Reefer madness: Trash search led to deadly police raid-Fla

[Dawg]

Reefer madness: Trash search led to deadly police raid

Michael Mayo | News Columnist
June 29, 2008

What prompted Pembroke Pines police to conduct a dawn paramilitary raid that ended with the June 12 shooting death of homeowner Vincent Hodgkiss?

In its application for a narcotics search warrant, police cited an anonymous complaint of drug dealing, surveillance of high-turnover visitors and two searches of Hodgkiss' trash by detectives, who found scraps of paper with handwritten numbers and trace amounts of "green, leafy substance" that tested positive for marijuana.

Police conducted the raid with its Special Response Team (similar to SWAT) two days after Broward Circuit Judge Dale Cohen approved the search warrant.

As a result of the investigation, police recovered about an ounce and a half of pot — and a 46-year-old father ended up dead.

Is this what America really wants from its War on Drugs?

"None of this makes sense," said Roger Scott, an Orlando defense attorney who heads the Florida chapter of NORML, which advocates the legalization of marijuana. "Do you realize that right now prisons are releasing violent criminals early to make room for drug offenders?"

Instead of relaxing marijuana laws, the Florida Legislature keeps getting tougher. This year, it approved a new law increasing penalties for marijuana growhouses. Those possessing more than 25 plants would get mandatory prison time, up to 30 years if children live at the house.

Scott was upset to hear about Hodgkiss' death, and he called the ongoing drug war "a fiasco."

Police say they also found weapons, $1,600 in cash, prescription drugs, a digital scale and smoking paraphernalia in Hodgkiss' home. Hodgkiss had a valid concealed weapons permit, and friends and family said he took several medications for a serious illness they declined to specify.

In the search warrant affidavit released last week, Pembroke Pines Detective Bryan Dietrich wrote that he saw many cars stop at the home in May and early June, "with very few staying for more than 10 minutes." He and partners twice searched trash that had been taken out for pickup, each time finding traces of pot inside.

The totality of the evidence could add up to a small-time pot dealer. Was an early morning raid with a mini-battalion really the best way to go about serving the warrant?

The increasing use of SWAT teams for basic police functions troubles Jack Cole, a former New Jersey narcotics and fugitive detective. He now heads Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of retired police, judges and prosecutors who advocate drug-law reform.

Cole said SWAT was developed to handle barricaded suspects holding hostages. Agencies invested heavily in SWAT training and equipment, and soon began using these teams on an expanding range of missions, including drug, pornography and gambling raids. Pembroke Pines police uses its SRT unit to serve all drug warrants. It might be time for agencies to reconsider blanket policies and assess each case individually.

This wasn't some violent gang that moved into the neighborhood three months ago. Hodgkiss spent 14 years in the house, raising his family there. He had no previous felonies or history of violence. I bet two detectives approaching him when he made a trip to the corner store might have been more effective, and certainly less confrontational.

The attorney for Officer Javier Diaz, who fatally wounded Hodgkiss, said Diaz shot Hodgkiss twice after Hodgkiss pumped his loaded shotgun and carried it into his bathroom. The attorney said Diaz fired in "justified self-defense."

I'm not saying the shooting was unjustified. I'm sure Diaz felt threatened and compelled to shoot. The bigger point: Tragic outcomes like these are inevitable given our nation's drug policies and police procedures.

For the sake of both Hodgkiss' family and Officer Diaz (these tragedies are traumatic for the shooter, too), maybe it's time for a more measured and rational approach.

Michael Mayo's next column will appear July 10. Read past columns and blog entries at Sun-Sentinel

.com/mayoblog. Reach him

at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com

or 954-356-4508.

more in /news/columnists

Link (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-flbmayocol0629sbjun29,0,1551347.column)

[CezarCronic]

This is one more example of what Cops do to make thins more deadly to normal people .

I can't believe that if Cops are going to search a house for Narcotics this has to happen , first went you do this is better to just knock on the persons door and went they open the door just hang the person the search warrant and ask to go inside the house peacefully , i don't think a family man will respond with a load 't Shock gun man , probably something us went wrong and like always they cover the shit up.

If the person resist to the warrant I'm sure there are ways to convince him to let the police do the search .. but no they have to show off there force against a a normal citizen with a once of weed :mad:

I don't think the Cop is suffering much they enjoy this crab and brag on 't too :mad::mad3:

The Family has loss a Member and probably the one who support everyone in that family ..Officer Diaz is nothing but a PIG to me :flog:

Cops are the worth kind of Humans in the planet and only by there acts and nasty :flog:reputation they have earn this "TITLE" :Skull


This is a game for the Government and they are playing with human lives.

Marijuana don't kill people ..People kill people with the GUNS that THE GOVERNMENT provides with there multi BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS!!!.


MURDERS and CRIMINAL that's what they are all of them :mad::mad:

[tripps]

Read a good article a while back by Fred Reed, who writes a non politically correct column, Fred on Everything. He wrote about the police using swat teams for everything, and the fact that several kids likely died at Columbine that might not have, due to police not entering the school in a timely manner, citing " officer safety" concerns. His point was "officer safety" has become the prime directive of police depts everywhere. His point also was that everyone knows that if you want to be a police officer, you are taking on a dangerous job, if you can't accept that, and want to serve the public, maybe you should get a job as a garbage man. And his point also was that in a different era, "officer safety" would have been called for what it was, "cowardice".

