I'm speechless.

Fascism at it's finest.

Meanwhile the other 385 pounds of deadly Mary Jane is missing. Labrador retrievers are known for their vicious attacks and therefore the brave swat team did what they thought, oops wrong word, the swat team responded with what they, I really can't come up with a word to complete this sentence given the individuals that are named in the beginning the sentence. They did what they did. Brave young men that they be.

Whatever happen to lookouts to make sure they have the right people? The SWAT and police didn't the mayor's wife?

PG County is mostly suburban ghetto. I'll bet that the cops involved, many of them at least, were affirmative action hires.

Yes,,,because POT is the bain and cause of all of this country's problems...
this is the most stupid things I have ever heard of!!!
AND the Bush administration thinks this of a VICTORY
on the war against drugs....

Why did they kill the dogs? Because they could. Hell, one was running away from the cops when they shot it -- that was nothing but sport.

They killed two dogs for sport, tied up the mayor and his mother-in-law, and sadistically made the mother-in-law lie next to one of the dead bodies -- all because the couple was the victim of identity theft. Unbelievably, the cops are still trying to imply that the mayor was somehow involved in the drugs...they not only won't admit that their actions were criminal, the cops won't admit that they were even WRONG. The incompetence, sadism, and sheer brutal ignorance of this story is astounding -- it sounds like something that should happen in China or Zimbabwe, not here.

These sadistic cops should go to jail -- but they won't. At some point, we have to introduce greater oversight so that cops like that are at least kicked off the force, if not jailed. Because, let's face it -- the kind of person who shoots a gentle labrador and who then ties up a woman and makes her lie next to the dog's body is also the kind of person who secretly . . . really, really enjoys knowing that he has the power to do that. And that kind of person shouldn't be trusted with a badge and gun.

The end of the Post story says it all -- the little girl knows now that you shouldn't trust cops...

The SWAT and police didn't the mayor's wife?

There's no reason they should. She's in budget and finance at Human Resources, not a public figure. But still, it boggles the mind that so many of these raids take place without so much as a background check. Are they afraid that just using the town database or calling the town police would tip off the criminals? More likely just a case of being territorial. They're the big shots in charge and they don't need no stinkin' local police involved. I can just imagine the scene. Calvo in his boxers in the living room, "What's going on? I'm the mayor. Just call the chief and ask!" Rifle pointed: "Shut up! Shut the hell up, now!" His mother-in-law sobbing hysterically next to a dead dog. They claim she screamed when she saw them approaching the house? Shocker! I guess nobody else would be alarmed by a bunch of men in civilian clothes wearing masks and carrying rifles coming at their house.

The odds of having a death or injury in a "no knock" raid seem high to me. Family pets tend to bark at bell ringers, let alone violent intruders. Also, to law abiding citizens, it probably sounds more like a home invasion than a legitimate police action.

The writer above who said that the police killed the dog because they could is right. That is also the reason they cuffed the mother in law and were otherwise abusive, as they believed they could get away with it.

Bad police work should not be tolerated by anybody, regardless of your political beliefs. All too often, politics get involved. Since when did personal rights become something that only liberals support? What do good conservatives think 4th Amendment protections are only a technicality?

The description of the events in Maryland are just like something I saw in a movie about a certain fascist government in the 1930's.

Support for law enforcement should not be confused with support for bad and outrageous police misconduct.

Gothamist Readers,

If you ever plan to attend the University of Maryland-College Park or visit for a sporting event (Go TERPS !!!!), take in mind that down there Johnny Law has three faces that operate in roughly the same region of Prince George County:

1) Univ. of Maryland-College Park Campus Police
2) Prince George County Police
3) Maryland State Troopers

This system was intended to provide as much security and oversight to the college students and residents of the area.

Instead what happens more often than not, is that these pricks and dicks all try and out do each other at the expense of citizens' civil liberties.

P.G. County Police officers are the least educated and most ignorant of all three. Most of their diverse staff are barely high school educated. They enjoy harassing anyone regardless of their race or social status.

Incidents like this have been going on for decades (it was really bad during the Len Bias' coke era) and usually don't lead to any recourse unless the story spreads nationally.

This is truly an awful story. RIP Payton and Chase.

How can anybody shoot Labrador Retrievers, Pit Bulls I can see.
The mother-in-law is very lucky indeed that these undertrained hillbillies didn't shoot her as well.

Disgusting.

Is there anywhere in this country where the people are not harassed, beaten and killed by the police? Or should we all move to Iran or China to actually get some freedom?

So how come no one has asked whether or not the mayor's wife is a reefer addict? Maybe the pigs thought the dogs were like Killer in Half Baked.

I am no supporter of drug traffickers, but I must point out that EVEN if these people were GUILTY of drug trafficking (and it appears that they weren't) their DOGS ARE NOT GUILTY of this crime and should NOT have been shot and killed (unless the dogs were brutally attacking the officers, which, of course, wasn't the case in this situation).

