chasfm11 wrote:If I'm reading the article correctly, that is not how SWAT was used. They were supposedly only there 45 minutes. The article describes a two step process. SWAT was sent in because of the supposed pot plants. They handcuffed the adults and then searched for the plants. Then, the code enforcement group showed up and they were the ones who started stripping everything. There is no justification at all for uprooting berry bushes but the owners will have a hard time proving malice over that with everything else that was removed. I don't think that the folks that live there have the means to seek redress from the city legally. It was just another case of local governmental overreach. Of course, I might feel differently if I had to live next door to them. There is no telling how bad things were before the code enforcement raid.Dave2 wrote:Yeah.... who ever authorized SWAT deployment for a minor abatement code violation should be fired and, if there's a law against it, charged with wasting public resources.mamabearCali wrote:This whole thing is disgusting......so without any other information than a few minor problems with pallets and weeds they swat raided a mini farm? What is wrong with these people. Does no one think anymore..no one said....."hey wait a minute....perhaps we should knock on a door instead of smashing it down."
Sorry that is still not good enough. What if my neighbor who thinks food comes out of a box and has never seen a squash plant before they moved next to me *thinks* my cherry tomatoes are pot plants. Should my family be raided, have guns pointed at us, and be handcuffed for ten hours. I don't think so. Should my garden that I have worked so carefully on to provide food for my family be destroyed? If this is how they are going to handle situations like this of misidentification by nosy busy bodies of vegetation then I am going to become in favor of legalization. I'd rather have pot heads than a tyrannical heavy handed state.