According to Cornell University Law School, “a no-knock warrant is a search warrant authorizing police officers to enter certain premises without first knocking and announcing their presence or purpose prior to entering the premises.”

Simply Google search “no-knock raids gone wrong” and the pages of botched or failed raids seem endless. Before joining Communities United Against Police Brutality located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I knew nothing of these unconstitutional breaches of privacy.

On August 16th 2014, Louise Milan’s house was the victim of a no-knock raid. Police officials claimed that she had alleged “specific threats” towards the Evansville Police Department.  These supposed threats were posted on topix.com, an Internet discussion website, and the IP address linked from that account came straight from Milan’s house.

Evansville police dressed up in head to toe SWAT gear carrying heaping piles of M-16’s, grenades, smoke bombs and much more gear you would only find in an apocalyptic horror movie.

With cameras becoming more commonplace on police officers uniforms, videos like these make citizens like us have the accessibility to watch our taxpayer dollars at work.

But I didn’t vote for this.

Watch the video, if you can stomach it. You immediately see officers laughing at casual remarks made by other officers and becoming numb to the violence they are about to engage in.  After the raid, the Evansville Police Department discovered that Milan’s neighbor Derrick Murray hacked their wireless Internet and posted the “threats” against the officers. He later pled guilty but Evansville still defended that their search was “objectively reasonable”

Is there no accountability anymore? I thought I was immature when I didn’t want to admit that I forgot to empty the dishwasher!  So now a police officer can come into my home because of their “reasonable suspicion” that I could have illegal paraphernalia or military grade assault rifles?  Cornell University points out that all other information prior to a no-knock warrant raid must be regarded. But remember, do that Google search I told you about and you’ll see the numerous botched raids unfold right before you.

What about Louise Milan? A reasonable search is one with a warrant, a goal of obtaining someone or something, and most importantly, an objective of protecting others.  No-knock raids, although judges are granting them more frequently, are unconstitutional to the fourth amendment.  The Tucson Police Department believes most no-knock raids are “judgment calls.” If they truly believe that, then I'm shocked to believe that 77/104 of their warrants be no-knock raids

How does this affect the victim’s perception of police officers? Well, if a police officer invaded my personal property threatening me with a gun to my head, then I sure as hell wouldn’t be too fond of their motto, “to protect and to serve.” I’m not the only one fighting this though.  Henry Goedrich Magee, a Texas native, was peacefully sleeping with his girlfriend when police officers blasted into his home with the intent to search for marijuana and guns. Having been startled by their violent nature, Magee shot and killed an officer out of defense. Magee won’t be indicted for capital murder but will be for possession of marijuana with firearms, a third degree felony.

As I start to dig further and further, I find myself going down a rabbit hole filled with systemic inequalities, poverty, prejudice and many more ugly sides that society so pleasantly offers us.

We cannot look past another police related CRIME and find it justifiable because they are government officials. Not in Ferguson, Missouri and certainly not in my neighborhood.

I see the tide coming.

YouTube videos of police abuse-including sexual misconduct...

yes, sexual misconduct!

And did I mention...sexual misconduct? And arresting people who complain about it!

...flood the internet (a google search of 'police brutality reveals roughly 9.5 million). Victims come forward, emboldened by national outrage over police misconduct. And police, trained to control situations, react to one they cannot control by escalating misconduct to tragically comical proportions.

Even my brother, an establishment neocon republican, refuses to justify current police actions. He expressed actual concern and even empathy for the victims of frivolous SWAT deployment the last time I talked to him.

We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there. It isn’t just black people and social justice warriors raising the alarm any more. Even the U.N. is condemning American law enforcement. The U.N.! As law enforcement agencies attempt to smear activists and concerned community members, it is blowing up in their faces as it turns out some of the people challenging them are quite mainstream and have even supported them in the past.

The genie escaped from the box in Ferguson. Everyone knows now.

So what now? Well, I think that due to the general arrogance and hubris of a law enforcement establishment that has always enjoyed the benefit of the doubt in these matters, said establishment will continue to escalate, reaching a point where it will be facing the combined might of the American majority.

And at that point, it will finally see the error of its ways.

It will acknowledge that it has been tasked with upholding a corrupt system and will offer to be a partner in solutions to the problem.

It will have an epiphany in regards to race, acknowledge its shortcomings, and institute policies and training to correct discriminatory practices.

