Two SWAT Teams Shut Down A Neighborhood In Colorado

This is just crazy, nuts and authoritarian. First cops did this kind of crap during the Chris Dorner manhunt, they acted like drunk vigilantes, shooting up some womans truck.
They didnt even try to find out if it was actually him or not, they just open fired, turning her truck into swiss cheese, hard to believe she didnt get hit even once.
Once they finally got the guy cornered, the took on the role of judge, jury and ultimately executioner when they burned the cabin he was hiding in to the ground.
Then of course, you have the Boston Bombing, where they completely shut down parts of Boston and forced people out of their homes.. what happened to the 4th amendment?

Now, you got this very dangerous man in Colorado. Nope, not a murder or rapist or child molester. He stole a bike and a cart full of stuff from a Walmart.. yep, no joke.

Link

Additional Source

Two SWAT teams were deployed and an entire neighborhood in Ft. Collins, Colorado was shut down for four hours to search for a man suspected of stealing a bicycle and a grocery cart full of merchandise from Wal-Mart. A sheriff’s deputy on scene said the SWAT teams were searching for a robbery suspect who had been tracked to the area. The suspect tried to steal a shopping cart filled with tools and a bike from a Walmart earlier in the day. He had fought with staff members and fled in a car with other suspects inside. Police reviewed surveillance video and recognized the man. Police say the suspect has a criminal history. In conclusion, no suspect was apprehended during the four hours the SWAT teams terrorize the neighborhood. However they did manage to capture a large dog by securing it in the Humane Society van.

reply to post by Sharingan


I wonder if this was staged, if there was a robbery at all? It sounds like they are testing the waters to see how far they can go in our American towns.

What can we do to stop the madness of this kind of unconstitutional behavior? Swat teams for a thief? That's just crazy. Either they are lying about who and what they were looking for or they are simply getting Americans used to seeing this in their neighborhoods.

reply to post by Sharingan


So we have well and truly hit the stage where SWAT is no longer used to take down the "heavily armed" gangs and drug dealers. Now they are unleashed on shoplifters!?

Do we assume now that any crime that meets the bar of shoplifting is a need for SWAT? This slippery slope has gone vertical.

reply to post by Sharingan

Yes.
We have ourselves a police state.

SWAT... For retail theft...

As someone who has worked Loss Prevention, and Retail management, I am stunned.

So I guess the police are there for corporate asset protection?

Seriously... SWAT?

WTF america?

reply to post by brandiwine14

or they are simply getting Americans used to seeing this in their neighborhoods

Bingo, you answered your own question, drones in the skies, MRAP's and APC's in the streets and SWAT teams in your yards.
They want to get us to the point that when we see this, itll be just another day in the hood.
I predict that soon, instead of or in addition too SWAT, we will see Blackwater (or w/e their name is now) type contractors in the streets more than actual cops.

Because a corp. such as Walmart can't write off it's loses at the end of the year...

Release the Kraken~!!! Errr... Swat! This individual must be aprehended! Search and destroy!

For Jimminie Crickets sakes

Originally posted by sulaw
Because a corp. such as Walmart can't write off it's loses at the end of the year...

Release the Kraken~!!! Errr... Swat! This individual must be aprehended! Search and destroy!

For Jimminie Crickets sakes

The level of asshatness of this is insane, no where would this stand in corporate at the majority of Retail Companies, Its dragging their name into the Muck for this crap.

As evil as wal-mart is I doubt this is on them, its a police over reaction, If this happened at a Big Box retail store I worked at,

First thing I would be doing would be contacting our media relations dept. Demanding they release a statement against such action by the cops.

retail works off branding, no company wants their Brand Associated with actions like this.



ETA: The next action would be firing employees who violated policy by trying to physically stop the theft, thats HUGE liability on the store.

I can tell I am stepping into the hornets nest with this one.

I like how everyone ignores the fact the article said the suspect has a prior criminal record\history. Sure that could have been for a traffic violation but it also could have been for a violent offense. Yes using 2 SWAT teams seems a bit excessive given the size of this specific crime but without knowing what his criminal record is it is impossible to say if that response was warranted or not.

Beyond that it never fails to amaze me here how various people on ATS want to turn a blind eye to any crime based on the logic that just because someone tried to steal from a rich business it is ok. That or lets blame everyone but the actual suspect\criminal. If the suspect didn't make the choice to steal, which is illegal regardless of if people here don't view it as a crime, then two SWAT teams would not have been deployed. Again on the surface I fully agree that 2 SWAT teams is overkill, unless the prior record justified it , but one person is responsible for this situation and that is the criminal .

I am sure the same people here that jump on me with "defending big brother" will say I am doing it again and I am not. I am just not making an emotional "emragherd itz 1984" response to the OP.

reply to post by opethPA

opethPA, Can you imagine what surburban Philly will look like if they start cranking up the SWAT teams every time there is a shoplifting at Genuardi's?

