A neighbor's description of the Stockton home raid by the education department.

[madfloridian]

DOE raids Stockton home as part of fraud investigation

"They surrounded the house; it was like a task force or S.W.A.T team," across the street neighbor Becky said. "They all had guns. They dragged him out in his boxer shorts, threw him to the ground and handcuffed him."

According to Becky and her two children, the raid started at 6 a.m. with agents ramming down Wright's front door.

"I watched until I went to work at 10:45 and they were still out there," Becky said.

Her young daughter, Valerie, said she counted 13 agents and one Stockton police officer outside Wright's home.

I guess we should all feel so much safer now that the Department of Education is on the job with their teams of law enforcement. But somehow I don't feel that way.

And an education blogger has some interesting comments after his correspondence with the reporter at NBC News 10.

Interesting days.

To top things off, Duncan had to pull his over-sized yet overworked PR team at the DOE off of the Ravitch case to do damage control on the Stockton raid story. I'd like to think I had a little something to do with that after spending my morning yesterday tracking down why NBC News10 pulled its interview with Kenneth Wright.
Neighbor's description of the Stockton home raid by education department.

Wright became the victim after Arne's DOE army, assault weapons in hand, and armed also with a DOE search warrant, broke down Wright's door at 6 a.m. and terrorized Wright and his small children for hours. No sooner had I posted the story than the station pulled it (under pressure from the feds???). After my phone calls to the station, I received this missive from News10's Roy Kennedy:

Michael,

"First of all, thanks for contacting us. The interview with Mr. Wright will be posted soon. The original package had some old information that needs to be updated. In the meantime his interview will be put up on the site in the next hour or so. Call or email me if you have questions.
Roy Kennedy News10"

The original interview was not reposted apparently, and the video at the link now has only some excerpts from it. The department excused it on the grounds that it was about a criminal offense, left many wondering when Swat teams began to be used for less than really dangerous situations.

Now that's what I call damage control. Duncan's OIG troopers bust down the door of a black family at dawn in Stockton. They throw the father down on the ground, hand-cuffed in front of his children. Lock him in a squad car for six hours in miserable heat. Wreck his house searching for who knows what. Then release him without charges and press the local NBC affiliate to change their story and make the video interview with him go away.

Yes, interesting few days indeed.

[Horse with no Name]

1. SORRY FOLKS..this isn't an INVESTIGATION

Investigations require brainpower...not muscle.

SO...what this really about?

Intimidation?

[maddezmom]

4. they went in to execute a search warrant....here is a link to it

http://www.news10.net/news/pdf/Ed-dept-Wright-warrant-060711.pdf

[madfloridian]

5. Yes, we know they executed a search warrant. Why 13 to 15 armed men?

It is just not true that swats are always used for search warrants. This is something ominous.

[maddezmom]

11. sorry, I don't see anything ominous. I guess we'll just have to disagree

and see where the investigation goes. :hi:

[madfloridian]

37. He's hired a lawyer. Maybe we will learn more. Video.

http://www.news10.net/news/article/141108/2/Questions-surround-feds-raid-of-Stockton-home

[msanthrope]

54. Mr. Wright needs a criminal attorney, not an ambulance chaser.

He shoud read that warrant carefully.

18 USC 371 means they ain't just looking for her.

[sudopod]

42. What exactly would count as ominous for you?

Jesus.

[Avant Guardian]

69. Seal team 6

[erikdane]

44. Did you read the warrant?

All they are looking for a financial aid applications,financial documents, etc. Absolutely nothing warranting a SWAT team. Hell, the government probably has most of those documents already.

[msanthrope]

53. You should read the part that talks about 18 USC 371. Mr. Wright should be nervous.

Also--there was no SWAT team.

[coalition_unwilling]

89. The only conspiracy I see here is one by law enforcement to

falsely arrest and handcuff Wright, then lie and cover up about it.

So I'll see your conspiracy allegations and raise you 1,000,000 government conspiracies to violate Wright's civil rights.