[Permagrin]

that just sux. i can't think of anything more to say but it just sux. thanks for the post.

[CB]

Cops are the worth kind of Humans in the planet and only by there acts and nasty :flog:reputation they have earn this "TITLE" :Skull




that can be said about any profession tho bro.... more good cops then bad out there, and better to have a few bad then live in a lawless state IMO...

food for thought brother




:pass:

[CezarCronic]

CB i understand most of the people think different them me went a comes to Cops but not many people has gone true what i have and close members of my family went cops is the question

I also understand they have to be there but is very far from reality what they really do with the power the have in hand went they represent the law , that is to much for lots of humans to handle, so in reality to be able to do the job right is very difficult because you have to Control your self and not abuse of the power you have something totally against Human Nature , is normal in a Human to abuse the power hes got.

From this conclusion i think is no such thin of more good then bad in the first place .

I think there are what i can call Cops and there are lots of Bad abusive Cops.

Its very difficult to talk about this but i feel free to do because i have experience lots of cops very bad behavior .

People from small towns and out of big city's don't know what goes on in reality and remember in big City's is where population is very large including cops.

Went you hang with the wrong crow you become part of what ever your crow get blame for or judge for so in a 50/50 chance is not to d good for judgments in good favor , remember people look deep in to you bad stuff before giving you credit for the good you have don .

I know a Job is a Job and somebody have to do it :rolleyes:

But i stay with my believe and Opinions because they have earn that from me and that is plain and simple bro. Sorry if i make anyone upset but this are my personal opinions and those will not be taken from me ever .

If i need a Job in My choices are Cleaning Floors with hands on my knees or been a Cop a 'll be getting busy on that floor for sure even if i have to clean 't with my Tongue but i 'll never be a snitch for all the Money of Power in the world.

[that guy]

Now, I've had my problems with the law. I've been investigated for dealing myself, and have even gotten away in a high speed chase after being set up. Thank god for BMW M3's.

I've met good cops and bad cops. Cezar, there is nothing wrong with TRULY wanting to " protect and serve". It's quite honorable, IF and ONLY IF it's only a job to you. There are cops who take it on as an identity, and those are the dangerous ones. They don't work as cops, they ARE COPS. It becomes their entire identity, how they see themselves.

The cops who see it as a job (at least the ones I managed to talk about the sensitive subject with back when I was a teenager) are less likely to care about pot. They are the types who dump it or look the other way. They're the ones that give a warning to you when you COULD be getting a ticket for something you OBVIOUSLY shouldn't have done. They're the ones who politely tell you that a neighbor is complaining about your party, and even offer their opinion that the old lady is being a little crazy.

Officer Diaz, in my opinion, was probably scared shitless. I'm not saying what type of cop he was, but if I had a shotgun being cocked in my line of sight, I'd probably start blasting away myself. It's you or me if there's a gun involved.

Cezar, if you want video proof of a cop being seriously shook up after killing someone, youtube or google the shooting of Dimebag Darrell. It shows the cop walk up onstage, point his shotgun at the shooter, and BLAM! The cop then walks offstage looking really shell shocked.

Either way, for the most part, FUCK U.S. COPS!!! RIGHT IN THEIR DIRTY ASSHOLES!!!

For the most part I believe in dispensing my own justice. Speaking of which, there's still that kid who snitched on me.....................

[CB]

People from small towns and out of big city's don't know what goes on in reality and remember in big City's is where population is very large including cops.



good point Cezar, I live out in the country and the closet city is 45 miles away:)

we don't have gangs and the like and very little crime's against other people. around 650 people here spread out over many many miles and most keep to there self's.

I also understand they have to be there but is very far from reality what they really do with the power the have in hand went they represent the law , that is to much for lots of humans to handle, so in reality to be able to do the job right is very difficult because you have to Control your self and not abuse of the power you have something totally against Human Nature , is normal in a Human to abuse the power hes got.

another really good point bro, thanks for your input


:pass:

[tripps]

good point Cezar, I live out in the country and the closet city is 45 miles away:)

we don't have gangs and the like and very little crime's against other people. around 650 people here spread out over many many miles and most keep to there self's.

:agreed: We have no local LEO, county sheriffs, I guess, might have seen a car go by twice in 20 years. LOL To be honest, I've never had a bad experience with a cop, and gotten a lot of breaks I might not have deserved.

[that guy]

Believe you me, Tripps. That is a blessing and a curse at the same time, if you ask me.

I live in the land of task forces and feds cleaning up local cities from gangs. Here, I am but one of hundreds of thousands of people living within a 50 mile radius of where I live. I am a nobody. I can just blend in with all the other smokers and growers around here.

But on the other hand, I have a very large police presence. Not only town cops and staties, but there is also a 5 town drug task force around here, which also uses it's SWAT team for all drug warrants. I've had friends who have had their homes busted into by a dozen men all in black, with AR 15's and HK MP5's, screaming their heads off, in a frenzy.

So while I might have to deal with a lot more investigations around my way, you seem to live in an area with a very low population, where I at least would be afraid of sticking out.

There are benefits to both, I guess.

All the best,
TG

[Cranky]

FFF;)