I'm all for police officers doing their jobs, but when they overstep their authority then they themselves are committing a crime. Police officers have their place in the system, but they are NOT the judge, jury and executioner rolled into one.

As a side point: I agree with Tulane75. This isn't a liberal or conservative issue. All Americans should be concerned when police take away our freedoms (and our pets...).

Is shooting one of them in the back while it's running away also a "good idea at the time too"? Again, the big question is why this incredibly excessive use of force against one man and an older woman? Did they expect these two people to go all Ruby Ridge on them? No, it's obvious they just wanted to show off how they handle "felons" and get all the credit, which is why they didn't work with the town police.

The sheriff and chief are idiots. This cannot possibly end well for the department. It can only end one of two ways for them: very bad or absolutely terrible. Looks like they're choosing the latter, based on their defensiveness, denial and total lack of remorse. Be a man, say you screwed up and you're sorry. No way the public is ever going to forgive this.

#32- Just because the dog was running away when they made entry doesn't necessarily mean it wouldn't come back to bite them in the ass.

Then what are they supposed to do?

Look at it that way.

#34-Whether the police felt threatened enough to feel the need to shoot the dogs or what the PD's policy for handling pets during a drug bust isn't the issue.

The issue is that they weren't suppose be in the house in the first place. They were suppose to contact the local pd. They're lucky they didn't get themselves shot by other cops.

Not only that if you ASSUME that every dog is going to bite, then you might as well ASSUME they everyone in the house is armed and going to shoot you, so you might as well shoot everyone in the house too. Heck, why not shoot the kids too if they have them, they bight sometimes too.

They didn't do their job correctly and the dogs and the owners payed for it. Now they should pay.

If only they sold weed at Starbucks, like the coffee shops in the Netherlands, This evil would never have happened.

I noted with interest your 8.7.08 story about the criminal invasion of the home of the Berwyn Heights, MD mayor and the slaughtering of his precious labrador dogs. I had heard about this disgraceful incident on the BBC earlier, and read an account in the LA Times.

How dare they claim the Calvos were victims of a local drug ring! The dope dealers DID NOT SHOOT ANYTHING! Oh, the drug dealers played a part in the mess, but the source of the violence was the police, pure and simple, NOT the dealers! Those pigs* wantonly and unnecessarily slaughtered the beloved, completely innocent pets of completely innocent people, not to mention that they mistreated and terrorized those poor people in the extreme.

The cops apparently knew about the dope delivery scam beforehand, so why did they use violence against a family that might not (even) be involved? And why did they use violence at all? I'm pretty sure the Colvos did not resist in any way, though it seems now like maybe they should have!

Labs are notably gentle dogs, and according to a statement by mayor Cheye Colvo, one of the dogs was running away when it was shot, obviously not a threat, and claimed that the shootings were (apparently) done purely for sport! Another report stated that the pigs killed the dogs IMMEDIATELY upon entering the house, suggesting that a "threat" had nothing to do with it. I wouldn't put it past some dirty rotten pigs to shoot the family pets, just to show contempt for people they thought were drug dealers, and JUST because they thought they could get away with it.

Make no mistake about it, I am outraged, and you should be too.

When police make eggregious and grevious errors resulting in death or destruction of any kind, they must be required to make amends, complete amends, otherwise there is no active incentive to behave properly. Cops often use their guns wantonly, and often kill without any real justification, just because they can. If these cops say they felt threatened, they are cowards, or liars, or both, who should not be permitted to handle weapons OR authority.

If I were Cheye Colvo, I would sue for replacement of my dogs, with genetically IDENTICAL animals. Dogs have recently been cloned successfully by a company in S. Korea, and it is perfectly reasonable that they should get their dogs, or identical copies of them at least, back, ASAhumanlyP. The cost, about $150,000 each, is also perfectly reasonable, both as compensation for an eggregious act resulting in an eggregious loss, and also as a worthwhile disincentive to police officers and departments who use their death-dealing weapons far to freely.

And I would sue for maybe a $million$ more for emotional distress, humiliation and horror!

How long have cops been permitted to kill (people, too), just because they claim to have "felt threatened?" Non-cops sometimes feel threatened, too! I myself have felt threatened on a number of occasions. Are we not equally justified in dealing death to those who threaten us? Would the Colvos not have been equally justified in shooting and killing the violent, uninvited invaders of their home? Now we know why Americans have the right to own guns >:-(! I may go out and get one myself. The police are sometimes a far worse threat that those drug dealers EVER were...

*If it seems that I don't have much respect for cops, it's because I DON'T. Oh, some of them are OK, even fine human beings, guilty of nothing (except the "code of silence" which makes every cop complicit). Far too often, they are high school bullies with guns. They often became cops so they could continue to push people around and threaten people without the normal consequences. And far too often they kill (usually people) without any real need (e.g. I know a case in which a blind man with a stick was shot to death by a cop who "felt threatened," an excuse which WAS accepted!), then get off scott free when departments do their own corrupt "investigations."

The drug war, going as well for us as the war in Iraq. besides being a serious abuse of power, what a drain on the judicial system.