To think that your Uber Eats or Amazon driver faces more repercussions for getting an address wrong than an entire goddamn police force in a raid that results in death.

So you're telling me they can get a warrant to break into someone's house, go to a completely different house they don't have a warrant for, intentionally cause property damage and injure or kill someone, then walk away without facing repercussions or even reimbursing the victim for damages?

That family where the baby got grenaded - the mother begging for a hold of her injured son being told literally to sit down and shut up is beyond disgusting

Police: *Traumatizes woman irreparably* Also police: “Damn why you gotta be so angry, you’re starting to hurt my feelings”

Domino's recently delivered my pizza order to the wrong house and brought me the other house's order. To fix it, they refunded the purchase, let me keep the wrong order, and sent me the correct order for free. I think SWAT teams should adopt this radical new Domino's Pizza system of "let's make things right since we got the wrong address."

When I was a child of 7 yrs, 35 years ago, my house was raided on suspicion of drug manufacturing. I saw my dog get shot by the police. I loved that dog. It was so traumatizing to watch her die bleeding knowing she was trying to protect me. I'll never forget how terrified of getting killed I was. The police didn't find anything.

My home was raided at 4:10am while my 4 year old daughter and I were asleep in my bed. It happened so fast I had no time to react except to cover my daughter with my body. They destroyed my front door and my entire living room wall, and took no responsibility in fixing it. My daughter reached for her bathrobe and one of the officers pulled his gun out. It was so incredibly traumatizing. Additionally, the police didn't have the search warrant in their possession until AFTER the raid was over... AND to boot, the person who they were looking for lived next door.

I live in Germany, my dad was a police officer. He had to write an explanation where and why he used his Weapons for every missing bullet. And he never brought it Home, because you need two saves. One for the Waepon and one for the bullets. German Police is far from perfect but at least its not like this.

I will say this again. If a delivery driver can lose their job for going to the wrong house, the police raiders should too.

"There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people. "- Admiral Adama

I’m 71 years old. The conversation in this piece also took place when I was in my 20s. Very little has changed other than it is sometimes possible to criminally charge and convict police officers. Underline sometimes. Our obsession with addiction and our firm belief it is criminal rather than an illness is a part of the overall problem. We are an extraordinarily judgmental society which impacts every aspect of every social problem, including addiction. It justifies the worst kind of behavior from people in positions of authority, behavior we would nit justify in anyone else.

It takes me more than 20 seconds to answer the door if I knew you were coming yesterday and you show up at exactly the scheduled time!

"When you are handcuffed naked in your own home because the police screwed up a search warrant, shouting should be in your fucking Miranda rights". Fucking classic.

The thing that infuriated me the most in this clip was the fact that people aren't compensated for damages caused to their property even when police raids the wrong house. That's the main reason why way too many raids happen each year. If they had to pay for the damages they cause when they wrongfully target someon's home, they'd think twice before bursting into a house just because one of them smelled marijuana in the air.

“Damn bro I can’t believe I threw a grenade in a baby’s crib” - an actual police officer lmao

The worst part about the whole "raided a family's home because they smelled marijuana" thing, is that there's a legitimately high chance that what the detective was smelling was a skunk. The two smells are so similar, I know pot smokers who've mixed them up.

