LAWRENCE — The author of a book called “The Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces,” and the victim of a botched Leawood drug raid will talk about the increasing militarization of police forces 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Kansas University School of Law’s Green Hall. The growing militarization of police – with heavier weapons, armored vehicles and heavy-handed military-style tactics – poses a threat to Americans and erodes rights guaranteed by the Third and Fourth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, said author Radley Balko said. Attorney and former CIA employee Addie Hart will talk about the overpowering, SWAT-style raid on her Leawood home. Police mistakenly thought she and her husband were growing marijuana in their home, after he bought some hydroponic gardening equipment for their daughter’s school science project, she said. When officers searched their trash, they saw discarded green tea leaves. The officers staged an early-morning raid and held the couple and their two children at gunpoint while they ransacked the house. The Hartes filed a $7 million lawsuit against Johnson County, Sheriff Frank Denning and seven deputies. The raid sparked a bill, now advancing through the Kansas Legislature, that opens up local police and prosecutors’ records.
Monday, March 3, 2 p.m.