Jeesh

[CabalPowered]

51. If there's a record of violent crimes

then it's justified. If there isn't, then it's a serious over-reaction IMO.

[Robb]

52. In fairness, the TV station published 7 out of 47 pages of the warrant, heavily redacted.

Missing, for example, are instructions to the agents as to what level of safety precautions to take -- e.g., what level of resistance to be prepared for. Whether the occupants have a history of violence.

I can only assume the best intentions of the reporters in withholding and redacting, in that perhaps those pages contained personal information. :shrug:

[CabalPowered]

56. 47 pages?

Whoa! Whatever she was up to, I'd say they've been investigating her for awhile.

[Xithras]

61. Well...it's Stockton.

Which has been consistently rated as one of the worst places in the country to live. Around here, people tend to refer to it as the "Armpit of the Valley". The place is a gang nexus, and while it may not have the same national reputation as the gang-infested ghettos in places like Chicago or South-Central, it has a comparable crime rate. This was the #1 city in the country for mortgage foreclosures, it's still dotted with thousands of empty and abandoned houses (you can buy a house here for $25k...and they're still not selling), and is among the worst in the nation for unemployment (17.3% as of last month, with an underemployment rate approaching 50%, and one of the highest per-capita public assistance rates in California).

Yes, Stockton routinely uses SWAT's for searches. They also pull you out of your car and cuff you while they write you a speeding ticket, if you are young, or brown, or have a visible tattoo, or if the cop is just in a bad mood. Cops have been caught beating people who simply asked for their badge numbers, they've shot unarmed people who were pointing "dangerous lasers" at them (the kind you let your cat play with), and they've been caught racial profiling so many times that the local press doesn't even consider it interesting enough to write stories on anymore.

The Stockton police kick people's doors in on a weekly basis while executing search warrants. If you're black, brown, asian, or latino, you can also bet money that the safeties on their MP5's will be turned off as they smash in your door. The only reason THIS one made the news was the "student loan" angle. Nobody in this part of the Valley was shocked to hear that a Swat team was used in Stockton to execute a search warrant. We're only shocked that it was done for a student loan.

[Iggo]

73. Because they are pussies.

Somebody had to say it.

[coalition_unwilling]

88. Your link is to an incomplete pdf file. The attachment says that

information is to be seized from those named on page 4 of the attachment. But the attachment at your link only has 3 pages, so we can't see the names.

Impressive looking document but posting it as is raises more questions than it answers, imho.

[KansDem]

8. Perhaps the question should be asked...

Was it the Department of Education that ordered SWAT to do this? Or was it the banks that hold defaulted student loans who ordered the Department of Education who ordered SWAT to do this?


Wilileaks as already shown how much influence the oil companies have in decisions made by the US State Department...

[msanthrope]

50. There was no SWAT team.

There were federal agents, but no SWAT.

" The Stockton Police Department said it was asked by federal agents to provide one officer and one patrol car just for a police presence when carrying out the search warrant."



http://www.news10.net/news/article/141207/2/DOE-raids-Stockton-home-as-part-of-fraud-investigation

[druidity33]

86. yeah well...

a dozen people wearing helmets and vests, armed with semi-automatic weapons bursting into a home at 6 AM probably seems a lot like a SWAT team to the untrained eye.


:eyes:

[atreides1]

2. Wow

Already unrecced...WTF!!!

[Angry Dragon]

3. Soon students and teachers that do not pass the test

will be arrested and may just disappear............

[Fumesucker]

6. Recced to zero or some negative number..

[Robb]

7. The OIG has been executing search warrants for 30 years.

Federal agents have been armed for even longer.

[madfloridian]

12. Not in the field of education.

[Robb]

13. Yes, in education.

The Department of Education's Office of Inspector General was established in 1979.

[madfloridian]

14. Still not what I am talking about, Robb.

I don't how to explain any better that the field of education has changed forever.

[Robb]

16. A sentiment I happen to agree with, you might be surprised to hear.

But this story exemplifies this in no way whatsoever.