As a half white half Mexican kid who grew up in a ghetto neighborhood in south texas and experienced 2 raids growing up.... I really appreciate this video and the emotion you had behind it. The first raid was for my uncle who was not dangerous and is mentally ill. It changed the way I viewed the police and I was only 6 or 7. They weren’t mean necessarily or even wrong in their doing but the experience was extremely traumatic and my uncle was gone by the time they pulled up. They raided my grandmas home where my mom, my self, grandparents and uncle lived. It was traumatic having your home invaded by the law and to see how they handled my uncle and the general experience and tone of it all is uh... not suitable for minors, to say the least. I was isolated and with 2 officers I didn’t know, for no reason, they kept me away from my mom and grandparent who were in the front answering the raid. I was in my room, on my bunk bed and 2 officers stood over me for about an hour before they let my mom come sit with me. They flipped the entire house in front of us. It was ridiculous. They said they were looking for drugs. Maybe my uncle had a small personal amount somewhere but the rest of the home was a normal home and I’m sure they could tell. But they flipped our beds, dressers, drawers, rugs, kitchen, bathroom, china cabinet, sofas... everything. And then they just left when they found nothing. Nothing at all. Left the mess and us on our front yard. To explain how degrading it was is impossible. My grandmas home is in the middle of the neighborhood and across from a park, so many people were watching and all our families have lived here for a long time. It was sad and looking back, I didn’t realize how much it changed my family. I could go on... but thank you.

Huge respect for John Oliver. I honestly don’t know how someone can keep their sanity while investing so much time into bringing to light the most depressing and aggravating issues in modern society.

I can't believe they don't even pay for repairing the door of the house mistakenly raided. Do the victims have to sue the sheriff/police first?

"If only the Wolf had possessed military-grade equipment", you say as you tuck your children in at night lmao

The most amazing thing about it is that as a foreigner in a foreign country, the american media, TV shows, movies, etc led me to believe that warrants were hard to get, there's always a 'we can't get the warrant fast enough' or a 'the judge wouldn't give us a warrant without more evidence' while in reality, the police can get warrants like candies...

Imagine the police blowing your living room apart unannounced, coming screaming in, tying you up on the floor, finding nothing, forcing you to explain how to use your security cam so they can record how cool they looked destroying your home, then f***ing off and leaving you there with half a living room, laughing all the way, and never getting any compensation. Is this North Korea?

I live in the UK and was busted for marijuana years ago ( just personal quantity). The police knocked on my door, waited for me to open it, and asked politely if they could have a look around because someone had told them I had drugs. They were well mannered when they found what I had ( a few plants), and treated me well. I ended up getting an unofficial caution, so no criminal record and I was sent home after a couple of hours. The police in the UK are far from perfect, but I dread to think how that could have turned out if I were living in the US!

You're wrong, John. If you combined all Batman villains into one, you wouldn't get Geraldo, you'd get Joel Osteen, with the added bonus that he is genuinely a supervillain.

Cops: literally bust down a woman’s door at 3am, enter her home pointing guns, drag the woman out of bed naked and handcuff her. Cop: "well you don't have to shout...."

In my small town in Germany a friend got raided because some people had said he was taking hostage and raping kids. The whole block was shut down, the building and street evacuated, there were dozens of special forces (SEK) involved, most of them undercover, they found their way to the right house, the right apartment in a huge building and no one was hurt even though he was holding a knife. They even found the callers and all damages were paid for. Because it was not his fucking fault. Is that so outrageous?

I have been homeless for the last 14 years, all due to my apartment being raided by a criminal cop with a fraudulent warrant. My apartments had a zero tolerance policy for police contact for whatever reason, so I was kicked out of my apartment and on the street before my arrangement (where the charges were dropped!) Never have been able to find any bootstraps to pull myself up by...

The cops looked like children. " what house???" Makes me cry

End Qualified Immunity and they'd never dare do any of this bullshit.

Does anyone remember when four Swedish police officers on vacation broke up a fight in the NYC subway and subdued the participants without harming anyone, and how amazed America was that police officers could break up a crime without shooting anyone? Yeah, that's a sign that your policing has taken a wrong turn somewhere.

The best thing about Cop Rock is that the theme song was written and performed by Randy Newman. Do what you will with that information.

Police when they arrest someone for 3 grams of methamphetamine: "Just don't do the crime if you can't do the time" Also police: "We need qualified immunity from criminal charges because we'd be coiled up in too many lawsuits from not doing our job properly"

*Busts in woman’s door handcuffs her naked and then has the nerve to say “There’s no need to shout.”* People like that just need to catch some hands.

I recall for a journalism class, we got to tour my college town's police department. They gleefully showed us all of their riot gear and how they love getting to use it when doing drug raids. They were showing off the guns like they were toys they'd just gotten for Christmas. It was really disturbing tbh.

This is THE greatest episode yet .. all law enforcement should be required to watch it

I swear, at this point TV drama scriptwriters needs to make a cameo of this. "We got our mad-ass dope base in Magnificent Mile. Why? 'Cuz the Feds never check there HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH"

"we live in a world where trained cops can panic and act on impulse, but civilians must remain calm with a gun in their face" - a BLM activist

"Hey, are you a baby murdering cult leader?" "Ummm, no" "Darnit, could you pretend to be? I'm better trained in dealing with those"

Stun grenades - can confirm. Caused almost every fire I ever saw in Iraq. We could only use them under very particular circumstances. Suspecting enemy activity from a baby was not on that list if I can remember correctly

Just consider this: Chemical weapons are illegal to use in war. In war. A event where killing other humans is not only allowed, but encouraged. Chemical weapons are illegal in war. Cops use chemical weapons on peaceful civilians. Does any more really need to be said?

John Oliver is the best. I actually got out of a MLM cult by listening to him. I will be forever grateful for that.

"When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

John Olivier somehow forgot the best line from police-themed musical media: 🎵“Love is not admissible evidence.”🎶

""Here's a rule that applies to both horse shoes and hand grenades, if you throw either of them into a crib, just once; you don't get to play with them anymore" lmao 🤣🤣😂

When I was a young girl in middle school, I had come home late from babysitting my cousins the next street over. My aunt was walking me home and my drunk neighbor tells us that Swamp Thing was down the street. We paid no mind since he was stumbling drunk. I get home and shower and crawl into bed. I was just falling asleep when the Swat Team, not Swamp Thing, burst into our house. They roughly handcuff my father pushing him into the ground, beating him pretty badly despite him watching a movie in the living room. The place was old and we were poor, so as they threw him around, they destroyed the walls, put several holes in the floor, full on demolition style. My younger sister was flung over a cop's shoulder and taken somewhere, she still doesn't talk about it, and we don't see her for 12 hours after we find out she was handed over to CPS. I had fallen asleep in my fathers room and began freaking out! Seconds later they threw a flash grenade into the room, it caught the bed on fire that I was laying in. I got drug out of the house by my feet and got scratched up in just my night shirt. It was the single worst thing I ever experienced. They were not looking for us, they were looking for some other jackass in another city that just happened to have the same generic name my father has. Our home, it was destroyed, our feeling of safety gone, and the trust I put into law enforcement was nonexistent and never returned. I am still traumatized by this event and it was 20 years ago this year. After everything calmed down, they evacuated and left me and my dad to clean up the mess, we never even received an apology. My dad tried to sue them for the damages to our home just so we wouldn't have to move, we couldn't afford to move. He was laughed at by everyone, no one paid for it, we had to ourselves. Our house was not fit for anyone or anything to live in, and we had no money to fix it. We lived there for another three years before we left. We only left because a storm destroyed the house and the three of us were forced to live with some relatives. Because the police screwed up and broke in as an accident, I had to live through some serious hardships. Having to keep snake repellent around the house, a stick by the bed in case animals came into the house, which yes this was a regular thing that happened. I can not describe to you how awful all this was, just because someone made a mistake, and our lives and home were ruined. We didn't live in some third world country, it was criminals that did this, it was here in the US that this happened. My father never had so much as a traffic ticket, let alone what they were charging the home for that night. I still have nightmares and flashbacks to that night. The police made sure it never made it to the press either. I can honestly say that my view of this country shattered that night, and I have never felt safe in any place I have lived since. But this will just go unanswered as is expected. I am still in tears recounting this. TL:DR Yes, this shit happens all the time. Yes, this shit is terrifying,. Yes, this follows you around for a long time. And No, no one is doing anything about it or seems to care when it happens. :edited for spelling:

John is completely right at the end. When something crazy has become normal, the solution will always seem radical.

