America’s War on Dogs?
Radley Balko made an interesting observation about drug raids: They always shoot the dog.
I guess it’s to get them out of the way. Given all the armor SWAT teams usually don, it’s certainly not out of fear for their own safety.
When the target of the raid and the dog’s owner proves to be innocent, a low-level pissant offender, or a medical marijuana patient (and there are multiple examples of all three), there’s generally no apology or compensation from the police department for needlessly pumping the famiily dog full of lead. What’s worse, most courts the monetary value on the loss of a pet at zero. So should the neighborhood SWAT team erroneously break into your house and kill your dog, you can forget about a lawsuit.
Maybe it’s because most drug warriors are just mean bastards, or maybe it’s because they’ve got loaded guns in their hands and being attacked by dogs is pretty scary. Either way, no-knock drug raids often result in the loss of human and animal life. Even when the target of the raid is not innocent, you’d think a dog would be.
You can head over to The Agitator for more insight.