There is currently a Diary on the Rec List that alleges that a SWAT team broke into an innocent man's house and detained him as his children while they searched it over unpaid student loans, and there is some SERIOUS jumping to conclusions and knee-jerk reactions going on over there. Rather than examine the facts versus what was reported, everybody is getting hysterical over the "Police State" that we live in here in America. It's unreal.
Many logical, rational explanations are being lost in the paranoia and outrage that the less rational of us are spreading, and they need to be separated and emphasized in order to show just how irrational people are acting right now.
Speaking from personal experience, unpaid student loans are not a valid reason to obtain a Search Warrant. Unpaid loans are handled through the court system and are not a criminal matter. No matter how long you go with unpaid loans, you will NOT be invaded by a SWAT team. Sorry. I know that that totally goes against the preconceived notion that we are living under a dictatorship, but that's the Truth.
As wmtriallawyer pointed out over a few comments, the Office of Inspector General was involved in this raid, and they don't deal with simple debt.
From wmtriallawyer's comment:
“The Office of Inspector General does not engage in the collection of student loans. Our mission is to conduct criminal investigations related to the programs and operations of the U.S. Department of Education, which include the student financial aid programs. We can confirm that we executed a search warrant at the residence, however our policy is not to discuss details of our on-going work.”
They handle criminal matters and have the authority to execute Search Warrants. So most likely, this raid was for something criminal, like Fraud or something similar.
Also, the agents who did perform the raid on this home were NOT SWAT agents. The local police only sent one police cruiser and one cop. The agents who performed the raid were mistaken for SWAT, and were actually Federal Agents.
Thanks to Gnostradamus for the quote and the link:
A U.S. government official confirmed for News10 Wednesday morning federal agents with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), not local S.W.A.T., served the search warrant
Come on Kossacks. I know we're better than this. I joined this community because we were a reality based community that didn't fall victim to fear mongering, lies, conspiracy theories, and paranoia. Yet today, when reading the comments in that diary, it reminded me of the Right Wing's capability to ignore facts, twist evidence, and jump to conclusions that support their biases. Please, let's avoid this kind of knee-jerk reaction in the future. Police Brutality is a real and legitimate thing to be vigilant about, but let's not get bent out of shape over every single report of a Law Enforcement Operation. We must withhold judgement on a case by case basis once we have the facts and evidence to support our opinions.
NOTE: Just to cover the inevitable accusation of supporting a fascist, authoritarian police state, I'm going to say that I absolutely DO NOT support Police brutality or corruption in any way. I am appalled in situations where Police Brutality actually occurs, and, even in this case, I don't necessarily support the way they handled detaining the husband and kids while doing the search. There are certainly better ways to handle it. However, claiming that SWAT invaded the home of an innocent man due to an unpaid Student Loan is dishonest and doesn't really lend much credibility to not only this site, but our collective Democratic causes.