John Oliver has been covering issues relating to the police — including accountability and their role in society — for years now. And on Sunday, he turned his attention to a topic that’s been at the forefront of the conversation since 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police after they forcibly entered her home without warning last year: raids.
Over the course of 20 minutes, the Last Week Tonight host breaks down why and how police drug raids happen (including the incredibly short approval times for some search warrants) before citing the many instances of people being injured in raids that have gone wrong (like the time a toddler was critically injured by a flash-bang grenade).
“Officers are rarely criminally charged and even more rarely convicted,” says Oliver. “Botched raids usually aren’t even investigated unless someone is killed, the media gets involved, or there’s a lawsuit — and even when they happen, police officers are protected from civil liability by the doctrine of qualified immunity. As for their departments, they aren’t even responsible for paying to repair a broken front door or compensating residents for any other losses or damages even when they raid the wrong residence — which is just absurd.”
Oliver’s solution?
“Drug raids just have to stop. And raids in general should only be used as a last resort, to save lives that are in immediate danger. Because busting into someone’s home is never going to be safe, for anyone involved. And right now raids are being used far too widely and are destroying lives — both for the individuals who are killed, injured, or traumatised, and all the Black and Brown people who have no choice but to internalise the lessons of that trauma.”