Libertarian Weighs In On Raid.
Maryland Moment, 12 Aug 2008 (Helderman).
Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Bob Barr is, apparently, a close reader of the news of Prince George's County.
The former Republican Congressman from Georgia released a statement on his presidential campaign website about the July 29 Prince George's police and sheriff's raid on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo.
County law enforcement investigating a suspicious package addressed to Calvo's wife and filled with 32 pounds of marijuana broke through the mayor's door without knocking and fatally shot his two black labs. Police announced last week that Calvo and his family were innocent victims of a drug smuggling scheme. Local and federal investigations into the raid continues.
Barr opens his statement with a joke: "We typically make fun of bungled police operations by saying they were conducted by the gang that couldn't shoot straight. In this case they could shoot straight -- as a result, they killed a family's two dogs in the midst of a misguided drug raid."
He goes on to decry the lack of investigation into the Calvos before the raid and the fact that law enforcement served a search warrant for the house with knocking and announcing their presence, usually required by law.
The raid, he wrote, "illustrates how the drug war threatens the liberties of all Americans."
He said he believed that law enforcement has become more arrogant and less accountable, usually with very little public attention, and promises that as president, he will improve the situation.
"As president I will ensure that federal law enforcement agencies set a good example for the rest of the country," he said. "In a Barr administration, government officials will never forget that it is a free people they are protecting."
Read the whole statement here.
No word yet on the Berwyn Heights raid from Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) or Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
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