Originally posted by sulaw

Release the Kraken~!!!

OMG after 15 minutes it's still funny

Back OT. So he had a criminal history eh? That seems to fall within SOP for cops along with "Quit resisting!"

It does seem the police know who the man is.....From the OP link..

He fled in a car with other suspects inside. Police reviewed surveillance video and recognized the man. Police say the suspect has a criminal history, including use of a weapon.

There seems to have been more than one person in the car leaving...

It seems he fought employees trying to flee the store...

The man fought with staff members who confronted him as he was trying to leave the store.

So more than one suspect with at least one having a criminal history that has a weapon involved.

That doesn't seem unreasonable since there were other suspects that fled, not to mention the regular beat cop isn't trained for these types of situations and swat teams are...

That is just the way I see it, so I could be wrong...

Originally posted by butcherguy
reply to post by opethPA

 

opethPA, Can you imagine what surburban Philly will look like if they start cranking up the SWAT teams every time there is a shoplifting at Genuardi's?

It would look ridiculous.
Of course if the guy shoplifting had a previous violent criminal history and they were looking for him for something else then it would make sense. Without knowing what his criminal history was it's hard to say if this response was warranted.

Again I will stand by my original statement of one person is responsible for this situation and that is the criminal.

reply to post by Sharingan

I see people are all out of Walmart with carts of unpaid for stuff everyday in Colorado. Walmart has a billion dollars in sales daily. Hey could care less about a cart of made in China stuff they will then write off... All the ops in that area have gone tolitarian
. I hate even going to the ft Collins area anymore. Always treating everyone like they are criminals just for wanting to go to the outlet stores...

reply to post by benrl


I whole heartedly agree ben, no company wants there name draged through dirt in association with a over dramatization of this kind.

If the police "knew" who this person was the question remains "why dispatch SWAT?"... It's only going to hurt the tax payers as who's going to pay for SWAT? The taxpayers~ Of coarse.... Right?

I expect to see this man on America's Most Wanted next~

What does it cost to shut down a Neighborhood? How many on a swat times hours times current pay rate for a crisis situation??? Is this really a large enough crisis for SWAT in the first place?

I'd hate to see what happens when a women or man steels "huggies" because they can't afford them....

Originally posted by sulaw
reply to post by benrl

 

I whole heartedly agree ben, no company wants there name draged through dirt in association with a over dramatization of this kind.

If the police "knew" who this person was the question remains "why dispatch SWAT?"... It's only going to hurt the tax payers as who's going to pay for SWAT? The taxpayers~ Of coarse.... Right?

I expect to see this man on America's Most Wanted next~

What does it cost to shut down a Neighborhood? How many on a swat times hours times current pay rate for a crisis situation??? Is this really a large enough crisis for SWAT in the first place?

I'd hate to see what happens when a women or man steels "huggies" because they can't afford them....

Their really is no point in trying to debate situations like this logically with the 1984 crowd on ATS but I am stuck on a conf call so lets go...

Reading the article gives the impression that the SWAT team was dispatched after they reviewed the video , recognized the criminal and knew he had a previous criminal history. Without knowing what that history is it's impossible to say if the response was warranted.

Facts are that 1 person caused this issue.
Another fact would be that just because he stole from a rich company it is no less illegal. That frame of mind to me is no different then what the govt does to the common person on a daily basis. Hey lets ignore the law when it meets our needs..

reply to post by Sharingan


So, if Special Weapons and Tactics are necessary to apprehend a shoplifter, what are Normal Weapons and Tactics appropriate for?

J-walking?

reply to post by opethPA


Right, so the shop calls the cops. Cops can't handle a shoplifter and his dangerous driver so they call in half a platoon of masked, armored, machine gun packing paramilitary types who may or may not be using armored vehicles.

Maybe we should just get rid of regular cops. Obviously we don't have much use for them anymore.

It is all conditioning. This way, when they are patrolling the streets you will think "must be a shoplifter in the area'.

Originally posted by Bassago
reply to post by opethPA

 

Right, so the shop calls the cops. Cops can't handle a shoplifter and his dangerous driver so they call in half a platoon of masked, armored, machine gun packing paramilitary types who may or may not be using armored vehicles.

Maybe we should just get rid of regular cops. Obviously we don't have much use for them anymore.

Right..so the shop calls the cops...the cops miss the criminal and the party he left with so they review the video tape and recognize the criminal (i put that back in since you left it out). After reviewing the tape they see that he is a known violent criminal with at least one weapons offense. The cops call that info and given that the criminals history is what it is they decide to use SWAT to try and safely handle the situation.,

Before saying it was warranted or unwarranted we need to know what that history was.

of course all the 1984 crowd see is "SWAT team to handle a shoplifter who should be commended for stealing from a rich company"