![\"\u201cWhy](\"http:\/\/media.salon.com\/2013\/07\/rise_warrior_cop-620x412.jpg\" "\\"Occupation")
Riot Police?…or Storm Troopers?<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cWhy did you shoot me? I was reading a book\u201d: The new warrior cop is out of control<\/a><\/h1>\nSWAT teams raiding poker games and trying to stop underage drinking? Overwhelming paramilitary force is on the rise<\/h2>\n
BY\u00a0RADLEY BALKO<\/a><\/p>\nExcerpted from\u00a0“Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nSal Culosi is dead because he bet on a football game \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t a bookie or a loan shark who killed him. His local government killed him, ostensibly to protect him from his gambling habit.<\/p>\n
Several months earlier at a local bar, Fairfax County, Virginia, detective David Baucum overheard the thirty-eight-year-old optometrist and some friends wagering on a college football game. \u201cTo Sal, betting a few bills on the Redskins was a stress reliever, done among friends,\u201d a friend of Culosi\u2019s told me shortly after his death. \u201cNone of us single, successful professionals ever thought that betting fifty bucks or so on the Virginia\u2013Virginia Tech football game was a crime worthy of investigation.\u201d Baucum apparently did. After overhearing the men wagering, Baucum befriended Culosi as a cover to begin investigating him. During the next several months, he talked Culosi into raising the stakes of what Culosi thought were just more fun wagers between friends to make watching sports more interesting. Eventually Culosi and Baucum bet more than $2,000 in a single day. Under Virginia law, that was enough for police to charge Culosi with running a gambling operation. And that\u2019s when they brought in the SWAT team.<\/p>\n
On the night of January 24, 2006, Baucum called Culosi and arranged a time to drop by to collect his winnings. When Culosi, barefoot and clad in a T-shirt and jeans, stepped out of his house to meet the man he thought was a friend, the SWAT team began to move in. Seconds later, Det. Deval Bullock, who had been on duty since 4:00 AM and hadn\u2019t slept in seventeen hours, fired a bullet that pierced Culosi\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n
Sal Culosi\u2019s last words were to Baucum, the cop he thought was a friend: \u201cDude, what are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
In March 2006, just two months after its ridiculous gambling investigation resulted in the death of an unarmed man, the Fairfax County Police Department issued a press release warning residents not to participate in office betting pools tied to the NCAA men\u2019s basketball tournament. The title: \u201cIllegal Gambling Not Worth the Risk.\u201d Given the proximity to Culosi\u2019s death, residents could be forgiven for thinking the police department believed wagering on sports was a crime punishable by execution.<\/p>\n
In January 2011, the Culosi family accepted a $2 million settlement offer from Fairfax County. That same year, Virginia\u2019s government spent $20 million promoting the state lottery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Death squads? Only in banana republics and rogue dictatorships abroad, you say? Can’t happen here? Mason County Sheriff Salisbury feels the need for a tank to serve warrants says his department. Deputies now sport black star-wars style ninja attire on … Continue reading
Excerpted from\u00a0“Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Sal Culosi is dead because he bet on a football game \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t a bookie or a loan shark who killed him. His local government killed him, ostensibly to protect him from his gambling habit.<\/p>\n Several months earlier at a local bar, Fairfax County, Virginia, detective David Baucum overheard the thirty-eight-year-old optometrist and some friends wagering on a college football game. \u201cTo Sal, betting a few bills on the Redskins was a stress reliever, done among friends,\u201d a friend of Culosi\u2019s told me shortly after his death. \u201cNone of us single, successful professionals ever thought that betting fifty bucks or so on the Virginia\u2013Virginia Tech football game was a crime worthy of investigation.\u201d Baucum apparently did. After overhearing the men wagering, Baucum befriended Culosi as a cover to begin investigating him. During the next several months, he talked Culosi into raising the stakes of what Culosi thought were just more fun wagers between friends to make watching sports more interesting. Eventually Culosi and Baucum bet more than $2,000 in a single day. Under Virginia law, that was enough for police to charge Culosi with running a gambling operation. And that\u2019s when they brought in the SWAT team.<\/p>\n On the night of January 24, 2006, Baucum called Culosi and arranged a time to drop by to collect his winnings. When Culosi, barefoot and clad in a T-shirt and jeans, stepped out of his house to meet the man he thought was a friend, the SWAT team began to move in. Seconds later, Det. Deval Bullock, who had been on duty since 4:00 AM and hadn\u2019t slept in seventeen hours, fired a bullet that pierced Culosi\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n Sal Culosi\u2019s last words were to Baucum, the cop he thought was a friend: \u201cDude, what are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n In March 2006, just two months after its ridiculous gambling investigation resulted in the death of an unarmed man, the Fairfax County Police Department issued a press release warning residents not to participate in office betting pools tied to the NCAA men\u2019s basketball tournament. The title: \u201cIllegal Gambling Not Worth the Risk.\u201d Given the proximity to Culosi\u2019s death, residents could be forgiven for thinking the police department believed wagering on sports was a crime punishable by execution.<\/p>\n In January 2011, the Culosi family accepted a $2 million settlement offer from Fairfax County. That same year, Virginia\u2019s government spent $20 million promoting the state lottery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Death squads? Only in banana republics and rogue dictatorships abroad, you say? Can’t happen here? Mason County Sheriff Salisbury feels the need for a tank to serve warrants says his department. Deputies now sport black star-wars style ninja attire on … Continue reading