[Bandit]

18. In the past when a search warrant was enforced it did not require SWAT

An officer and a deputy would knock mon the door and show the person answering their warrant. They would then do their actual search without anyone being in handcuffs or fifteen gun crazed officers wandering around the neighborhood..Things have changed in what we now still call America.. We no longer have any Deputy Thifes with a single bullet in their left breast pocket..

[ProgressiveProfessor]

21. That depends on the circumstances

Until there is better information on what or whom the warrant was for, its hard to tell what level of force is appropriate.

I turn away a bunch of city cops a couple of months back at my gate. They were very unhappy. They came back with a warrant. I then pointed out that the property they had the warrant for was 5 miles down the road and the county deputy backed me up. Had I not been living in the middle of nowhere with a limited access to the property, I could have easily ended up like this guy.

[TheMadMonk]

47. Yeah if it's a "nigah" send in the SWAT team.

First story is that it was over a delinquent student loan, later recast as unspecified fraud.

Now while theoretically the first becomes the second if the recipient recieves a payment after they stop attending classes, it still is not the sort of fraud which warrants a full SWAT (or SWAT like) response. In fact very few fraudsters of any stripe warrant a SWAT response except perhaps "Nigerian scammers".

OH BTW the person of interest, was Wright's estranged wife, who was NOT a resident at the property. And a redacted copy of the warrant is available at the link in the OP. How long before someone gets killed for the "crime" of living at the last known address of a "person of interest"? If it hasn't happened already.

And you might well be luckier than you know. When I first joined DU, these types of stories were relatively occasional things. Now it's a bloody slow week when I don't see a report of heavy handed cops executing a warrant with excessive force, all too often on the wrong people and far too often with tragic results.

[Robb]

39. Well, neither did this. No SWAT.

The guy apparently made up that part. Competent, swift federal agents. Not SWAT.

[madfloridian]

41. Did the neighbors make it up as well? Maybe the lawyer he hired will clarify.

The lawyer is in the video speaking of the use of reasonable force and search and seizure when doing a warrant.

http://www.news10.net/news/article/141108/2/Questions-surround-feds-raid-of-Stockton-home

[Robb]

43. A SWAT team would have no authority to enforce a federal warrant.

...So no, they wouldn't be there. :shrug:

[littlewolf]

9. when do they get their brown shirts ????

[indepat]

83. Swat or no swat, it walks like, talks like, and indeed smells oh so brown-shir-ty

:thumbsup: :patriot:

[NOLALady]

10. Kick

[madrchsod]

15. i offer these two videos of why i think they used overwhelming force

http://www.news10.net/video/default.aspx?bctid=983606109001&odyssey=mod|tvideo|article

http://www.news10.net/video/983856954001/0/WEB-ONLY-Stockton-man-tells-his-story-about-search-warrant

[madfloridian]

17. I had missed the video at the 2nd link.

I don't blame him for being upset.

[msanthrope]

48. That man is gonna fail his pee test when he goes to lockup. That video is hysterical.

I know Mr. Wright thinks he's got a suitcase, but I suspect he's gonna have more pressing legal problems soon.

[Javaman]

19. Dept of Reeducation. nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. What did the search warrant say?

On one of the videos, the victim appears to have the warrant in his hands. Given what is required to get an unsealed warrant, it would explain much of what happened.

The warrant should be scanned and posted

[madfloridian]

23. Watch this video.

http://www.news10.net/video/983856954001/0/WEB-ONLY-Stockton-man-tells-his-story-about-search-warrant

Also the search warrant is listed at this link.

http://www.news10.net/news/article/141207/29/DOE-raids-Stockton-home-as-part-of-fraud-probe

SO, again I wonder....what horrible crime required at least 13 armed men with weapons terrifying a family.

I am not okay with this use of force regarding a search warrant that is not a dangerous matter.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

24. That is more data that I have seen previously

If true, there is no way a fraud case justifies a SWAT team.


Also if the warrant was truly sealed, someone has violated the judges order somewhere...

[madfloridian]

25. madrchsod posted that video. I had not seen it until then.

I found it interesting.