It will understand that police brutality is a problem, and that the few bad apples ruining it for the  rest of the officers who abuse their power need to be dealt with harshly.

And it will all be lying lies.

Allow me to restate those last few paragraphs, sans spin:

The law enforcement establishment will shift blame for its actions to the system.

It will hire a few black cops and tweak its language a little.

Most importantly: it will offer up a few sacrificial lambs, the “bad apples”. This will be done by bending the rules set in place to protect bad cops, just long enough to make a show of accountability. The bad apples will most likely be shuffled to the private armed security sector, and the mainstream American public will probably go back to its Facebook accounts, Hi-def flat-screen TV’s, and following their favorite sports teams while ignoring the people who make the decisions that affect their life-and the armed agencies that enforce their crooked laws.

But here’s the thing: We cannot do that. Not this time. Because the “few bad apples” narrative is proven wrong by some elementary logic. If it was a matter of “a few bad apples making the rest of us look bad” the law enforcement establishment would not be spending ridiculous amounts of taxpayer dollars defending said bad apples. They would get rid of them already. This is not rocket science. But they do defend them. I feel that this is because if real accountability practices were in place, it would open a door that would ultimately show the real number of bad apples, which is probably a lot.

The reason I believe that is because law enforcement agencies have historically refused to let any  officers be held accountable, except in cases where the evidence is so clear, and the crimes so heinous, they have no other option but to take real action. Case in point: does anyone really believe that the uncharacteristically slow grand jury proceedings would be happening in Ferguson at all if this hadn’t become a national incident? Hell no, Because law enforcement agencies don’t care until they have to. And, as I anticipate the inevitable innocent verdict in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary will show, it is just a dog and pony show.

Look up your history. We’ve been here before, and we’ve heard promises from law enforcement agencies that there were problems to be acknowledged and that things would be different this time. Seriously-run some google searches and learn the history of the various jurisdictions you live in. Well, things are certainly different now, aren’t they? Cops respond to noise complaints by pepper spraying whole families and pistol-whipping the parents in front of their kids. Shootings of unarmed citizens have been on the rise, and are happening pretty much daily right now. While German police fired 85 rounds in a year, American police fired 85 rounds into just one of the hundreds of suspects shot at in that same year. Swat teams are throwing flash bang grenades into cribs and pistol-whipping toddlers over small or nonexistent amounts of marijuana. We’ve imprisoned more people than China and Russia combined! Oh yes, things are definitely different now. America is number one. Great job, guys.

Yes-the very establishment that has historically protected corporate and government interests with attempts at brutal suppression every time there has been a movement toward progress, has several times promised to embrace progress when they lost the struggle, and they have lied. Every. Damn. Time. The master’s tools will never tear down the master's house.

That’s why we are headed toward the exact same dialogue again, which they will manipulate into an escape hatch through their massive lobbies, bought-and-paid for politicians, and PR machines. Do a little digging and see for yourself how massive and crooked it all is, and you will be amazed.

For the record, I’m calling bullshit in advance. And I hope America is finally wise enough to do the same. Because I want us to push hard through peaceful means and put a stop to the games LEO’s play, so that real accountability measures can be put in place and racist practices in Law Enforcement can end. That way I can maybe chill the hell out and have time to do something significant with my music.

Because if you think confronting this thing is a bitch now, just wait until another decade if we let them play us and get away with this “business as usual” bullshit.

See what I did there? I just called bullshit again.

Just saying.

In response to Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau's cancellation of a community listening session due to vaguely asserted claims of "threats" to the chief and her officers, Communities United Against Police Brutality has called B.S. and filed a data practices request demanding all internal communications between members of the Minneapolis Police Department in regards to this matter. In addition, they are also demanding all communications between members of the city council, the mayor's office, and the city attorney's office in regard to this matter.

Typically, a government entity is expected to respond within 10 days' time. If the city of Minneapolis fails to provide the records, Communities United Against Police Brutality has legal recourse, which they are prepared to follow.

The actual Government Data Practices Act has been included with this article.

I have been skeptical from the outset, as she refused to show any clear and credible indication of threats from the outset, other than a reference to "direct action" on the Critical Change Coalition Facebook Page, which I was able to easily refute. This demand for proof is very appropriate and neccesary

We at ifoughtthelaw.info will be following this matter closely, and will report on new events as they occur.

Stay tuned.