From: believer@telepath.com Subject: IP: Use of SWAT Teams on the Rise Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 12:11:32 -0500 To: believer@telepath.com Source: Charlotte (N.Carolina) Observer http://www.charlotte.com/observer/local/pub/031225.htm Published Saturday, September 19, 1998 SWAT team approach less risky, police say Use of squads on rise around region, nation By LEIGH DYER Staff Writer Across the country, police departments are using SWAT teams to deal with high-risk situations like the Sept. 4 drug raid that ended with a Charlotte man dead. Court papers said police were looking for evidence of drug dealing, but they found no drugs in the Mayfair Avenue home. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say the paramilitary-style squad reduces the risks to officers and the public in dangerous situations. But some critics say using the SWAT team for search warrants is too heavy-handed. Records show the Charlotte-Mecklenburg team is used sparingly. Last year, SWAT officers were involved in 14 of the 441 warrants served by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. Of 251 warrants executed from January to Aug. 31, SWAT team members served 15. Of the 29 raids before Charles Irwin Potts' death, one resulted in minor injuries. Potts' death is the first shooting during a search warrant since the team organized in 1992. It's less clear how often the team succeeds in finding what it's after. In almost every raid, the team reports either an arrest or a seizure of weapons or drugs. But they don't always seize the goods they were looking for. The Sept. 4 raid netted three guns and gambling equipment -- but no evidence of the cocaine dealing an informant told them they'd find. Maj. Piper Charles, who is in charge of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg team, said that when the team is used is not based on the likelihood of finding drugs. Instead, it's based on the likelihood of facing armed resistance. ``The primary purpose is to save lives,'' said Charles. ``A successful mission is one in which absolutely no one gets hurt.'' More scrutiny SWAT calls range from negotiation with hostage-takers to quelling riots to raids for guns, drugs or evidence of other criminal activity. The 42-member Charlotte-Mecklenburg Special Weapons and Tactics team uses special equipment, including heavy body armor and laser-sighted guns. The duty is part time. Team members are also assigned to other regular patrol duties. Nationally, the increased use of SWAT teams has drawn praise from those who say their tactics are safer than traditional law--enforcement methods. But Peter Kraska, a criminology professor at Eastern Kentucky University who has tracked SWAT teams, said they have a downside. ``Often when you see them in a neighborhood piling out of a vehicle . . . it gives the community an impression they're kind of under siege,'' he said. Regionally, SWAT teams have become more active in counties including Gaston, Union and Cabarrus in recent years. Sgt. Jeff Eisenhour, commander of the Gaston County Police SWAT team, said most operations go more smoothly with such a well-trained team, rather than regular patrol officers. ``The biggest advantage is the training,'' he said. ``Everybody knows what everyone is doing.'' The Potts shooting has put the methods and policies of the SWAT team under a microscope, said Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Charles. Those methods include the use of ``flash-bangs,'' a diversionary device thrown into a room to stun and distract occupants with a bang and bright lights while SWAT team members storm in. ``My position is that you're not going to find a safer way to do it,'' Charles said. As SWAT teams grow in popularity, they have encountered more questions about their use. In Fitchburg, Mass., west of Boston, civil libertarians criticized a SWAT team after its members arrested a group of young men in 1993 for lingering on a sidewalk. And in Louisville, Ky., family members of a man killed in a SWAT raid in March 1997 sued, challenging the police procedures. The suit alleges that a flash-bang may have disoriented the man so much he didn't realize he was pointing his gun at police officers. The suit is pending. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, though, officers say the devices may have saved lives many times, including during a raid on Jan. 22 when a suspect dropped a gun after a flash-bang went off. ``I have heard that sometimes people are not properly using their SWAT teams,'' said Roy House, an instructor at Central Piedmont Community College who conducts regional SWAT training. ``That's a leadership problem.'' House, who is also a reserve member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg team, believes the benefits of the teams outweigh any criticism. ``I would think it's better to go in there and be a little heavy-handed than to go in there and be outnumbered . . . or outgunned,'' he said. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************