I am appalled how easily we now accept the use of force for most every occasion.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

28. I turned cops away a while back

Once without a search warrant and once with one (wrong address) during the same day. They were seriously unhappy. Were my physical circumstances not different, I could have easily been the like Mr. Wright in this story.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NYC_SKP]

26. I Live in this town, Stockton, (actually just outside the city limits), there's more to this story..

I've been following it, since it's local.

I wish to hell more details of the investigation would be released but, to be certain, this is NOT about an unpaid load.

This is about FRAUD.

Over-use of police, no doubt, that happens around these parts.

Out-of-control DOE brownshirts terrorizing innocent borrowers for non-payment of loans? Nah.

More likely something similar to the 5-person ring in Seattle that "borrowed" $690,000.

http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2008/06/25/five-charged-with-690000-in-student-loan-fraud

That kind of thing.

But we don't really know yet, so a big dose of 'let's wait and see' is in order, IMHO.

Meanwhile, anyone interested can Google "financial aid fraud" and learn about how much is lost through fraud, money that should be going to actual students.

:patriot:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

29. It does appear that the Feds did not do due dilligence on this one

Not surprising since there is no real penalty for those who don't.

[madfloridian]

30. Oh dear God. I said that. We know that.

From the OP

"The department excused it on the grounds that it was about a criminal offense"

I am starting to feel really uncomfortable with 3 moderators making me feel so bad for thinking that a swat team is rather out of place in this case.

Are we now defending force in every case?

[NYC_SKP]

32. No, it's just that until we know what the substance of the fraud charges are...

...caution against over-reaction is indicated.

I'll be the first to say that this looks like over-reaction.

However, if there's any history with the residents of distributing drugs or gang associations, etc., etc., then a dozen armed police is not unreasonable.

This is Stockton, meth labs, MS13, Nortenos and Surenos, lots of crime, lots of dispair.

It might be justified, and I can't condone condemning the Ed Dept for this action (not just yet).

:hi:

PS, Mods get to have opinions and participate in discussions. We try our best to stay well withing rules and to be civil about it.

We are, at the end of the day, all working toward a better world.

:hug:

[Bunny]

35. You know what? It's a fucking fraud charge.

What kind of fraud charge requires use of SWAT? The police were not being held at bay, there was no hostage situation, no imminent risk of catastrophe - so why the SWAT team? I think it's fine to 'over-react' about this. And yes, mods are entitled to have an opinion, but do you need THREE of them in this thread, each one challenging the OP? I find that to be a bit of an 'over-reaction', frankly.

[Starry Messenger]

40. +1000

[Dappleganger]

59. You've got that right.

SWAT teams are for dangerous people, not those committing fraud.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

62. Well the suspects WERE black. They might be drug dealers or gang bangers.

:sarcasm:

[Dappleganger]

64. They're lucky to have not been gunned down, then.

If that had happened here in Jacksonville, we'd be talking about funeral arrangements. Our police gunned down a black bondsman who id'd himself just a couple of weeks ago and are getting away with it.

[msanthrope]

63. But there was no SWAT team.

"The Stockton Police Department said it was asked by federal agents to provide one officer and one patrol car just for a police presence when carrying out the search warrant.

Police officers did not participate in breaking Wright's door, handcuffing him or searching his home."



http://www.news10.net/news/article/141207/2/DOE-raids-Stockton-home-as-part-of-fraud-investigation

[piedmont]

72. 13 to 15 officers, all armed, plus a battering ram. Maybe not technically SWAT, but still overkill.

For many people, "SWAT" is to "over-armed police response" as "Xerox" is to "photo-copy." Making the point that this wasn't technically SWAT doesn't diminish the argument that this was far too much force for the occasion.

[madfloridian]

85. Very good point.

"over-armed police response"...many do feel that way. There is too much force used now for just regular offenses.

[sudopod]

46. "This is Stockton..."

I don't think that counts as automatic validation.

