The Death of DC Suburban Mayor's Dogs Should Matter to Every American

If you live outside of the DC area you may have missed this story:

The Washington Post reported that on July 29th the Prince George's Sheriff's Office SWAT team and county narcotics officers raided the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo after he brought in a 32 pound marijuana-filled package addressed to his wife that had been left by Fed-Ex on the front porch. They tied up Calvo and his wife's mother and interrogated the mayor for hours.

Worse, without apparent provocation, they shot and killed the couples' two Labrador retrievers.

But this is not a story of unnecessary use of force against a suburban official who went bad. On Wednesday the police announced that they had arrested the package delivery man and an accomplice who had been sending Fed Ex packages loaded with marijuana to unsuspecting households and collecting them from porches as part of a smuggling scheme. The mayor's wife was apparently a random victim of the scheme. The mayor's family became a random victim of law enforcement.

I admit that I took this story very personally. I'm the owner of two wonderful golden retrievers -- brothers from the same litter -- that I love dearly. They are a big part of our family. I used to own a lab. I cannot fathom the grief and anger I would feel if the police broke down the door of my house and shot those dogs.

This week Calvo and his neighbors called on the FBI to investigate the raid and the Price George's County Police. AP covered his remarks:

"Calvo insisted the couple's two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them "for sport," gunning down one of them as it was running away.

'Our dogs were our children,' said the 37-year-old Calvo. 'They were the reason we bought this house because it had a big yard for them to run in.'

Anyone who has ever owned a lab knows what he says about their disposition is true.

But this story is not just about an injustice done to one random middle class couple, or the death of two dogs. There are two critical lessons that are important to all Americans.

First, the civil liberties in our Constitution don't just protect "criminals" or "someone else". The Prince George's County Police had a warrant to search Calvo's home. They had apparently tracked the package from its origination point in Arizona. But they did not have a warrant to break down the door without knocking, tie him up or shoot his dogs. In fact the Courts have held that it is always unacceptable to kill pets in the course of searching a home.

Calvo was changing his cloths when the police burst in, handcuffed him in his boxer shorts and held him and his mother in law forcibly for two hours.

If that could happen to a completely innocent, middle class white suburban mayor and his wife, it could happen to anyone. Calvo said, "We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us." That's why the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, because our founding fathers, and mothers, had been harmed over and over by the police and armed forces of the British Crown and wanted a country where they were protected from the arbitrary power of the state.

For almost eight years George Bush has appointed judges who have undermined the Bill of Rights and make us all more vulnerable to the overwhelming police power of the executive branch. John McCain would undermine those protections even more dramatically because he would likely have the opportunity to make life time appointments for up to four members of the Supreme Court.

Like the prospect of making it easier to have your door broken down and your dogs shot -- even if you're not guilty of anything ? Vote for John McCain.

The second lesson has to do with the "War on Drugs". Drug enforcement officials had tracked this package from Arizona. A SWAT team was deployed. All of this to intercept 32 pounds of marijuana - a substance that is used recreationally by millions of Americans and has fewer harmful effects that alcohol or tobacco. This is an insane waste of money, law enforcement resources and lives.

Marijuana itself is materially less addictive than alcohol. But when it comes to the serious problem of drug addition, a recent study by the Justice Policy Institute found that drug treatment and education is 10 to 15 times more effective at cutting drug use than the same amount spent on law enforcement aimed at drugs.

We can only hope that the ordeal of Mayor Calvo and his family - and the loss of their canine companions - will serve as a warning to other Americans. Hopefully it will give us all the backbone to tenaciously defend our civil liberties -- even when people like George Bush and John McCain use fear to weaken our resolve to defend them. And it must also serve to alert us to the critical need to end the "War on Drugs" as we know it and replace it with a rational policy that treats drug addiction as a medical problem - not a reason to invade the homes and damage the lives of ordinary, law abiding Americans.

Finally, it will hopefully send a message to that small number of sadistic police officers who sully the reputation of the many dedicated, hardworking people who work in law enforcement. People who would shoot down family pets "for sport" have no business carrying a badge and a gun.

Robert Creamer is a long time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com.

Comments

[AdventureLass]

Personally I'm not surprised. Bush has done more to erode personal civil liberties than any other president I can remember, and I can remember back to Nixon. Bush is worse than Nixon, and that's saying something.

Secondly, I don't give a flying rat's behind about whether or not pot is less addictive than alcohol. It's illegal and alcohol is NOT. As long as it's illegal, the government has every right to go after anyone they can prove is growing, distributing, selling, buying or using it.

