Pubdate: Mon, 18 Oct 2004
Source: Leaf-Chronicle, The (US TN)
Copyright: 2004, The Leaf-Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.theleafchronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1601
Author: Linda Dotson Vaughn

MANY QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT WRONG POLICE RAID

I would like to comment on the Sept. 10 police raid on the wrong house.

During my career I had many special projects that required extensive 
planning. This included planning for unforeseen circumstances that could 
result in failure of the project. Had I not prepared in detail for these 
projects, I would have lost my job. If a mere corporate job like mine 
required this kind of planning, why shouldn't the Police Department be 
expected to plan just as extensively?

1. Why didn't the police check on who lived in the house prior to the raid?

2. The license plates on the vehicles parked daily at the home could have 
been checked for owner's names and ages?

3. Why wasn't a picture of the correct house given to the tactical team 
members to prevent errors? All police departments have cameras.

4. If the suspect was a 20-year-old person, why was a 95-pound woman in her 
50s with her arm in a sling knocked to the floor with a gun pointed between 
her eyes and why was a deaf man in his 50s who recently received a liver 
transplant, manhandled and bruised?

There seem to be a lot of whys in this case and that leads me to believe 
that the Clarksville Police Department made a big, big mistake by not doing 
its homework, by not planning in depth and by jumping into a raid that 
lacked proper preparation.

What would you feel if it had been your family who had their door bashed in 
by men dressed in camouflage with face masks and guns?

In my opinion, more than a typewritten apology arriving in the mail is 
necessary in this case.

What does Chief Mark Smith think?

LINDA DOTSON VAUGHN

Murfreesboro

formerly of Clarksville 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake