OFFICERS HAD NO WARRANT IN FATAL DRUG RAID

I am appalled and shocked to hear which disregard for the law the Houston
police department has shown.

To hear the department chief's nonchalant attitude about what is
transpiring under his authority is troubling, to say the least.

I was born and raised in Germany and the events remind me of the stories
about the Third Reich my parents have told me. What we see here is brutal
murder of an innocent person, scared half to death by screaming intruders
invading his home in the middle of the night.

He sought refuge in another room and grabbed hold of a gun in self-defense
only to be slaughtered by police officers.

These officers made a mockery of justice by not obtaining a warrant in the
first place.

The most disconcerting issue about all of this is that it could happen to
any of us. Once we have come to accept that in the War on Drugs concessions
in respect to the bill of rights and the protection from search and seizure
without probable cause should and can be made, none of us are safe any
more. Once we decide that police may use all and any means to achieve their
often questionable goals we have turned this country where laws are not
worth the paper they are written on.

Coming from a place where this indeed could happen (namely in Nazi Germany)
my concerns have become very real.

Rolf Ernst
Frisco

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski