WEAREMODESHIFT/FLICKR
NAMELESS
AND SHAMELESS
unrelated misdemeanor warrant.)
Since the 1980s, SWAT teams
have become an increasingly common tool in the war on crime.
By one estimate, more than 100
times per day in America, police
teams break down doors to serve
search warrants on people suspected of drug crimes. Innocent
citizens like the Burleys often become the victims of violent law
enforcement tactics.
In the wake of the raid on their
home, the two women have tried
to navigate a disorienting labyrinth of police bureaucracies and
court filings to secure damages for
HUFFINGTON
10.06.13
the injuries they sustained during
the raid and for violations of their
Fourth Amendment rights. More
than six years later, however, the
government agencies involved still
won’t tell the women the names of
the officers and agents who raided
their home — a key piece of information necessary in lawsuits like
this one. It isn’t enough merely to
show that the government violated
the plaintiffs’ rights; by federal law,
the victims must be able to show
that a specific officer or group of officers was responsible. This burden
is something of a double standard,
given that individual officers are
rarely required to pay damages. The
government pays the award.
As the drug war continues to
Detroit’s
Eight Mile
Road —
where a
SWAT team
burst through
the Burleys’
front door in
2007 — was
known for
crime-ridden
drug houses,
prostitutes
and wanted
fugitives.