RETHINK POLICY

The current furor over the no-knock raid resulting in the killing of a
citizen by Denver police officers will be a good thing if it causes all
levels of government to rethink this unwise policy of invading homes. I hate
illegal drugs with a passion and want the government to wage a real war on
those who produce and sell them. A good place to start would be in sealing
the U.S.-Mexican border, over which most of those drugs travel.

However, the whole idea of invading private homes unannounced is unjust and
actually results in sympathy for the drug pushers. A minister in Boston died
of a heart attack when officers invaded his home on the false information
supplied by a police snitch. Other citizens have been maimed or killed in
such raids.

Our American Revolution was fought, in part, because of intrusion into homes
by the British government without justification. A man's home is his castle
and the castle should be entered by officers of the law only when they have
proper warrants and in a peaceful manner and at a reasonable time of the
day. The only exceptions should be when entrance is denied to legally
empowered searches or when it is believed that human life is in danger
inside that home. If our courts were truly guardians of our liberty they
would strike down no-knock laws promptly.

That they do not do so shows how far we have come from the founders'
concepts on freedom from government bullying.

EARL F. DODGE
Lakewood