Whether punitive action will be applied once the smoke clears is anybody's guess
The
Standard-Examiner is johnny-on-the spot this morning with new information on the
"botched" 12/20/12 Hill family OPD raid, first with
hearsay statements from Tina Billmire, mother of Derek Billmire, the subject of the defectively-served arrest warrant, which was successfully served
"about an hour later," by the same officers at a home Mr. Billmore
"share(d) with his wife and three children" in
Harrisville, Utah. Among the various notable aspects of Ms. Billmore's statements are these:
“It was the same thing — six officers, pounding on the door, hard and loud, with the guns and everything."
Derek never lived at the Hill home on Harrop Street. Her sister Kathy owned it for 26 years before selling it to the Hills in July. Tina Billmire said she had sometimes lived there with her sister’s family, but Derek had not.
“That surprised me,” she said. “His Harrisville address should have been on the warrant, the documents. It’s on everything else with the Army.”
By our own analysis, Ms. Billmore's statement corroborates the Hill family's report that the officers were indeed heavily armed, although it sheds no light upon the question of whether the officers brandished rifles and shotguns, as the Hill family contends. As to the mistaken address, it's clearly indicative of sloppy investigation, we'll suggest.
As an added bonus, this morning's
SE story links to a responsive letter from Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell, which is encouraging, we suppose, at least in the sense that he's aware of the public relations nightmare which has been unleashed due to the disastrous Hill family raid:
On the bright side, Mayor Mike says
"we intend to reevaluate police policies, practices, and training to ensure we are using best police practices for the safety of our citizens and our officers." Moreover, in apparent recognition of the
demand by local media for an independent outside investigation, Caldwell astutely assures
Ogden citizens that
"We may use other outside resources to help us analyze and resolve these issues." And then there's this:
"I am especially interested in an analysis of whether this type of contact should be made at such a late hour, and under what circumstances."
Whether punitive action will be applied once the smoke clears, however, is anybody's guess, although we'll remark that
"we won't be holding our breath," as Caldwell offers not the slightest hint that he'll go after police agents who may have violated already-existing policies in this instance.
Needless to say, we'll continue to follow this fascinating story as it develops... and assume that the Hill family (if they're smart) will be
lawyering up very soon.
