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Let's talk shitty policing!
The story starts back in August, when police (specifically, Adams County Sherriff's Department of Ohio) raided the home of Joseph "Afroman" Foreman on a warrant for narcotics and kidnapping. Perhaps they thought that the author of "Because I got high" would be a slam dunk, but they walked out with a couple roaches and a few grand in cash.
https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/adams-county/rapper-afromans-ohio-home-raided-by-adams-county-sheriffs-office
When they discovered a grand total of jack and shit, they were forced to return most of the money, except the stuff they stole.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/adams-county-sheriff-comes-up-400-short-returning-cash-to-afroman-after-home-raid/ar-AA14IJPa
Reason covered the case here:
https://reason.com/2022/12/05/cops-return-cash-seized-from-afroman-in-bogus-drug-raid-with-400-missing/
And the man himself has weighed in with a music video that is all security footage of the raid titled "Will you help me repair my door?"
https://youtube.com/watch?v=oponIfu5L3Y
Down with qualified immunity, the legalized piracy known as civil asset forfeiture, and the self-funding militarized security state.
The evidence required to get a search warrant is less than what is required to convict someone, so it's unavoidable that some people who have their houses searched will be innocent. Is there something particularly egregious here other than the missing $400? I agree that's bad and should be investigated and he should be compensated, but it just doesn't sound like that big of a deal to me. If you scale back policing so far that nobody is ever wrongfully searched then you're going to see a massive crime spike like in 2020.
Searching in and of itself is not egregious. But they didn't just search. They broke down his front door, went around the place with weapons drawn, and disconnected his security cameras (which just screams shady). In short, they acted like jackbooted thugs for something which should have been a simple and polite "Hello sir, we are here to execute a search warrant, we need you to let us in to search your property".
The article said the warrant was for kidnapping (among other things) but didn't give many details. I agree if they're just looking for weed that seems excessive, but if they had reason to think he had somebody tied up in the basement then it makes sense.
Even in that light their actions don't make sense, imo. As Afroman humorously pointed out in the song he released, were they really expecting to find kidnapping victims in his suit pockets or his binders of CDs? Not that you can't gather evidence from such a place, but then you don't need the urgency they used. So the level of escalation just doesn't fit with what they actually searched for.
The only reason to literally break down the door with guns drawn is if you think he has actual hostages who would be in danger. But then, they went looking for a bunch of stuff that wasn't victims in imminent danger, a search which could (and should) have been handled much more civilly. And in no case should they have shut off the man's security cameras like they are criminals who are afraid to get caught doing wrong. So while I am by no means against executing a search warrant, the police behavior in this case seems to me to be rather excessive.
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They sure said they have a reason, but they also said they returned the money when they didn't.
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