[Roberta X]

Battering down doors in the dead of night and tossing in flash-bangs is not right. Yes, even if the house is full of tweakin' Commie Islamofascist bomber child-abusers illegally converting longarms to full-auto while mainlining decaf Dran-o, it's not right.

Among other things, door-kicking and flash-bangs make it more likely the officers are gonna pop a cap in the bad guy's hapless little innocent victims, who -- last time I checked -- were supposed to be the real focus of all this, with chalkin' up points by taking out or apprehending malefactors the second or third objective on the list, behind "saving the immediate victims" and "protecting society."

If "officer safety" is the excuse for tactics better suited to the Battle of Stalingrad, why not be safer still and get the suspects one-by-one as they shop for groceries? Why not surround the house with armed and armored Officers Of The Law and call 'em up on the phone? Few people -- and fewer tweakers -- are set up for a siege. Cut the power and water and wait a few days. Yeah, it's not exciting. But you end up burying fewer grandmothers.

On the topic of "tweaking:" there've been no few reports of LEOs using, ahem, performance-enhancing drugs in much the same manner as NFL players. Funny thing, those reports and mistakenly-dead no-knocks rise at about the same time and with similar rates. Connection? Well, a fellow on steroids is usually not much minded to sit and wait.... Perhaps it's all Merely A Coincidence.

You betcha.