana.


Such tests are notoriouslyunreliable (http://reason.com/blog/2009/03/04/no-im-not-using-slang-it-reall), confusing chocolate with hashish, soy milk withGHB, and soap with cocaine, among other hilarious errors thatresult in fruitless searches, mistaken arrests, and false imprisonment (http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/16/one-month-in-jail-for-soap-possession). But the cops did not bother to confirmtheir field results with a more reliable lab test before charginginto the Hartes' home, three days after their third surreptitioustrash inspection. When the Hartes starting asking questions aboutthe raid, the sheriff's office suddenly decided to test that wetplant material, which it turned out was not marijuana after all.The Hartes figure it must have been the loose tea that Addiefavors, which she tends to toss into the trash after brewing. Fieldtests have been known to misidentify (http://reason.com/blog/2009/03/04/no-im-not-using-slang-it-reall)various possible tea ingredients, including spearmint, peppermint,lavendar, vanilla, anise, and chicory, as marijuana.

Chris
03-29-2014, 01:30 PM
Profiling gone bad.

I can understand the careless mistake, but why wouldn't the state have to reimburse them the $25,000?

TheInternet
03-29-2014, 05:00 PM
Profiling gone bad.

I can understand the careless mistake, but why wouldn't the TAXPAYERS have to reimburse them the $25,000?

Paperback Writer
03-31-2014, 06:15 AM
We're going to hell in a handcart, as well, only without all the guns. Truly, things are becoming Orwellian.

Refugee
03-31-2014, 08:00 AM
We're going to hell in a handcart, as well, only without all the guns. Truly, things are becoming Orwellian.

Ideologies are now implemented by semantically constructed words and meanings. Concentration camps and firing squads are things of the past. Lobbyists, spin doctors and the media will provide the rules for new age dictatorships.

1984 is already here, in its infancy; no more Seig heils or clenched fist salutes, but someone wagging their finger in your face and telling you, “you can’t say that”!

Captain Obvious
03-31-2014, 02:22 PM
http://www.duderocket.com/sites/default/files/shitthebed.jpg