[suffragette]

67. It looks to me like the main over-reaction was from the OIG

More clarification on this today:
http://www.news10.net/news/article/141207/29/DOE-raids-Stockton-home-as-part-of-fraud-probe

Her young daughter, Valerie, said she counted 13 agents and one Stockton police officer outside Wright's home.

~~~

U.S. Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton said the agents that served the search warrant were with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), not local S.W.A.T.

OIG is a semi-independent branch of the education department that executes warrants for criminal offenses such as student aid fraud, embezzlement of federal aid and bribery, according to Hamilton. The agency serves 30 to 35 search warrants a year.

The Stockton Police Department said it was asked by federal agents to provide one officer and one patrol car just for a police presence when carrying out the search warrant.




This is excessive use of federal force to serve a warrant for a white collar crime.
On top of that, they subjected someone not even named on the warrant to physical force and confinement.

Also, I can understand the need for an office like the OIG to have investigators, but why is there a need for them to have a security/police arm at all. Wouldn't that function be better filled by police or FBI?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

31. I have a hard time with a SWAT team being used for white collar crime unless there are

other things that indicate a risk of violence.

[madfloridian]

105. Since he hired a lawyer we might find out more. The easy acceptance of such force....

is really upsetting. Education officials apparently ordered the raid on the man's home. I am really surprised at how few question why the ed dept needs police powers.

[sabrina 1]

27. Omg, this is unbelievable! What is going on in thing country?

[madfloridian]

33. Video: Channel 10 actually points out about "reasonable" force. He's hired a lawyer.

I say good for him.

http://www.news10.net/news/article/141108/2/Questions-surround-feds-raid-of-Stockton-home

Kudos to this channel for this video.

[madfloridian]

34. Welcome to Arne's New Normal in education.

We now defend the use of force, almost expect it.

He is taking the summer off because of a bad back....can't say that I blame him.

I am glad I am retired as a teacher, but I am very sad to see how easily we accept such forceful invasions.

[madfloridian]

36. Wright's new lawyer is quoted in this video about "reasonable" force in search and seizure.

http://www.news10.net/news/article/141108/2/Questions-surround-feds-raid-of-Stockton-home

[msanthrope]

55. I hope that lawyer has a better defense against 18 USC 371.

[1monster]

77. Please explain what a 18 USC 371 is and why it is so damning in your opinion?

Not all of us are up to the jargon and numbers of federal law enforcement forms.

[msanthrope]

81. Conspiracy to defraud the government.

guess who the conspirators are.

[Starry Messenger]

38. k&r

[slampoet]

45. And STILL no one gets FIRED WTF!!

[jtuck004]

49. Bernie Madoff, steals $50 billion, arrested by 2 FBI agents and photographer.

This black guy, 3 little kids vs SWAT. The only allegation appears to be some significant upaid loans by his ex-wife. Who wan't there.

Teach the children well...

[suffragette]

75. Yep and it looks like Lehman will receive a "public rebuke"

So, 13 federal agents and a police officer to serve a warrant and intimidate this guy and his kids (and to wreck his house looking for someone who wasn't there).

Meanwhile, one of the companies directly connected to national and international financial crisis looks to be getting, well, a scolding.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-03/sec-enforcers-said-to-weigh-release-of-report-on-lehman-abuses.html

[madfloridian]

82. Very good point about Lehman.

Bet they never see an armed task force or swat team.

:hi:

[suffragette]

84. Yep, I bet they won't either

or the numerous other corporations who pulled off the big heists.

Thanks for your OP and

:hi:

and

:hug:

[Art_from_Ark]

90. "A scolding"

Like the kind Charlie Brown gets from his teacher

[suffragette]

91. Yeah, I think they should get a "scalding" myself

after the way they burned all of us.

Truly upside down world we're in.

:hi:

[Art_from_Ark]

92. You can say that again

Truly it's become an upside-down world. :crazy:

[Dappleganger]

57. Welcome to the anti-terrorist state.

You're guilty before proven innocent, forget about due process.

[madfloridian]

58. The new consensus....

any level of force is justified in serving a warrant. That's what I am seeing here.

It shows an easy acceptance of force.

[Dappleganger]

60. People have grown to accept the anti-terrorist home invasion bullshit.

I blame The Patriot Act (and democrats who support it).

[msanthrope]

