Odessa

Imagine coming home to find a package on your front step. A package you don't expect because you never ordered anything. Furthermore, it's not your birthday or a holiday that you would expect a gift for. So what is this strange package?

You take it in the house, suddenly the door gets smashed in by the police. They want to arrest you for having drugs in your house. What drugs you wonder - The pot (holy weed, ganga) in that mysterious package.

Sound like the beginning to a good novel? Actually, it is what happened to Mayor Cheye Calvo, of Berwyn Heights, Md.

From the AP

Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.

The two men under arrest include a FedEx deliveryman; investigators said the deliveryman would drop off a package outside a home, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up.

Now, federal authorities say they're looking into how local law enforcement handled the July 29 raid. FBI Special Agent Rich Wolf said late Thursday that the bureau had opened a civil rights investigation into the case.

And to even make the story better - the gun happy, badge toting bastards blew away the couple's black labs. So not only do they get accused of being drug traffickers, but their beloved dogs are shot in their own home, one whom was evidently running away. And in typical belligerent police style:

Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High said Wednesday that Calvo and his family were "most likely ... innocent victims," but he would not rule out their involvement, and he defended the way the raid was conducted. He and other officials did not apologize for killing the dogs, saying the officers felt threatened.

Well, I have to say this: Fuck you Chief Melvin High (hmmm, interesting last name). Fuck who ever in the FBI botched this investigation and couldn't figure out that the folks getting the packages were unintentional shills. And most of all, fuck the police officer(s) who shot the two dogs that just happened to live there.

His wife spoke through tears as she described an encounter with a girl who used to see the couple walking their dogs.

"She gave me a big hug and she said, `If the police shot your dogs dead and did this to you, how can I trust them?'" Tomsic said. "I don't want people to feel like that. I just want them to be proud of our police and proud to live in Prince George's County."

I'm with that girl - how can you trust the police in areas where the police are unapologetic about anything and are seemingly above the law?

P.S. - Chief Melvin High made the following statement on the Prince George's County Police Department website:

High said, “The Calvo family members were the apparent victims of a local drug ring. I called him to express my sorrow and regret for that and for the loss of the family’s beloved dogs.” The Chief said the Department is conducting a thorough review of the drug interdiction operation that lead investigators to the Calvo home. “Post-operational assessments are done as a matter of professional policing, especially in critical incidents such as this.”

I guess that is a bit of an apology. He is also resigning at the end of the month. Hopefully he or his successor find out who was behind this travesty and punish any inappropriate acts.