TexasCHLforum.com

Fake deputies storm home, rob Liberty County family

An excerpt:

Shortly after 4:30 a.m., Arthur and Elizabeth Harrison of Ames, a small town 30 miles northeast of Houston, called the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, demanding to know why their home had been raided by officers.
....
The men wore black clothes with badge shoulder patches and black masks as well as police-type belts, boots and gloves. They carried handguns as they repeatedly shouted, “Liberty County Sheriff’s Department! Get on the floor!” and demanded to know the location of their money.

They were not cops, it is being classified as a robbery.

BTW, Ames TX has a population of about 1,000 people. Rural or urban, crime can happen anywhere.

Although I am glad my roscoe is sitting next to me while typing, this type of home invasion is pretty much the disaster scenario. If you guess wrong, you are either robbed or murdered by thugs. Or, if you guess wrong, you just shot at a real police officer and were either killed or arrested. Bad business all around.

Very scary.

That is why these type of raids by police have to stop. They simply aren't necessary and put both LEO and innocent lives at risk. There are simply better ways.

jmra wrote:That is why these type of raids by police have to stop. They simply aren't necessary and put both LEO and innocent lives at risk. There are simply better ways.

For the safety of the public and the police.

C-dub wrote:

jmra wrote:That is why these type of raids by police have to stop. They simply aren't necessary and put both LEO and innocent lives at risk. There are simply better ways.

For the safety of the public and the police.

This is so true. Know you are law abiding citizen & defend your home. Wrong address as has OFTEN happened & you are in a fire fight w/ real LEOs who are better armed, better armored, & out number you. Noone wins that one.

"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

johncanfield wrote:"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

yep...whether it was drug money or gambling proceeds, the root cause is the same...the prevalence of "no knock" warrants and raids. The Harrisons would have been particularly vulnerable since they had just experienced a raid a few days prior. Having just been through that experience, they certainly were unlikely to resist. Interesting that the previous raid evidently turned up no drugs since they weren't arrested and there was no comment from the spokesman concerning the results of that raid. My speculation would be that either the robbers knew the money was there from a business transaction, or the money was found during the previous raid and someone heard about it from someone involved in the raid.

johncanfield wrote:"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

Sounds like if you are not involved with drug dealing you really don't have to worry about this type of issue.

EEllis wrote:

johncanfield wrote:"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

Sounds like if you are not involved with drug dealing you really don't have to worry about this type of issue.

I disagree.

The Cato Foundation has documented hundreds and hundreds of no-knock SWAT raids every year that are made at the incorrect address.

It can be a problem for any ordinary law-abiding citizen.

Now, I do agree with you that illegal behavior makes the chances of a raid more likely.

For the sake of LEOs and citizens alike, the way a LEO acts needs to be different than the way a home invader acts.

There are always alternatives to a no knock warrant. Including arresting someone at their place of business, in the driveway, at the grocery store, etc etc etc. Taking a person in the most risky manner for them and the police is stupid, and lazy.

EEllis wrote:

johncanfield wrote:"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

Sounds like if you are not involved with drug dealing you really don't have to worry about this type of issue.

Here we go again with the police/government apologist motive. This gets old.

Jumping Frog wrote:

EEllis wrote:

johncanfield wrote:"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

Sounds like if you are not involved with drug dealing you really don't have to worry about this type of issue.

I disagree.

The Cato Foundation has documented hundreds and hundreds of no-knock SWAT raids every year that are made at the incorrect address.

It can be a problem for any ordinary law-abiding citizen.

Now, I do agree with you that illegal behavior makes the chances of a raid more likely.

Wrong house is one thing, FAKE, which is what happened here, is different.

mojo84 wrote:

EEllis wrote:

johncanfield wrote:"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

Sounds like if you are not involved with drug dealing you really don't have to worry about this type of issue.

Here we go again with the police/government apologist motive. This gets old.

How is it apologist to say that they were targeted by a fake raid because of their involvement in drugs? If someone is rich, has a high profile, etc, they may legitimately concerned with such things. The average person? I would bet we would be in the hit by lightning twice type of category.

EEllis wrote:

mojo84 wrote:

EEllis wrote:

johncanfield wrote:"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

Sounds like if you are not involved with drug dealing you really don't have to worry about this type of issue.

Here we go again with the police/government apologist motive. This gets old.

How is it apologist to say that they were targeted by a fake raid because of their involvement in drugs? If someone is rich, has a high profile, etc, they may legitimately concerned with such things. The average person? I would bet we would be in the hit by lightning twice type of category.

Because YOU don't know that it had anything to do with their involvement with drugs. The fact that they were the subject of a combined raid by the DPS/PD/DEA does't make them guilty. How about the possibility that someone in the drug task force told someone outside the force about finding the cash, but no drugs, and that info got to someone who took advantage of it. Hopefully not, but there's even the possibility that someone involved in the first raid felt sure they were guilty, even though no drugs were found, and decided to mete out some "financial justice". The problem I see, is that the homeowner ...regardless of innocence or guilt...has NO way to know who is coming through the door, and it's a "no win" situation for them. If they resist and it IS a legitimate raid...even if it is due to wrong address, wrong name, transposed ID number...they are likely to be shot. If they don't resist and it's a staged robbery, the outcome is not good either.

EEllis wrote:

johncanfield wrote:"Davila said the Harrisons' home had been the target of an Aug. 21 drug raid by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Daisetta Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. No further information about that raid or the home invasion was available."

Doesn't sound like a randomly picked victim.

Sounds like if you are not involved with drug dealing you really don't have to worry about this type of issue.

What makes you assume these victims were involved in drug dealing?