Drug Raids, SWAT Teams, and the Power of Rhetoric

Here's an interesting article about a drug raid in Missouri that was videotaped by the police. The video was obtained and circulated by a newspaper covering the incident and it now has something like 1.3 million views on youtube. The author, Radley Balko, brings up two points that I think are particularly fascinating: 1) how the increased use of SWAT teams creates situations of violence, instead of merely responding to crises; 2) how the emergence of a militarized police force is a reflection of the terminology, technology, signs, and symbols of the "war on drugs." Words are power!