I’m just a regular everyday normal guy.* But once upon a time, I was “The Government.”
When you don’t deal with them everyday, it’s easy to think of federal agents as unfeeling, nameless, faceless authorities. The Government. Just an endless number of Agent Smiths. https://lnkd.in/gGsDfCw2
In reality, they’re just everyday normal people, too. Most are pretty nice, the kind you’d like to hang out with. They take their jobs seriously and are decent at them. Some are genuine heroes. Those are easy to admire. A few are absolute duds. You do your best to manage or remove them. That’s easier said than done.
Like all people, sometimes they make mistakes. Even the good ones. After all, “The Whole…World…Is Incompetent! Some less than others.” https://lnkd.in/g7xBmmnV
The best professional advice I ever received was not to be afraid of making mistakes. (https://lnkd.in/gD7HPBiz). I regularly passed that advice on to other agents. “Short of killing someone you shouldn’t,” I would tell them, “there aren’t many mistakes we can’t fix.”
One of biggest mistakes I can imagine an agent making is serving a search warrant on the wrong house. I’m always shocked when that happens. The planning and preparation that goes into a search warrant and the best practices for serving them should make it all but impossible. But humans make mistakes.
Last week, SCOTUS issued a unanimous opinion about just such a mistake made by some people at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). They meant to hit a “gang hideout”; instead they forcefully entered “a quiet family home” while the family still slept. They deployed a flash bang after breaching the door. I can only imagine the terror those poor people felt. Thinking it was a home invasion, they hid in a closet but agents found them.
Then the agents found their mail…with the wrong address. Yikes!
The mistake was egregious. The lead agent claimed his GPS lead him to the wrong house, but they also didn’t notice the street sign, the numbers on the mailbox, or the different car in the driveway.
The people sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The government defended against it.
Honestly, I’m shocked this had to be litigated all the way to the Supreme Court. The government’s policy should be “If you mess up, fess up, and if you cause damage, pay up.” Maybe they couldn’t agree on a settlement amount.
But “pay up” isn’t government policy so I’m glad there are organizations like the Institute for Justice to hold it accountable.
I’ve written before about the IJ and FBI mistakes (and used my favorite motivational poster to do it): https://lnkd.in/gaWmSxCG.
The opinion itself isn’t interesting. A technical issue about FTCA exceptions. (The government is sovereign but has waived its immunity in certain circumstances.) You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/gpBk4NqK.
*ICYMI, Jon Lajoie captured the essence of being an Everyday Normal Guy. It is not for sensitive ears. https://lnkd.in/gsjy9_U8