The police dept. where I used to live issued their SWAT team brand new fully automatic mp-5's... but the SWAT uniforms didn't say "police" on the front, because custom embroidery just wasn't in the budget
So, anyway, they hand an mp-5 to one officer with known rage
issues (previously beat on a state trooper's desk with an aluminum bat), and another officer on the team had prior marijuana and DWI convictions (as a juvenile in another state, and he lied on his application).
The night of the big raid comes, they smash a window in a young couple's rental home, and toss a flash-bang grenade inside... and it lands right next to the suspect, who was sitting on his extremely flammable sofa. The suspect runs, and just as he reached the staircase he was shot multiple times with an mp-5 on full auto (by the officer with rage issues). The officer did shout an order to "stop" before firing, but the suspect ear drums may have been ruptured by the flash-bang device which exploded only 3 feet away. An officer entering through the door on the other side of the home tripped over his own shoe laces (I'm not kidding) and the officer behind him, thinking his partner was shot, opens fire with his pistol... although he later admitted he had no idea where the suspect was.
By this time the entire living room is on fire. The suspects fiance was upstairs, hiding from what she described as "ninjas" (remember, they couldn't afford to write "police" on their all-black uniforms). When the smoke became unbearable, she opened a window and cried for help. As soon as she was pulled from the burning building she was arrested, even though she was not a suspect, nor was a warrant issued for her arrest. She was later interrogated for 12 hours by the same officers who participated in the raid which resulted in her fiance's death.
Remember, the house is now on fire! Pity none of the officers remembered the fire extinguisher that the manufacturer of the flash-bang grenade strongly recommends. They call in the fire department, but refuse to let them into the flaming building untill they have "secured the scene," which apparently means standing around and watching it burn for ten minutes.
A later investigation revealed a 5 shot revolver on the floor near the suspect's body... but, the revolver had sweatshirt material melted to it in the fire, and the suspect was known to have wrapped it in a sweatshirt and kept it in a bookcase near where his body was found. A cache of ammunition... actually, a styrofoam block of .38 SPL... was found at the top of the stairs. The fire marshall didn't recall seeing it in his investigation, and thought it was strange that the styrofoam didn't even melt when the floor beneath it was charred. Oh yeah, they also found enough marijuana for 5 or 6 joints.
The result? The city was $ued for million$ and million$ of dollar$... and the officer shooting the sub-machinegun asks his supervisor if the whole team will get a commendation, and a special medal to wear on their uniforms. The suspect is dead, the crime scene is on fire, a bystander is falsely arrested, another officer shooting wildly at a target he can't see... and someone has the cajones to ask for a medal?
I don't know if full-auto firearms have a place in civilian law enforcement, or if they are really better kept as implements of war... but they surely have no place in the hands of the Keystone Kops! :banghead:
