Texas cops raid farm commune when mistaking tomato plants for marijuana

[TalkingDog]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/14/texas-cops-raid-farm-commune-when-mistaking-tomato-plants-for-marijuana/

Police in Arlington, Texas are being criticized for their tactics during a drug raid on a local farm that came up empty while allegedly damaging both the property and the crops.

“They can’t even tell the difference between tomato plants and a marijuana drug cartel,” farm resident Quinn Eaker told KXAS-TV. “That’s just really bad intel.”

Eaker said to KXAS that he and several residents at the “Garden of Eden” sustainability garden were handcuffed at gunpoint by officers during the Aug. 2 raid, which also involved a SWAT team, after an undercover officer and helicopter surveillance allegedly gave authorities probable cause to believe there was marijuana being grown on the premises.

“They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana-growing operation,” owner Shellie Smith told WFAA-TV. “They destroyed everything.”


/snip

And bonus... they got to let the "dirty hippies" know how they felt about their lifestyle.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. oh boy...I worry enough about my hibiscus and cleome plants!

[dionysus]

2. easy mistake... the plants look so similar...

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. The people of Arlington should be made aware that this "police action"

cost their city tens of thousands of dollars to engage in and probably tens of thousands more when the city is sued for damages. They should be made aware that it is very expensive for them to allow their police force to play Billy Badass army man while engaging in the age old sport of hippie bashing.

[arely staircase]

4. idiots

I hope they get sued to hell and people get fired and unelected.

[Eleanors38]

5. Most raids of this type are highly destructive. If you sue?

A judge will rule that LEO was "acting within the scope of their authority."

If they shoot someone who is innocent? See above.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. When grown close together, it's almost impossible to tell where the tomato plant

ends and the pot plant begins. Not only do the leaves have a similar shape, but they have the same color and growth habit.
(Don't ask me how I know this.)

[EC]

8. Not even close.

It's just that the tomato if allowed will cover it.

[kestrel91316]

9. I've grown both. The only similarity is that they are both green.

Cannabis leaves are palmately compound. Tomato leaves are not, and lean more toward pinnately compound, though not like legumes.

And that's just for starters. And the smells are extremely distinctive.

[Arkansas Granny]

10. My experience was different.

When they were grown side by side, I thought the pot plants had died. I couldn't see them even while I was picking tomatoes every day. Then, when the tomato plants died back in late summer, voila, there were the pot plants.

[EC]

7. How can they not tell the difference? n/t

[tapermaker]

11. it is perfectly clear that

these landowners are a walking poster for everything that texas authorities hate.They will find a way to take their land and remove them all .The only thing I am surprised at is they forgot to do their customary cavity search on the women and children.

[csziggy]

12. From the Garden of Eden blog

No Weed, Just Weeds
City of Arlington SWAT Raid on Peaceful Organic Farmers is a Big Budget Bust

Arlington, TX August 5, 2013

At around seven thirty last Friday morning, inhabitants of The Garden of Eden, a small Intentional Community based on Sustainability, were awakened by a SWAT raid conducted by the City of Arlington for suspicion of being a full fledged marijuana growth and trafficking operation. Ultimately only a single arrest was made based on unrelated outstanding traffic violations, a handful of citations were given for city code violations, and zero drug related violations were found.

The entire operation lasted about 10 hours and involved many dozens of city officials, SWAT team, police officers and code compliance employees, and numerous official vehicles including dozens of police cars and several specialized vehicular equipment that was involved in the “abatement” operation. Witnesses say that there were helicopters and unmanned flying drones circling the property in the days prior to the raid that are presumed to have been a part of the intelligence gathering. The combined expenses for the raid itself and the collection of information leading up to the fruitless raid are estimated in the tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

All 8 adults present in the house were initially handcuffed at the gunpoint of heavily armed SWAT officers, including the mother of a 22 month old and a two week old baby who was separated from her children during the raid. The police enforced activity on the day of the raid included mowing the grass, the forcible destruction of both wild and cultivated plants like blackberries, lamb’s quarters and okra, and the removal of other varied materials from around the premises such as pallets, tires and cardboard that the Community members say they had collected for use in sustainability projects. No marijuana or other drugs were found on site and the inhabitants of the premises were all unarmed.

After several hours and many requests from the community members, the City Police Officers finally produced two warrants. The first was a Search Warrant for a suspected marijuana growth and distribution operation purportedly being concealed on the premises. There was also an Inspection & Abatement Warrant for code compliance violations such as tall grass and storage in the yard, an issue that the City of Arlington and The Garden of Eden have been disputing since February of this year. The marijuana warrant was issued based on an unsubstantiated claim by an Arlington City Police Officer of possession of marijuana by one of the community members for which there is no police record. Garden of Eden community members also say they have a series of documents showing that their dispute with the City of Arlington over the code compliance violations had already been addressed and settled.

More, with links to additional information: http://intothegardenofeden.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140&Itemid=382

Emphasis added by me in the last paragraph quoted.

So a cop made a claim with no other evidence, no record of that claim, and a search warrant was issued on the basis up an unsubstantiated claim by ONE cop? Sounds legit to me.

[d_r]

13. This is a lot like those car stops

where they kept searching the people.

The cops just *knew* those hippies had to be growing pot.

I mean look at them. That's all the needed for the search warrant.

[LanternWaste]

14. Two irreverent (irrelevant?) factoids about Arlington

Two irreverent (irrelevant?) factoids about Arlington, Texas.

There is a steroid scandal currently going on involving the Arlington PD.

Arlington is the largest city in the US lacking a mass transit system.




It's not my favorite city in TX, but then again, I seem to spend half my time there.