In the Trailer Park Boys, there's a plot device where the main characters stymie a drug raid by switching out the street signs and house numbers. that seemed unrealistic a few years ago.

state attorney general's office raided my home because I sold a gram of weed to an informant. They destroyed my room, found half a gram of weed and a bowl. That state AG is in prison now.

My weekly dose of American shame

"you don't have to shout"... Awww when the big bad white man with a gun and an entire tactical team gets his feelings hurt cause you're yelling 🥺🥺

Blessings be upon you all, John Oliver, and your staff of writers! Thank you for telling the truth, in a society that so RARELY ever enjoys the experience of HEARING the truth spoken in any of our mainstream media!! I have risked my life, again and again, as an activist, trying to tell the truth the way that you are doing (in this particular piece of journalism, and in the many other topics you've covered, and that you continue to cover,) but no matter how many protests I attend, no matter how much pepper spray and tear gas I am forced to inhale, I will probably NEVER make the impact that you are making in even ONE of your shows... SO RIGHT THE FUCK ON!!! I LOVE YOU for doing what you're doing, and I wish you all the best! Sincerely, -Naomi Seraphina

Not long ago, I was genuinely asking about why it was so easy for any random person to do streamer swatting (or any other random people) in America (because the concept was bizarre to me), I thought SWAT was the elite police that you don't randomly dispatch everywhere and every time just by a random call. I got many responses trying to justify it. I still don't get it even now.

Funny how the only time a police officer is calm during a raid is when they’re telling someone else not to shout.

"action movie cosplay" is the best description of our current law enforcement.

So, in short: It's deeply woven into the US American self-conception that, in case of someone intruding into your home, you may legally defend yourself with even a firearm - unless the attacker is a member of police force on duty. Which you're probably supposed to figure out at 3am, just awoken by, of all things, bangs on your door and people shouting and progressing through your home very quickly. While possible invading the wrong address. Which to find out they had days or weeks, and which to actually find they could completely freely plan as they pleased - this is a surprise operation, after all. So the victim is supposed to be better at figuring out the other side than _an actual official governmental department_, that can not only execute any ever so radical measure with seemingly limitless supply, but also _give sanction to this measure_ by means of legal procedures. And, might I stress again: They weren't just woken up, they are not naked, they don't have their babies with them. This, frankly, is embarrassing.

Jon Oliver should be the journalist of the Year, every year

We can feel his anger meter getting filled minute by minute. Man, this is a tense one.

If I deliver a pizza to the wrong house, I may be fired, be charged for the pizza, etc. If a cop murders a person in the wrong house, they get paid vacation. America, are you great again yet?

I remember Cop Rock. I brought it up over the years and NOBODY ever knew what I was talking about.

John Oliver is my hero!!!!! Thank God we have some one who uses there platform to stand up for what's right.

Good work, John, but you didn’t mention anything about the motivation for raids. Cops generally get to add any cash they find in these raids to their annual budgets. This means they’re now addicted to these raids, both in the fantasy sense and financially. We may need a law that directs how seized funds can be used, and one that removes the financial incentive for these raids.

That clip of the confused raid team trying to look for the house they're supposed to hit while literally waking past it looks like its straight out of Reno 911.

I have a postdoctoral degree in grenadeology and did my thesis in the usage of grenades against infants and I can confirm that the research points to the conclusion that using flashbags against babies is generally uncalled for.

0:14 I think I've lost my mind... 1:17 I'm no longer certain I've ever been sane.

This show should be renamed "America is f*cking broken with John Oliver" and win an Emmy every year.

That video of the officers laughing that their raid looked cool while the homeowner was handcuffed pissed me off so bad. I just can't even fathom what type of people think someone would enjoy having their house falsely blown open and then cuffed as officers chuckled.

