what a drain on the judicial system.

Drain? No, it's a massive jobs program. You wouldn't see it as a drain if you were one of the thousands of influential people making a ton of money (or protecting your political power) through it.

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.

We already knew the Drug War was a crime against humanity, but apparently it is also a crime against dogs as well. I am waiting for someone's cats or parakeet to be eliminated in the ongoing jihad.

Yes, the police shoot too many people. It will stop when you stop voting for their approving masters.

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."

#36- It's obviously an issue here since there seems to be a lot of noise over the dogs getting shot.

As I said before multiple times, that's all I'm disagreeing on.

So before you start flinging the same shit everyone else is flinging, read my comments carefully.

And if there's anyone that needs to shoulder the blame, it's the officers in command of this entire debacle. Not necessarily the doorkickers because, well, that's probably what's required/expected of them.

I love how all these armchair anti-authority types come out of the woodwork every time shit like this goes down. Meanwhile when their ass gets robbed, who are they dialing first?

Oh yeah, that's right -- 911.

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

More collateral damage in the thirty-plus year unwinnable War On Drugs.

#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.

"This is related to NYC how? Oh, because NYC has had no-knock raids too? c'mon. Leave this to Baltimorist or whatever."

Fool. This pertains to EVERY American regardless of what particular city they happen to live in because this TERRORIST abuse by the authorities COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ANYONE.

The drug smugglers in this case used random addresses to ship marijuana interstate. They would have the packages delivered to unsuspecting people's doorsteps and then afterwards another drug smuggler (a delivery man himself) would swing-by to pickup the package from the doorstoop before the legitimate occupants of the home returned.

The mayor and his wife had NOTHING to do with drugs or drug-smuggling. They were victimized TWICE: once by drug smugglers and then -even worse- by the very people who are supposed to "protect & serve" the citizenry.

THINK ABOUT THAT the next time your government feeds you all the bullshit about FOREIGN TERRORISTS and START WORRYING ABOUT OUR OWN HOME-GROWN TERRORISTS masquerading as cops.

In the meantime be useful and drop the Prince George Sheriff's Dept a nice "FUCK YOU" note to:



sheriffinfo@co.pg.md.us

The new chief of police's name is Michael Jackson because Melvin High the current chief just resigned effective Aug. 31. Reach out and KICK SOMEONE.

#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.

"That would be a really half-ass way of getting your marijuana."

It's not all that uncommon. Here's the way it's supposed to work: you scout out neighborhoods to identify houses where people aren't home during the day. You ship your package there, specifying that a signature isn't required. You follow the shipper's website for tracking information (some now also offer email status updates) and arrive at the location soon after the shipper reports that delivery has been made, and pick the package up where it's been left.

So in this case something went wrong. Someone was home. Since the mayor himself, according to the story, saw the cops waiting outside (and didn't recognize who they were, but he wasn't expecting cops as the drug couriers would have) they probably would have also seen them, and just moved on writing off that shipment.

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.

If you were busting into someone's house unwelcome and there are dogs in the place--labs are considered large dogs, 70-100lbs--irregardless of whether or not they seemed hostile or not when you make entry...

Shooting them would seem like a good idea at the time too.

Think about it -- the minute you lay your hands on their owners and the owners are screaming/yelling, that USUALLY triggers a certain instinct in pets...

Not saying that this whole thing was right or whatever, but c'mon folks.

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...).

Seriously, i'm surprised no one has commented on the fact that the mayor of this town seems to be a drug kingpin.

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.

Interlard: I see what you did there.

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?

"don't quite understand the identity theft angle. How do you get a package back from someone who's accepted delivery?"

My guess is that they hoped they would be delivered during the day, no one would be home, and "FRONT PORCH" or "SIDE DOOR" would sign for the delivery. Then the dealers or whatever roll by and pick it up before the people get home.

Sure, they'd probably lose one or two due to someone being home, etc... but that's just the cost of doing business.

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.