On the night of September 9, Seattle police conducted an armed raid on a couple’s home in the View Ridge neighborhood looking for pot, a police report shows.

Several members of the North Precinct Anti-Crime Team—bearing Glock pistols and wearing ballistic helmets, eye protection, ballistic heavy vests, and appropriate drop gear, a police report says—served a narcotics search warrant at a house near the intersection of NE 65th Street 46th Ave NE.

After announcing their presence, officers entered the residence and and handcuffed a 50-year-old white man and a 49 year-old white woman. A search of the house turned up nearly 100 immature plants and 38 mature plants, the report continues. Police also found nine large bags of pot leaves, four large bags of bud, and three bags of seeds. In a coffee can, officers found $48,260.

The report notes that both individuals were unarmed. And it says nothing about finding weapons in the house, or why an armed night-time raid was necessary to apprehend a couple of pot growers.

Both suspects were booked into King County Jail. And police used their limited tax resources to once and for all eliminate the scourge the of marijuana in Seattle. Bravo.

19 replies on “Your Tax Dollars At Work”

  2. Not that our war on drugs isn’t stupid and wrong-headed, but surely it’s reasonable to bring guns to a drug raid. Even if it’s only marijuana.

    Based on your experience, any interviews with dealers, common sense, etc… isn’t it true that virtually every drug dealer that ever made any money selling any sort of drug has been robbed? Sure smart ones and older ones probably get robbed much less, but their is a lot of criminal activity associated with dealing drugs. I’m not talking about the individual drug sale (capitalism) or subsequent drug use (recreation)–I’m talking about the robbing of dealers (violence), the scrounging and petty theivery of buyers (desperation), and the fact that once a buyer is engaged in an illegal activity (even a harmless one like pot use), the next illegal activity loses it’s stigma (e.g. a lot of potheads I knew also shoplifted). Think of pot as a gateway to stupid behavior.

    Part of why pot should be de-criminalized is to further seperate pot use from the criminal behavior that goes along with it.

    And so long as dealers have reasons to protect themselves (the dumb behavior and sometimes criminal activity that is associated with pot dealing), it’s reasonable for cops to protect themselves when going on a drug raid.

    These dealers had 48,260 dollars they didn’t want to put in a bank account and 48,260 reasons to own a gun.

  4. @ 2) But they didn’t own a gun. Most pot growers and pot heads just don’t keep ’em around. Some pot growers get robbed, but many don’t. And there are plenty of ways to apprehend a suspect without conducting an armed, nighttime raid–the sort of raid that often results in innocent people getting shot.

  8. It’s awful. Not only are they charged with felonies, they could lose their house, car if they have a car, retirement accounts and anything else the government feels like grabbing, and for what? A few pots of pot. Bet a lot of their neighbors have liquor cabinets and bars with more fire power. Regina Hackett

  9. So, Unpaid Intern, you are aware that Seattle police officers always carry Glock pistols and wear body armor, right? That, in fact, the Seattle Police Department handbook actually requires police officers to be armed at all times, even when they’re off-duty? So basically, if cops are raiding a house, even if it were a Nerf house full of unarmed Muppets, they would still be carrying Glock pistols and wearing body armor sheathed in ballistic nylon vests.

    The fact that you don’t seem to know this makes me want to recapitulate the core point here — there is no such thing as an unarmed police raid. It’s a contradiction in terms.

    So basically the things the police officers had that they don’t normally have were helmets and eye protection. BFD.

    And also? Just as a point of order? Getting more geared up during a drug raid is better for everyone’s safety. It helps people identify the cops as cops and not as thieves trying to rip off a dealer or dealers trying to shut down some competition. And if there were shooting, it’s better for the cops to be able to readily identify each other.

    So, basically, there’s no story here. Nothing unusual happened except that a police department that has committed to making marijuana its lowest priority carried out a drug raid. The guns are totally beside the point and, in fact, a complete distraction from the important questions — what was it about this operation that attracted police scrutiny? Was the DEA involved? Were there feds at the scene?

    Anyway, I guess we know why you’re an unpaid intern. But hey, I guess that also means you’re learning.

  12. If you’re going to be part of the solution, you need to present balanced and objective journalism. Dominic’s posts are well thought-out and show an abundance of research and understanding. This is just sensationalism. Same as the SFCHs at the major news outlets only from the opposite perspective.

    If we want real drug-law reform, we need to show them that we understand all sides of this very complex issue. Otherwise you might as well just go to hempfest and jerk off with all the rest of the ineffectual hippies.

  13. It’s not like they raided a house with guns blazing because someone was smoking a joint. These folks were manufacturing and distributing drugs. Drugs that are still illegal.

    Not to mention that that neighborhood is totally residential. I can’t say I’d be very happy if my neighbors were growing and selling pot from their home, and with $48K in cash stashed in a coffee can in their house, that’s trouble. They weren’t growing a plant for their own use, and manufacturing and dealing drugs is ALWAYS a recipe for a potential problem, especially in a residential area like this.

    How about a little actual reporting on this. Were they selling from the house? Were people coming and going at all hours to buy? What did the neighbors think? Did they know? Are these growers totally upstanding citizens just growing on the side for their friends? Are they sketchy types that moved in to the neighborhood because they thought it was an innocuous location to grow? How did the cops find out about this location? Where there other drugs or paraphernalia found at the house? Are they the owners? Renters? If renting, did the owner know what was going on? Had there been complaints to the police about the house? Is it part of a larger operation?

