Prince George's Police Chief Clears Mayor, Wife (but offers no apology)

[MountainLaurel]

In the case where the police shot the mayor's 2 dogs, without a no-knock warrant. Links to earlier stories are available on the page.

Police said yesterday they have cleared Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his family of any wrongdoing in connection with a package of marijuana that police intercepted en route to his home, leading to a violent raid in which deputy sheriffs killed the family's two dogs.

Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin C. High delivered the news in a telephone call Thursday to Calvo, saying police and State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey determined that Calvo and his family were innocent victims caught up in a drug-smuggling ring.

High exonerated the mayor and his family and expressed regret that they were victimized by drug dealers and that their dogs had been killed. High stopped short of apologizing for any action by law enforcement, police and Calvo said.

Sheriff Michael Jackson said yesterday in his first extensive interview since the incident that he was extremely upset that the Calvos had called for and been granted a civil rights review by the FBI.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802690.html

[csziggy]

1. The police &/or sheriff's department come across as idiots

Calvo's lawyer also maintains that the county did not have the proper "no-knock" warrant needed to enter the home without warning. The state legislature provided for such warrants in 2005, and county police initially said they had a no-knock warrant. The department has since said it did not have such a warrant and does not believe they exist.

Uh, Mayor Calvo is an expert in privacy laws and that is his lawyer saying that the cops did not have the proper warrant for their actions. Whatever idiot in that force said the "no-knock" warrant does not exist should have kept their mouth shut.

{Sheriff Michael} Jackson also expressed dismay at the civil rights review. "I've been here 19 years, and this agency has been in existence since 1696. The Office of the Sheriff of Prince George's County has never been under a civil rights review or no one has ever called for the Department of Justice to come in," he said. "There is no reason, there has been no reason, and as long as I'm here there will not be a reason for it."

Guess what, Sheriff? There is definitely a reason for a civil rights review in this case? I wonder how many other cases might have needed reviews but did not get them because they did not involve a high profile or knowledgeable victim?

Another thing - you can Google an address and get tons of info about who lives there - I do that if I am going to look at an item listed on Craig's List! Or, at least here in Florida in most counties you can go to the Property Appaiser's web site and look up addresses to find out who owns the property. "Dangerously thin level of investigation and planning"? NO investigation, just a bunch of trigger happy yahoos.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Police Chief needs to be fired and Sheriff needs to be removed from office.

[stillcool]

2. What a joke the 'law' in this country is..

High said this week that county narcotics officers, who were tracking the shipment and who had obtained a search warrant, did not know the home belonged to the mayor and his wife. The sheriff's department, which provided its SWAT team for the raid, also apparently had not attempted to use nonlethal force, such as fire extinguishers or pepper spray, to subdue Calvo's two black Labrador retrievers.
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The sheriff offered new details about the raid, saying that his deputies were briefed on the layout of the home and that they knew there were dogs inside.

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and from another story at your link...

An attorney came forward yesterday to allege a possible pattern of animal abuse by the sheriff's department. Michael Winkleman said he is representing another family whose dog was shot by sheriff's deputies in November, along with a woman who is suing the department for searching her home without a warrant and threatening to shoot her dog.

In the first case, Winkleman said, sheriff's deputies arrived at the Accokeek home of Frank and Pamela Myers with a warrant for another house on their street. After the couple informed the deputies of their error, they continued to question the couple and looked around their home.

As they spoke, the couple's 5-year-old German boxer began barking in a yard, out of sight. Soon after, according to Winkleman, the couple heard gunshots, and they found the dog shot to death. He said the family is preparing to file suit.

In another case, Upper Marlboro resident Amber James has filed a $4 million lawsuit accusing sheriff's deputies of searching her home without a warrant in May 2007 while looking for her sister, who lived in Capitol Heights. According to the suit, deputies falsely claimed to have a warrant and searched every room of the home. When they did not find the sister, the suit alleges, they threatened to return the next day and search again, saying that if they did, James's dog would be dead.