Salt Lake Tribune Editorial: Keep the Matthew Stewart Case Open

Let the independent investigation begin... the sooner the better

All along, people who were not involved in the case have looked on and wondered whether a military-style assault on the home of a man credibly suspected of nothing more than raising a few marijuana plants was justified in any way, shape or form. Militarizing minor drug investigations, it would seem, vastly increases the risk to suspects, police and innocent bystanders. The result of the raid on Stewart’s home certainly does nothing to undermine that concern.

Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
Keep the case open
June 6, 2013

The lives of one police officer and, indirectly, one other human being were lost due to the decision of the powers that be in Weber County to conduct a military-style attack on a small-time weed grower. If there is not a full and expert investigation into the decisions that led to the raid and the conduct of law enforcement officers during the attack, then two men will have died in vain.

Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
Keep the case open
June 6, 2013

Top notch editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune, urging Weber County law enforcement authorities that "[t]he case of Matthew David Stewart must not be allowed to die with him":

• Keep the case open - Fatal raid must be investigated 

"Upping" the ante

We've been closely following Weber County law enforcement's response to the Matthew Stewart case, and we're not favorably impressed... not so far, at least.  As we opined here just last week, "it's apparent (to us) that Weber police agencies have learned absolutely "nuttin" from either the Stewart incident..., and that the local law enforcement response will be to merely "up the ante," and further escalate the potential violence, by, among other things, adopting policies dictating the donning of full combat gear in all confrontational police-citizen encounters, even in the most trivial of circumstances."

At least one reader on the Trib comments board "gets it":

Dare I say, a complete and thorough investigation of the entire process by qualified experts completely independent of Weber County law enforcement is long past due. This is bound to happen again if meaningful changes aren't put it place.

Rather than using the Matthew Stewart incident as an opportunity for a learning experience, our local law enforcement authorities instead take to their bunkers, "up the ante" and cling to the same flawed practices which which resulted in the Stewart tragedy in the first place.

Howbout applying a little less testosterone-driven "machismo" and a little more rational brainpower, O Weber County police agencies?

Let the independent investigation begin... the sooner the better, we say.