Police get it wrong, again | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Re "Ogden family distraught after police mistake husband for wanted man" (Tribune, Dec. 30):

Where is the oversight with the Ogden Police Department? It is out of control.

What is it with all the middle-of-the-night black-ops/commando-type raids on people in their homes? Last year, 12 strike force officers raided a house in the dark of night — over a few marijuana plants. Result: one dead policeman, three others injured and the homeowner in jail.

Now, at 2:30 a.m. and with a military AWOL warrant, six patrol officers raid the wrong home and handcuff an innocent man.

Had this happened to me (knowing I have no law-related issues), I would have had more than a baseball bat in my hand as I approached my own door. I would have been shot dead in my own doorway.

Why can't these officers just sit nearby in an unmarked car and at daybreak arrest people as they leave home? Not quite the adrenalin rush, I guess. They seem to think that are always after Pablo Escobar or some other major drug lord.

Maybe the police watch too much reality TV. I'm baffled!

Don Swaby

Cottonwood Heights