    There’s a lot of information missing in this post. While I 100% agree that this won’t make a dent in the availability of marijuana in Seattle and think we should legalize and tax it, I also 100% agree that setting up a drug operation in a quiet neighborhood is complete bullshit. I wouldn’t put up with it on my street. It also appears that the police were following standard procedure here, so the faux outrage is rather silly.

    Dominic, can you back up your assertion that “most” pot growers don’t keep guns around? With some independently verifiable information? Or is that just your hunch?

  14. ” Seattle police conducted an armed raid on a couple’s home in the View Ridge neighborhood looking for pot”

    If the cops felt the need to get stoned one night, surely there are easier ways than bothering a middle aged couple.

    But no, there are no unarmed cops in America. The unpaid intern may be remembering his Safety Patrol days. And, when executing a search warrant, it is merely courteous to wait till the residents are home. Would “unpaid intern” have preferred for the cops to bust the door down in the daytime? Normally, warrants are served between 7 AM and 8 PM, though.

  15. as i’ve said on many other blogs for the last several years, you’re either a whiner who cries “legalize it” every time an illegal substance story comes up, or you can try to channel some of your 4:20 energies into changing the laws.

    whining is easier, so off to taco bell you go.

    (oh, and SPD, good bust; right house, right evidence, and righteous seizure and confiscations. 138 plants and dope bagged for distribution and i don’t know about you, but i don’t keep $50k sitting around in a coffee can. then again, i don’t deal drugs (ftr, lowest priority is for possession, not for dealing.))

  16. oh, and i’m happy to pay the taxes for drug busts like this (since they will obviously lose the $50k, and may also lose other property such as their house (a grow operation), their vehicles (used in transporting dope), and everything else of value.

    this is actually a pretty good return on my tax dollars. moar, plz!

  17. We live in a Police State. The DEA and narco cops destroy people’s lives every single day. The DEA is the army in training to oppress and eventually enslave Americans. Without Prohibition there would be no legal way for the government to break into your home at night with army gear and disregard your 4th Amendment right.

    KopBusters.com exposes the corruption of cops and even performs reverse stings. With only an anonymous tip [of marijuana] cops can come to YOUR home and break in. Recently, someone mailed some marijuana to a mayor’s house. The mayor had nothing to do with it. The corrupt cops broke down the door, shot and killed both their dogs and arrested the mayor. Afterwords the corrupt cops realized that the major had nothing to do with the marijuana.

    Now, think about this… what if someone who you didn’t even know mailed some marijuana to YOUR home? You, your children and/or your pets could be gunned down by corrupt cops. We live in a Police State today.

  18. Visitor, I hope you remember this post if you every have to call the police.

    Now think about this… the citizens, through their elected officials hire the police to protect you. They are the guys standing on the wall. Sure, some are corrupt but most are just hardworking public employees who deal with the worst aspects of our society every day.

    I suppose Canada is a police state too. http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/132…

    If you want to see less of these raids on suspected drug dealer then work to stop the war on drugs and legalize pot. Lose the corrupt police drivel it will only make other think you’re taking a break from making tin-foil hats.

    mt

  19. Debaters debate the two wars as if Nixon’s civil war on Woodstock Nation didn’t yet run amok. One need not travel to China to find indigenous cultures lacking human rights or to Cuba for political prisoners. America leads the world in percentile behind bars, thanks to ongoing persecution of hippies, radicals, and non-whites under banner of the war on drugs. If we’re all about spreading liberty abroad, then why mix the message at home? Peace on the home front would enhance global credibility.

    The drug czar’s Rx for prison fodder costs dearly, as lives are flushed down expensive tubes. There’s trouble on the border. My shaman’s second opinion is that psychoactive plants are God’s gift. God didn’t screw up. Canadian Marc Emery sold seeds that enable American farmers to outcompete cartels with superior domestic herb. He is being extradited to prison, for doing what government wishes it could do, reduce demand for Mexican.

    The constitutionality of the CSA (Controlled Substances Act of 1970) derives from an interstate commerce clause. Only by this authority does it reincarnate Al Capone, endanger homeland security, and throw good money after bad. Official policy is to eradicate, not tax, the number-one cash crop in the land. America rejected prohibition, but it’s back. Apparently, SWAT teams don’t need no stinking amendment. Father, forgive those who make it their business to know not what they do.

    Nixon promised that the Schafer Commission would support the criminalization of his enemies, but it didn’t. No matter, the witch-hunt was on. No amendments can assure due process under an anti-science law without due process itself. Psychology hailed the breakthrough potential of LSD, until the CSA halted all research and pronounced that marijuana has no medical use, period.

    The RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993) allows Native American Church members to eat peyote, which functions like LSD. Americans shouldn’t need a specific church membership to obtain their birthright freedom of religion. Denial of entheogen sacrament to any American, for mediation of communion with his or her maker, precludes free exercise of religious liberty.

    Freedom of speech presupposes freedom of thought. The Constitution doesn’t enumerate any governmental power to embargo diverse states of mind. How and when did government usurp this power to coerce conformity? The Mayflower sailed to escape coerced conformity. Legislators who would limit cognitive liberty lack jurisdiction.

    Common-law must hold that adults are the legal owners of their own bodies. The Founding Fathers decreed that the right to the pursuit of happiness is inalienable. Socrates said to know your self. Mortal lawmakers should not presume to thwart the intelligent design that molecular keys unlock spiritual doors. Persons who appreciate their own free choice of path in life should tolerate seekers’ self-exploration.

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