66. Oh, please!!! the 'jack-booted thug' right-wing meme predates the Patriot Act.

Cripes--now we can watch the Freepers revive the "Let's kill the Dept. of Education" meme.....

[msanthrope]

65. Not any level--but here, there's no SWAT, the guy admits he didn't open the door, admits he saw

them before they came in, admits they knocked--- see minute 1:52.

http://www.news10.net/video/default.aspx?bctid=983856954001

He's pissed, but he should be pissed at his wife.

[Fumesucker]

68. Maybe he remembered what happened to Harvard professor Henry Gates..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates_arrest_controversy

[msanthrope]

71. Have you watched the video? Mr. Wright is gonna fail his pee test in lockup--

he's a bit too animated...

[Fumesucker]

74. I didn't realize he was on probation or parole..

I learn something new on DU every day.

[suffragette]

78. Why would he be locked up or drug tested?

What did he do besides exist and be at home?

[1monster]

80. That is adrenaline. Each time he retells what happened, he gets another

wave of anger, fear, disbelief, and adrenaline. I've seen lots of people react that way when retelling events that include strong emotions.

You are judging on way too little evidence.

[muriel_volestrangler]

99. Your spin and character assassination is disgusting

You imply that he's on drugs (in fact, he's just damned pissed off at having his house broken into, and being handcuffed, without arrest); and you completely misrepresent what happened.

"the guy admits he didn't open the door"

Reality: the guy says they broke it down before he could open it

"admits he saw them before they came in"

Reality: he looked out of his bedroom to see who was breaking into his house (containing 3 children) at 6am, and saw it was the police; then he went downstairs to open the door

"admits they knocked"

Reality: admits they were trying to break down the door

[madfloridian]

70. American Bar Association says Ed Dept given police powers in 2002

Interesting column. Appears to be connected to DHS, Homeland Security.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/aim_of_swat-like_raid_was_student-aid_fraud_education_dept._given_police_po/

"A California man who says agents of the U.S. Department of Education broke down his door has a lawyer and a copy of the search warrant detailing the reason for the raid—a search for financial-aid fraud. Kenneth Wright originally told News10/KXTV that a SWAT team broke down his door in a search for evidence of his estranged wife’s defaulted student loans. The Stockton man said he was in boxer shorts when officers broke down his door, hauled him out to his front lawn, put him in handcuffs and forced his three children to sit in a squad car for hours.

After retaining a lawyer, Wright released a copy of the search warrant (PDF) that verifies the search but differs on the reason, according to News10 and Fox News. The agents were looking for financial aid applications, tax and wage records, and college attendance records in a probe focusing on student financial-aid fraud.

The agents worked for the Education Department’s Office of Inspector General and were not a SWAT team. But a neighbor confirmed other details of the raid on Wright’s home. “They surrounded the house; it was like a task force or SWAT team," the neighbor told News10. "They all had guns. They dragged him out in his boxer shorts, threw him to the ground and handcuffed him."

The Education Department is one of more than two dozen federal agencies that were granted full police power to carry out raids under the Homeland Security Act, Reason.com reports. Other agencies with such powers include the Department of Labor, the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Tennessee Valley Authority."

Call it a task force, call it whatever, but to those around his house it looked like what they would call a swat team.

Why was so much force used?

Instead of arguing with me, why not give an answer that makes sense?

[madfloridian]

76. Wait, no one is asking why the DOE needs police powers.

[suffragette]

79. Well, I did, or at least why the OIG should have police powers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1262761#1264541

But yeah, I agree that's a question we should all be asking.

It makes no sense to me.

[Recursion]

98. Because they investigate and prosecute fraud

And fraud in education lending has some seriously bad people involved in it, who traffic people from south asia, fraudulently obtain them loans for "career colleges", and put them to work in sweatshops and brothers in the central valley while taking their student loan money.

[madfloridian]

87. Well, I don't feel so bad.

I see one of my fav diarists at Kos is being blasted as well. It seems few think it odd that the Department of Education has police powers through the Inspector General.

