Pubdate: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW) Section: Feature Article Website: http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm Author: Jo-D Harrison BOOK REVIEW: OVERKILL On a beautiful California May morning in 1998 I was working on drug law reform material while my parrot chased the cursor from atop my computer monitor. Suddenly, she let out a squawk as we both noticed an odd movement to our left. I looked out my office window and saw a group of military-clad men sprinting down the alley. My first thought, even though I had read thousands of drug raid horror stories, was, "Wow, wonder where they're going?!" Then, it sunk in. They were coming to raid my boyfriend's medical marijuana garden. For the next few minutes I could only utter, "Shit, Holy Shit!" as I ran to place my pet in the safety of her cage. I have never fully recovered from what occurred during the following 12 hours but I knew that the experience could have been much worse. The Cato Institute's recently published study, Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, verifies this many times over. After a year of research, the author, Radley Balko, found the rising use of and number of mistakes by SWAT teams troubling and full of heartbreak. I found myself in tears as I forced my way through the numerous examples contained in the appendix. I also experienced several flashbacks to that day in May 1998 as I read through the superbly organized and detailed orientated report. The study begins with a history of how and why it has become seemingly acceptable to use military tactics to execute search warrants on American citizens. This is followed by a discussion about the legal issues of such tactics. The necessity and problematic dependence on informants appears next. Mr. Balko concludes with suggestions on how to correct the reported problems. An interactive map, Botched Paramilitary Police Raids: An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents", accompanies the study and is available at http://www.cato.org/raidmap/. This fantastic utility categorizes botched SWAT raids, allows users to isolate the incidents by type and provides a search function which produces printable descriptions of the raids plotted on the map. Please show your support by purchasing the very reasonably-priced hard copy from the Cato Bookstore. A free PDF version is also available online. Both options are available at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6476. The author, Radley Balko is a Cato policy analyst specializing in civil liberties issues and is the author of the Cato study, "Back Door to Prohibition: The New War on Social Drinking." Additional information about Mr. Balko and the Cato Institute is available at http://www.cato.org/ - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake