Pretty sure that's what I said.

It's inevitable that they're going to come, and it's inevitable that they're going to kill the wrong people - like me.

That's a good point, something I hadn't considered.

Either there was a costly investigation, in which case the report on what they found is incredibly suspect, as is the argument that no other unit was capable of making the bust...

...or there wasn't, in which case SWAT is reactionary and wasteful.

...or something else entirely. We have no way to know, which is itself cause for concern.

Until this past decade, I never heard of SWAT being used like this (and so often), but maybe I also wasn't paying attention.

Regardless of the truth, I see no reason why our discussion needs to be a bitter debate. We're just folks, talkin' here. We're all on the same side. I've been enjoying the discussion, thanks to those who have contributed.

or SWAT deliberately choose a day to minimize people at the location and reduce risk. If they are more interested in busted the owners of the game and not players, why go in on a day when there is three times as many people? The T does stand for Tactics after all.

I think you're being sarcastic here, but what you say is really true. There is always a non-zero chance that a SWAT raid will end up killing an innocent. You simply cannot have an effective SWAT force without this risk. The focus should be on developing and improving policies for the use of SWAT that minimize risk without eliminating effectiveness.

Havent read the whole thread, but just wanted to add that a couple months ago a Manhattan $1-2 game was raided by a SWAT team. Riot shields, M16s, the works. There were no guns, no drugs, no prostitutes, nothing except a very well run, single table $1-2 game. Orlando, OK I can understand its pretty slow down there and they have to justify their budgets, but you would think that the NYPD would have better things to do, let alone the fact that this was the furthest possible thing from the biggest, shadiest, or worst run poker game in NYC.

You take out the people running a good clean, fair, beatable game, and they are just going to be replaced by scumbags running an unbeatable game. Thats how prohibition works. It doesnt reduce demand, it just makes providing the good or service profitable.

Another "isolated incident".

http://news.yahoo.com/video/deputies...163819466.html

ITT: Suspicious quotes.

FTFY.

And based on the info available about this shooting, stupid mistakes were made on both sides. The police didn't identify themselves when knocking on the victim's door at 1:30 in the morning, and the victim opened the door and pointed a gun at them without finding out WTF was going on first.

SWAT wasn't involved, poker wasn't involved, so it's sad but irrelevant to the discussion ITT.

.

FTF"Y"

Thanks for an entertaining back-and-forth fellas. Although I sense this convo is becoming less related to Home Poker and moreso with Other Topics / Politics. I'd place decent money that a majority of commenters are Ron Paul supporters

And pfap, congrats on the move to Vancouver. Sick life.

You forgot to mention that, with all the preliminary investigative work that is done on cases like this, they were actually at the WRONG ADDRESS.

That's the way they do it, swat style. I was busted in home game in Winter Haven, Fla like in 1984, and instead knocking on the door, they just started busting doors down.

lol too good, this happened nearby too

Guys, look up Jammy Miller at www.scnow.com if you want to see a BIG home game bust. Dude was a bookie, raked poker, blackjack, you name it. SWAT busted that game on a tip and came in with guns drawn.

We live rough in SC. BTW, I was supposed to be at game, whew!