Taste Of Their Own Medicine: Police Chief's Home Raided By Accident

By Bill Murray
The Free Thought Project
Aug. 06, 2015

Phoenix, AZ – After receiving an anonymous tip from social media, 11 armed men set out to raid the home of a would-be fugitive wanted for armed robbery. The stage was set for yet another police raid on the wrong home.

Except this time, it’s the police who are the target of the nighttime combat mission. A police chief to be exact.

Tuesday night, Phoenix police Chief Joseph Yahner was confronted at his own home by members of two bond recovery service companies, according to local news outlets.

Likely outraged by the egregious error and obscene inconvenience, Yahner allegedly notified the bondsmen that the fugitive they were looking for was not at his residence, and ordered the men off of his property.

When the roles are reversed, and police are the ones raiding the home, it’s safe to assume that the police wouldn’t take kindly to someone telling them to “get off of my property.”

Just this week we reported on a family that was raided by police, who had the wrong address, because of an internet threat. That innocent family, an elderly woman and two children, have been waiting three years for their day in court.

However, things are much different when you are the police chief. You don’t have to wait months or years for your day in court; you can expedite justice. Yahner’s police department immediately arrested the owner of North Star Fugitive Recovery, and charged him with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.

Let us not focus on the obvious irony or the seemingly bad karma of this wrong house raid. We need to focus on what happened afterwards.

The man responsible for the raid was instantaneously arrested, because he works for a private company, and not law enforcement. If police weren’t funded by tax dollars and were paid by individuals as private contractors, like North Star Fugitive Recovery, we would most likely be able to hold them accountable for their crimes and correct the epidemic of police brutality and corruption.