This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, July 10th, 2009.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Shai Calvo, the Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland saw his home invaded,

his family terrorized and his two dogs gunned down all over a box of

marijuana left on his doorstep. The county SWAT team that executed the raid

didn't know he was the mayor found no evidence of wrongdoing, but they were not punished.

In fact, the team was later congratulated by local officials.

Since that time, Calvo has learned about how the federal government subsidizes these kinds of paramilitary raids

while providing very little oversight.

He spoke at a Cato Institute Capitol Hill briefing July 7, 2009.

The full event is at Cato.org.

What's extraordinary about my case is not that it happened,

is that it actually people paid attention.

And I think that's what I've come to understand because for as much as the nightmare it was, the worst part was the county reaction to it, which offends the conscience.

They concluded, very quickly, quote,

their guys did what they were supposed to do.

They recently, just in the last month,

released an investigation, which the sheriff, who was his SWAT team was a county police investigation

said that his deputies operated to the fullest extent of their abilities

The county executive even offered a pat on the back for everybody involved.

That's a direct quote.

And what I, you know, for me the personal journey after the event was trying to understand how could this happen how

...