[On Sept. 16th,] a federal appeals court rebuked police in Orange County, Florida, for mounting a warrantless, SWAT-style raid on a barbershop under the pretense of assisting state inspectors. "We have twice held, on facts disturbingly similar to those presented here, that a criminal raid executed under the guise of an administrative inspection is constitutionally unreasonable," says the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. "We hope that the third time will be the charm."The kicker is because the 11th Circuit has twice before ruled that such raids, disguised as "licensing inspections" are unconstitutional, the cops involved don't get qualified immunity. Which means that they, personally, are going to be held liable for damages.
On August 19, 2010, two inspectors from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) visited the Strictly Skillz Barbershop in Orlando and found everything in order: All of the barbers working there were properly licensed, and all of the work stations complied with state regulations. Two days later, even though no violations had been discovered and even though the DBPR is authorized to conduct such inspections only once every two years, the inspectors called again, this time accompanied by "between eight and ten officers, including narcotics agents," who "rushed into" the barbershop "like [a] SWAT team." Some of them wore masks and bulletproof vests and had their guns drawn. Meanwhile, police cars blocked off the parking lot.
The other thing, of course, is that these storm-trooper style searches, disguised as "licensing inspections" were only carried out on barbershops that were owned by Blacks and Hispanics.
1 comment:
Good. The only way to reverse the trend of over-the-top swat raids is to make those involved bleed from the wallet. The targeting is a nice touch, I prefer my police state with a side of Jim Crow.
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