The Police State: More Misbehaviour

Cheye Calvo and Trinity Tomsic walk their dogs Payton and Chase

More information available here and here.

Those sworn to protect and serve have increasingly been doing the exact opposite, of late. These days we seem to be suffering from a surfeit of stories of bad behaviour by these so-called "public servants." They're beating up and jailing innocent citizens, subjecting them to strip searches and repeated taserings leading to death, kicking in their front doors, shooting them, and generally acting like the worst thugs of the third reich. But today's outrage is really beyond the pale.

The county police of Prince George's County in Maryland, working with the Sherriff's Office SWAT team, kicked in the door of the Berwyn Heights Mayor's home and shot his two black Labs to death — one, in the back, as it tried to run away. What, exactly, was the Mayor's offense?

Apparently, the police, posing as deliverymen, delivered a parcel that contained 32 lbs. of marijuana to the house, and the mayor took it inside. The county police and the Sherriff's office didn't bother to inform the police of Berwyn Heights that they were on a pet-killing spree. What the hell is wrong with these people? Oh, yeah. Their president is a lawbreaking thug. So why the hell should they abide by the law when their own leader (probably the chimp they voted for) can't be bothered to do the same?

Of course, what this means is the cops can deliver a parcel of marijuana to anyone's door and if you take it in, they can kick your door in, and handcuff you and your elderly mother-in-law for hours while they interrogate you. Really, Mayor Calvo, you should be grateful they didn't waterboard you.

So who is this Mayor Cheye Calvo? Commenter Pete over at Raw Story unearthed this information about the Mayor:

Cheye Calvo
National Conference of State Legislatures

Cheye (pronounced "shi") Calvo directs the National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) transportation and financial services committees and represents state legislatures in our federal system of government on banking, insurance, securities and transportation issues. Cheye played a leading role in efforts to create state-friendly federal driver's license standards as part of the intelligence reform in December 2004 and more recently in opposing the driver's license provisions of the REAL ID Act. Cheye has spoken, testified and written extensively on a wide range of public policy matters, and has co-authored and co-edited studies on human genetics policy, genetic privacy, and auto insurance ratemaking. He also serves as the part-time, elected mayor of the Town of Berwyn Heights, Maryland.

Calvo, 37, has been mayor of the 3,000-person town near College Park since 2004. His wife is a finance officer for the state, he said. He works part time as the mayor and serves as director of expansion for the SEED Foundation, a well-known national nonprofit group that runs urban public boarding schools.

Sounds reeeeal threatening, people. Of course, those of us who are working-class, or poor, or dark of skin have had stuff like this happen to them pretty routinely. But, goodness me, when a middle-class white working couple like the Calvos have it happen to them ... isn't it time to, um, do something?

To their credit, the Berwyn Heights police department had a reaction pretty similar to ours:

Berwyn Heights Police Chief Patrick Murphy said county police and the Sheriff's Office had not notified his department of the raid. He said town police could have conducted the search without a SWAT team.

"You can't tell me the chief of police of a municipality wouldn't have been able to knock on the door of the mayor of that municipality, gain his confidence and enter the residence," Murphy said. "It would not have been a necessity to shoot and kill this man's dogs."

Common law holds that a person's home is their castle — that every person has the same right to freedom under their own roof, whether rented or purchased, as a king or queen has in theirs. And the Constitution is explicit regarding search and seizure:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Do you see anything in there about kicking down doors and shooting people's pets? The fucking police fucking SWAT team is scared of black Labs? A turtle could outwit a Lab, and there isn't a dog like it for sheer friendliness and sweetness of disposition. And why would you shoot a dog that is running away from you?

Want an action item? Call the PGCP Chief, Melvin High, at 301-772-4740 to let him know what you think of his high-handed tactics.

Melvin High! What a name.

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