While I hate to second guess the police, there seems to be a trend lately of allowing police departments to do whatever they like with no explanation and little or no recrimination if they do happen to trample people's civil or personal rights. That's wrong, because it fosters an air of privelege for them, where they think they can do or say anything without fear of recrimination even if it is morally or legally wrong. that's a bad thing and will come back to bite us later. all of us.

[jamesmanley]

Very ironic post of the Prince George County website the day this story broke.

http://saleboutique.com/uncategorized/great-disasters-in-web-content-management-prince-george-county/

[southafrica4obama]

thanks. the mayor tasted his own officers' medicine, which black folks in his town usually endure

[NoSillyName]

Prince George's County Sheriff's Department does not report to the Berwyn Heights, MD's mayor.

[southafrica4obama]

I live in DC boy. He has the power to direct the force and has done so in the past.

[jfor]

America has to many cops. Disagree? Lets name some of them shall we. Local, State, traffic, parking, animal control, DEA, FBI, ATF, Sheriff, US Marshals, narcotics, homicide, customs, HHS, TSA, SWAT and who the hell knows how many more? Who actually believes that America is the most free nation in the world when we have the most citizens incarcerated.

[NoSillyName]

Sure, it matters. I'm disgusted that this happened. What the h*ll am I supposed to do about it?

[TheKnownTruth]

Think, write your city council, senator, congressperson, and vote ... federal, state, and local. I will and we all should. Kick the current bums out.

[NoSillyName]

Been there. Done that. You are naive.

[drblack]

The police and other "Drug Warriors" have killed dozens of innocent people,including the elderly and children and have terrorized tens of thousands of innocent people.
A dried plant caused this kind of reaction? Those who support the War On Some Drugs are either,ignorant,self righteous,making money or evil.

[drblack]

Police are out of control. We are very close to becoming a police state.
They shot one of these dogs as it was running away in fear.
How sick is the person to shoot a dog runnibg away in fear.
Drug Prohibition MUST end NOW.
No American who believes in Freedom could support the Failed and dangerous "War On Some Drugs'
All drugs were freely available throughout Human History until about a century ago.
The Drug War is the most failed public policy in modern history and has created problems while solving none. It hasn't stopped anyone from using drugs,though it has increased Police corruption,governmnet control and made lots of money for evil people.
If you like violence and support giving evil people money you love the drug war.

[mlaiuppa]

This these cops transfer from New Orleans?

Sounds like the same sadistic cops that shot those dogs in the school in New Orleans their owners had to leave behind. One was a service dog.

I hope the Mayor presses charges, has these cops fired and their pensions are revoked. If possible, prosecute them for extreme animal cruelty, take away all of their pets and bar them from every owning an animal again. Let them explain that to *their* children.

[shengirl]

Actually, two other residents of the area have complained, and one has filed suit, over police actions toward their dogs. In one case, they were at a wrong address, and even tho they did not break in they still "looked around" once they were in the house. The woman's "German Boxer" was outside, in a yard, barking. After the police left she heard shots, went out, and they had killed her dog. In the other case they threatened the homeowner that if they had to come back, they'd kill her dog. This seems to happen in so many police departments nationwide [including those cops in St. Bernard Parish, La. and another dept. in Arizona that has a very bad record with dogs], you almost have to wonder if they have some underground cop magazine for the worst sorts that thinks shooting dogs is great sport. BTW, in the mayor's case, it turns out they did not even have a "no knock" warrant to go busting in like they did.

[rjmiller]

The whole "drug education stops drug use" isn't truly all that accurate. I remember when I was a kid and the D.A.R.E. program was being taught in my class. We were given a big table listing 10-15 common drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, tobacco and alcohol, and the table had sections like effects, addictiveness and withdrawal symptoms. I remember marijuana's effects had things like "euphoria and drowsiness" and withdrawal symptoms were "None."

To me at the age of 8-9, when comparing the effects of marijuana versus alcohol or tobacco and immediately seeing that marijuana seemed far less hazardous with fairly nice effects, I asked the police officer teaching the course "Why is marijuana illegal when alcohol isn't?"

His response: "Because its a drug."

This was the point that I decided I would start smoking pot when I got older, would rarely drink and would never use heroin. Therefore education doesn't necessarily lower drug use, it would be more accurate to say that it lowers use of dangerous substances.

[NyPrincess]

I spent several years living in Maryland and unfortunately, this type of thing took place quite often. While I am so sorry this happened to the mayor, perhaps now it will get the scrutiny it desperately deserves.

[1will]

The cops in this story screwed up in every way possible. With that said, I believe too much emphasis is placed on the gentle disposition of the Labs. Yes, they are a gentle breed. I've had two Both dogs were extemely gentle normally but would eat you if you were a stranger and near my young daughter. Shooting the dog that was running away was clearly wrong but it may have been necessary to shoot the one in the kitchen.
Obviously if the officers were not there the whole situation could have been avoided though.

