August 11, 2008
Honorable Michael Chertoff
Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
3801 Nebraska. Ave. NW.
Washington D.C.20520
Dear Secretary Chertoff:
Perhaps you are aware of the recent tragedy in Maryland where, on July 29th, deputies from the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office, thinking mistakenly they were on a drug raid, stormed into the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo's home without a warrant, shot and killed the Mayor's two beloved gentle black Labrador retriever dogs, and then handcuffed the Mayor and his mother-in-law on the floor while they were interrogated for hours with the bloodied bodies of their beloved dogs nearby. Hours later, when the deputies realized their mistake, they left the house without so much as offering an apology.
Perhaps you are also aware that this raid is only one of many incidents reported by the citizens of Prince George's Country where that same Sheriff's Office has violated the basic human and civil rights against its citizens simply for petty offences, or for no offence at all, as was the case on July 29th.
Finally, perhaps you are also aware that the word is that Prince George's County Sheriff's Office has been the recipient of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars from your agency to fund heavy-duty anti-terrorist gear and equipment, the same gear and equipment that was used to support their illegal, Keystone cops-like, incompetent, cruel and cowardly raid on Mayor Calvo's home and his dogs.
As a taxpayer, I would like to know precisely why your department is funding small-time police jurisdictions such as Prince George's County to arm themselves against terrorists activities, when the gear and equipment purchased with those funds is used against U.S. citizens and when the dominant crimes that these jurisdictions are capable of handling are domestic disturbances.
My hope is that your department and its inspector general open up an investigation against Prince George's County to determine if the funds used by Prince George's country from your department were illegally and improperly deployed against its citizens.
My hope also is that in the future, your agency uses more discretion in making certain that any funds it grants to small-town police jurisdictions are used responsibly by trained, professional public officials and not by incompetent officials such as we have seen exist in Maryland.
The incident of July 29th was outrageous. To the extent that your agency funded any of that raid on Mayor Calvo, your agency too is complicit in that terrible crime. The police of Prince George's County and your agency's people are there to protect us citizens. Instead, thee are using our own money to kill us and our dogs, all in the interests of public safety. Indeed, if we the public do not speak out in outrage about this July 29th incident when our funds were used, we too are complicit.
Please do your part to bring the officials of Prince George's country to justice and end this bloodshed. The so-called terrorists are achieving their ends by having the people sworn to protect us kill us instead, and your department is helping them. Indeed, the real-terrorists are some of the same people we thought were there to protect us.
Sincerely,
CC:
Honorable Richard L. Skinner
DHS Inspector General
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
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