The Hightower Report: Florida Police Swat at Barbers

When it comes to policing, the good people of Orange County, Fla., are lucky, because they've got the astonishing law-enforcement team of DBPR (Depart­ment of Business and Professional Regu­la­tion) and OCSO (Orange County Sheriff's Office) on the beat, eager to stop any possible criminal activity. Consider just one example of the truly incredible vigilance of this dynamic policing duo.

The DBPR/OCSO target in this case was a suspicious enterprise calling itself Strictly Skillz, and the agents spent a month carefully planning a joint sweep operation, including a fully armed SWAT team. On the day of the raid, the team first sealed off the parking lot; next, two undercover cops entered to size up the danger; and then – BAM! – the SWAT team hit the unsuspecting suspects. Wearing riot gear and brandishing guns, the team seized half-a-dozen of the enterprise's kingpins and cuffed them, while officers searched the premises for more than an hour.

You might assume that this was a narcotics operation, but no. In fact, Strictly Skillz is a barbershop. What possible criminal activity led to such a militaristic show of brute force? "Barbering without a license." That's only a second degree misdemeanor, but even it was not violated in this case, for all licenses at the shop were valid. DBPR could've determined that by a routine inspection, but instead, OCSO got involved and decided to muscle the barbers. Why? Because ... well, because it has a SWAT team and a military mentality, so it thinks it's above the law.

In this case, a federal court not only yanked this abusive duo's constitutional chain, but also ridiculed its Keystone Kops routine of SWATing at barbers. But it's not funny – for police now run thousands of these farcical SWAT raids a year, and are rarely held accountable.