Drug raid restraint?

• Author: Balko, Radley
• Position: Follow-Up

In "A Drug Raid Goes Viral" (August/September), I described a video of a February drug raid in Columbia, Missouri, that sparked widespread outrage at the SWAT team's militaristic tactics. As I noted, those tactics, which included the use of a battering ram and the killing of a family dog, are quite common in SWAT raids, which occur 100 to 150 times a day across the country. By now the video of the raid, which yielded just under three grams of marijuana, has racked up more than 1.3 million views on YouTube and attracted extensive coverage in the media.

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The Columbia Police Department is aware of this attention. In May, Police Chief Ken Burton announced changes in procedure for future SWAT raids. Most notably, raids will no longer be conducted at night, and they will require approval from senior department officials.

At a press conference two weeks later, Burton indicated he was also sympathetic to legalizing marijuana. Columbia voters had already approved a ballot measure in 2004 that made simple possession of up to an ounce and a quarter of marijuana a citation with a maximum penalty of $250. Asked if the drug should be fully legalized, Burton replied, "If we could get out of the business [of arresting marijuana offenders], I think there would be a lot...