We Make the Landlord Pay for the Criminal's Crime?

 My house was raided for drugs. The swat team came in, and said they had enough evidence that it was a meth house. The son of the renter downstairs was patted down and a pipe or somesuch was found in his groin area. He was caught red-handed -- and yet not arrested. The purpose of the raid was to find drugs, and they found them, but then they chose not to do anything about it? I do not understand

I know our prisons are full of drug addicts. I know the system just sets them free. But, if you are not going to arrest someone, what is the purpose of the raid?

I also know the swat teams are federally funded. I don't know if they have a quota on how many raids they need to justify maintaining their funding, but I wonder. At any rate, they come in and raid the place -- not sending anyone to jail -- but are able to count it as a raid. They can mark it up as another meth house being closed, and walk away saying they are tough on crime.

Or, are they tough just on the landlords? The drug addict skips nonchalantly down the street and into a new apartment, leaving the landlord to pay for all his damages. Is this fair? In America we do things this way? We call this justice? Our law enforcement should target the criminals, not their landlords.

In the end, it is I who have been convicted of being a criminal. And, I am not even allowed due process. I do not get my day in court. I am not allowed to argue my case. There is no trial before my place is closed for being a health hazard. I am evicted from my own home before test results even show it is infected.

And, is it infected? Is it a health hazard? I believe there has been some scientific studies indicating links to meth residue on the walls, but I don't believe any study has shown that meth residue on the walls is definitively a health hazard. None. Get on it if you are going to justify shutting my home down because it is a health hazard. You seize my belongings and evict me from my own home and demand that I pay exorbitant fees. I have my doubts that the danger is very serious at all. If you really believed it was a health hazard, wouldn't you advise all the occupants to head straight down to the hospital or at least have them make appointments with their doctors to determine how it might have affected their health? They say the threat is so immediate that they must have you leave the premises at once, and yet they don't require any one of those living there to get a medical evaluation.

I know we want to be tough on crime, but this is not the way to go about it. Penalize the law-abiding citizen and set the criminal free?

Regardless what rules and procedures have been put in place, and regardless whether it was the legislature or health department that created these rules, they do not supercede the Constitution. The Bill of Rights gives the right to be secure in your home. It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. It makes it illegal for a warrant to be issued without probable cause. A subsequent amendment promises due process. I have been denied each of those rights. I have a copy of the search warrant, and it does not say why they believe drugs were in my home. If there was probable cause, it is not cited, and the judge should have required it before shutting down my home. That's the Constitution telling the judge how to do it.

A copy of the evidence that was found is in poor handwriting and is vague. It does not specify which rooms the items were found in (It says, Rm 1, Rm, 2, and so forth, but I am left to guess which room is Rm 1, Rm2.) In about three cases, it simply says "Para," meaning paraphernalia, but it doesn't say what the paraphernalia was. The search warrant says cotton balls, razor blades, short straws, baggies, balloons, and twisties all count as "paraphernalia." Those are items found in any household and usually are not used for drugs. Yes, take them as evidence, but do not shut down my home on the pretense you found drug paraphernalia just because you found some cotton balls or balloons. And, if those balloons do not have traces of drugs on them, they should be ruled out as paraphernalia. Lidocaine is listed as one of the items found. There must be some tie-in there to illegal drugs, but I do wonder what. You are shutting my home down because you found some lidocaine?

I had to pay about $1,600 to have my place tested -- and more is yet ahead. Every room that was tested came back under the threshold except the HVAC system, and it was barely over. Requiring me to have the testing done and then using those results against me violates the Fifth Amendment. I have been compelled to testify against myself -- and to pay $1,600 in order to have that done. I am required to finance the collection of evidence used against me.