It seems the concept of too much force for the severity of a situation is too much for many to understand. Maybe we older folks remember a different America where there was not so much force used by every government agency.

He's apologizing all over the place for his post, and they are still attacking. He's clarified, purified, and everything else, but the defenders of force keep on. Hang in there Steven D.

His summary I agree with.

"To sum up: The DOE broke into Wright's home on the basis of their search warrant. Wright's story of the event (i.e, being dragged out of his home in boxer shorts and handcuffed for six hours or so) is supported by a neighbor and her children who witnessed the event. The neighbor described it as "like a task force or SWAT team." The incident raises issues of whether the search was reasonable (there is nothing in the search warrant to suggest the DOE had a belief that the Wright home contained weapons or that the Wright's posed a threat to federal law enforcement officials) and whether excessive force was used in carrying out the warrant. Wright has hired an attorney regarding possible legal action for use of excessive force. Wright claims he was told by the DOE Special Agents that his wife was the focus of the investigation over financial aid fraud after earlier being told it involved student loan defaults."

These policies were set in motion with the Homeland Security Act in 2002. This is the first time I have been aware of Arne Duncan's DOE using such force. Is he aware, does he agree with it? I don't know. But I know we as Americans should speak out when we see things that seem wrong.

As Teddy Roosevelt said:

" Speech before the Knights of Columbus, New York (12 October 1915)

The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

[Name removed]

93. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madfloridian]

95. You are wrong.

On all counts. You need to do a search online.

I am very upset with Arne Duncan's appointment. I think he is taking education where Bush intended it to go.

I think the president has a responsibility to stop it if he disagrees. Since there is silence on his part, he must agree with Arne's push to privatize. He has said nothing to assuage the angry teachers.

The ABA makes it clear the Dept. of Ed. got police powers in 2002. They have a stock of new shotguns as well.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/aim_of_swat-like_raid_was_student-aid_fraud_education_dept._given_police_po

[VeryConfused]

101. Like your original post that would be incorrect

here is the truth and it doesn't support your anti-Duncan agenda

http://www.news10.net/news/article/141207/2/DOE-raids-Stockton-home-as-part-of-fraud-investigation

[madfloridian]

104. That IS what I posted. I used that very link in the OP. I quoted from it.

Yes, you might say I have an anti-Duncan agenda. I think he is selling out public education to any bidder.

You seem very angry with me because of it, I wonder why?

[Recursion]

94. So, it wasn't a SWAT team, and wasn't about a defaulted student loan

Is there any part of this story that hasn't turned out to be false?

[muriel_volestrangler]

96. Yeah - the important parts are all true - housebreaking, handcuffing a non-suspect

and generally behaving like thugs, when all they were meant to be doing was searching for documents, to do with a woman who clearly wasn't at the address, and was in no way a physical threat anyway (and neither were the little children).

[Recursion]

97. Since we haven't seen the whole search warrant

We don't know all of what they were looking for. Nor do we know what if any history of violent crime the woman or the man had. Immediate physical control of all people on the premises may suck for the person being restrained, but it's how you prevent people getting shot.

[muriel_volestrangler]

100. They never arrested him

If he was a suspect, they would have taken him for questioning. They handcuffed him, however, for a long time - when it was perfectly obvious he was the only adult in the house. He showed them his hands as soon as they broke in. They did not need to restrain him at all.

It's way more force than can possibly be justified for a search for documents. Their power has gone to their heads.

[madfloridian]

102. "Their power has gone to their heads" Yes, it seems that way.

I find myself wondering how many other instances there are that we have not heard about. I never knew the education department needed the police powers they were given in 2002 by Homeland Security.

This is a stunning story. Even more stunning is the way those of us who have spoken against such use of force as seemingly inappropriate for the situation...are at once put on the defensive.

[Recursion]

103. Notice I never said he was arrested or a suspect

I said that the police gaining immediate physical control of all persons on the premises prevents deaths.