Knock Knock

“Knock Knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“The Police.”

“Police who?”

“The Police who’re gonna light your ass up if you don’t open this door right now!”

No knock home invasions are just about the stupidest procedure that has ever been devised by man. Combine that with relying on a tip from some meth head, and you have the perfect storm. A call comes into the TIPS line. So and so has some grass and he’s thinking about selling it. Before I go on let me tell you about the town in question. Killeen, Texas. Ok, where do I begin? I grew up there. People in Killeen think the world must be flat because when people leave town they never come back. It’s been called the “City without limits,” but that didn’t really strike home until the city council extended said limits almost to Austin! Everything north of Rancier, and west of W. S. Young is a crack house. I crappith thee not! If you wanna get robbed just take a stroll down tenth street about one A. M. with gold teeth in your mouth. About the only thing you can say about Killeen that is different is that you can get anything you want to eat there. American, Mexican, small dogs, tourists, you name it. You can buy dope easier in Killeen than you can an Apple Computer. The town sits like a tumor on Fort Hood, sucking the life out of each soldier’s payday. Is there anything I missed? Recently took an award for being the best town to marry a hooker! Hey, you can’t make this stuff up.

Practically every single dope head in town is some kind of “informant,” thereby assuring spare change for a “rock,” and a form of immunity, so they ring up the line regularly. Forget that crap about “snitches,” they’re all snitches. So, back to the original story line. Tip comes in, the cars roll up, and the hood fills up with law. Doors get kicked in, homeboys go to jail, become snitches, and get out in two weeks with “time served.” So, what’s the legal implications when a bunch of cops kick in a door, surprise the occupants therein, and an officer gets killed? Why, you charge the shooter with capital murder! Oh, did I mention the Bell County Justice Department? Yeah! You know, the same clowns who arrested C. J. Grisham for not breaking the law. Impeding an officer during the consumption of a donut, or something like that. During said raid no dope was found. Officer got killed. Didn’t affect the movement of one gram of dope in Killeen.

Back to the “knock knock” joke. What’s wrong with calling out with one of them bull horns something like, “We have a search warrant. This is the Police?” “Oh, Wilbur, that’ll take away the advantage of surprise.” Oh, so it’s better to go charging in, with no knowledge of what’s inside, scaring the pee pee out of everyone, and getting an officer killed, right? The sad thing is that in spite of its bastard nature, Killeen has a fairly good police force, and to get an officer killed like this is a crime against humanity. There is something fundamentally wrong with no knock searches. The fourth amendment protects us against unreasonable searches, and not being told that a search warrant has been issued, and crashing through someone’s front door is unreasonable.

Police work is hard enough without this. When just walking up to a traffic stop can get you killed an officer does not need to be put in danger like this. It’s not the cops, folks, it’s the system. Wanna get really pissed off? Let’s just say the raid went off as planned. The cops entered the apartment found a joint, arrested the guy, and off to Bell County he goes. Then, he gets a deal, snitches, and walks out. First off, what did the joint hurt? Second, why are we paying these people in the Justice Center? Knock knock? Who’s there? An officer who deserves a chance to go home to his family.