[vippy]

Give a guy a gun and a bit of authority and here we go. Tell me, why it is necessary to taze
young children and old people. Geez, what did they do in the old days? A man/woman with
a tree branch is no match for a cop with a gun. And then certainly no reason to shoot and kill
but to disable them but that is asking too much.

[drblack]

This happened because of some dried plants?? i can go outside and pick two psychoactive plants in my neighborhood which are 100% legal.
The entire drug war and all its activities are insane.

[shengirl]

There are guidelines for SWAT teams on how to handle dogs that are not a real and imminent threat , and shooting on sight is not one of them. This police raid did not follow any of those guidelines. Any dog will bark when strangers come busting into its house, it is one reason humans have lived with dogs for thousands of years-- they protect us. For that to justify cops shooting any dog that barks is lame. Since the real danger of pit bulls has come on the scene, they seem to think any dog is a deadly menace. So if they come to your house, you can kiss your Lab or Chihuahua or half blind old Spaniel good-bye. If it barks at strangers, it's toast.

[chaszer]

This morning here in South Florida police shot and killed a 17 year old kid who attacked them with a bat.. The incident occurred when police served an arrest warrant by raiding a house in the middle of the night. The police claim they announced who they were when breaking open the house. The parents of the boy say they heard no such announcement and through the police were home invaders. Everything was "by the book", but two officers are injured and a 17 year old kid is dead.

The question that needs to be asked is why are police doing so many break-in raids. There are, of course, appropriate times for SWAT type assaults. If someone is endangered or if the police know the suspects are armed and violent, extreme measures are called for. But if the police had done basic work they would have known the case in PG County involved the mayor and their raid in Atlanta was of a 92 year old woman's apartment. Break-in raids need to be the last choice, not the first choice.

I sympathize with police officers and realize they have a hard job. But they are there to protect us. We shouldn't need to fear that the police will smash into our homes and shoot our grandmothers, our sons, or even our pets.

[drblack]

While some individual police are trying to protect us the entire law enforcement system is designed to protect the status quo and make money.

[ewoman]

Of course, this whole incident would not have happened if the package contained pharmaceuticals.

[Nofoolhere]

I lived in the DC area for more than fifteen years. Hardly a month went by when there was not a story in the press and media about the chronically abusive behavior of the PG County police. And they were just the incidents that got public attention. It was worth your life to risk getting a ticket while traversing their area.

In spite of these incidents and storm of chronic complaints, as I see, nothing has changed. If you want to glimpse a portrait of our unfolding fascistic America, study the Prince Georges County history of police community relations.

[shengirl]

yep...

[Michale32086]

@tbone99

}}}}}}}}}
One of the dogs was killed RUNNING AWAY from the police....
}}}}}}}}}

AT the time he was shot... Whose to say that, a few minutes down the road, while the cops were still clearing the house, the canine wouldn't have come back and tried to attack??

An animal is a threat. It must be neutralized for the safety of the officers and, yes, even the suspects.

That's the reality, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.

Michale.....

[jeg]

So, they should have shot the mother too?

That's the natural progression of your logic.

Also, I think you have a very dim grasp on the whole idea of when an officer should actually fire their weapon.

Reality is, this was a completely unwarranted home invasion, assault on innocent civilians, and execution of two dogs. Why? Because the police knew that the house was just a drop-off, and that the residents were unlikely to be involved. They were just mad that their sting got busted.

[racom]

michael is a repuglican troll that has a dim grasp of most issues.

[BBackSoon]

If I think of all the people I know, half have animals in the house. So these SWAT guys are suppose to be good at what they do and they are not prepared to deal with household pets in any manner other than killing them?

I am all for neutralizing the threat of the dogs to the police but do you mean to tell me that a fully armed and equipped SWAT team does not carry anything that could be used to capture, contain or even sedate dogs? How about an animal control lasso pole and a chain or a leash to tie the dogs to a tree in the front yard?

That is BS!

[shengirl]

guidelines for SWAT teams handling dogs suggest pepper spray, or a fire extinguisher sprayed at the dog. Not shoot on sight. Shooting is supposed to be a last resort. It is beyond chilling that Michale so blithely says a dog-- any dog?-- is a threat that must be neutralized. As if homeowners have no Constitutional rights whatsoever. As if a living member of the family, doing its duty to protect the family, were a chair that got in the way.

[drblack]

There was no threat except the ones created by the overzealous and completely wrong law enforcement.
How is a dried plant a threat?