Honestly, I'm surprised John didn't mention the sick prank of Swatting...

I have always loved AMERICA and it's culture particularly the way its depicted in movies and stuff. I wanted to come to USA , study and settle down, but after binge watching all of the episodes of this show, I AM SERIOUSLY RECONSIDERING!!!

"Grenading a baby might not have been necessary." I never thought I'd hear that sentence.

Think about that bully from high school. Chances are He's a police officer now.

Also apparently cops can't tell the difference between a Taser and a handgun.

I fucking love Jon Oliver! This show never misses.

There's a lot of awful to digest here, but most appalling is that even when they fuck up, there's no liability. They don't even have to replace a door.

Sooo, they are basically a herd of stampeding rhinos - poor eyesight, quickly disoriented, easily riled up and leave a mess they are not held accountable for

John Oliver gives me hope like no other, love ya man

I love John's show...except for the fact that It always leaves me feeling like I'm a horrible person for not gathering up a mass following and marching out to make a change in the world as quickly as possible...but damn is he funny about it

This happened to my aunt and uncle. They live in an older nice neighborhood in CA. It was around 6 PM. The cops just busted open the door. It was the wrong house of course but my aunt and uncle had to replace their front door. The sheriffs dept would not reimburse them. This was 30 years ago.

Go after their wallets, make it mandatory that counties have to pay for any and all damages(both property and emotional) during raids if nothing is found. Steeper financial penalties should be standard for wrong house scenarios. Then the local governments will start cracking down on the cops, and judges should follow.

JUST AMAZING, THANKS OLIVER. KEEP TELLING THE TRUTH.

so wait a sec: they were trained in "cult mass suicide/murder of babies" but not your everyday traffic control? priorities

"We won't wait for more than 20 seconds because suspects might destroy evidence." "Oh, but we also won't check whether we even have the right address because suspects definitely won't destroy evidence during the one hour we spend breaking into their neighbour's homes."

"In hindsight, grenading a baby might not have been necessary."

Yo that bit about smoking weed and having $50 worth of Subway cookies.....oh yeah that's 100% accurate

"You might be thinking 'Oh come on, that must be a one off thing!'" Nope, this happened to me, only even worse. I called the cops bc a family member pulled a gun on us, and the police raided the house next door, didn't tell the 90 year old woman who they were before leaving, and then the next day *she called us* warning us of burglars. No, my family member was not arrested.

I’m an old woman with a cane; it definitely takes me more than 20 seconds to get to my front door.

Happened to a friend in an airbnb. Imagine that. You're on vacation, you're woked up in the middle of the night and held at gunpoint by screaming cowboys who didn't even knew the house they were checking was an airbnb that was booked that night. Imagine the incompetence. EDIT: I forgot to mention that it happened in Europe, not the USA

This video makes me wish I had the superpower to make peoples' heads explode. Police come through the door and they're wrong? Scratch that police team. I bet police would actually start paying more attention if the briefing finished with "Oh, and if you get the wrong house, you die."

John, consistently demonstrates the most eloquent use of the word "fuck," I have had the pleasure to bear witness to.

Absolutely amazed at John Oliver for one reason... The fact that he isn't cursing twice in every sentence when dealing with a topic this enraging is actually baffling. Man has more self restraint than most officers

I lived through a police raid. They busted into our apartment because the plant in the windowsill looked like a marijuana plant. They used knives to rip apart our furniture and destroyed our mattresses. By the time they left not one piece of furniture was salvageable and the only thing that looked the same was the fern in the windowsill. I still have nightmares.

Great show John. Very informative. Well done.

Love your show! John Oliver, so glad American people have you.

I am not an American citizen and I do not live in US but what is this feeling of anger creeping in

Boy, I sure missed Ruining My Monday Mornings with John Oliver.

If your house gets wrongfully raided and you shoot one of the cops dead, you should be automatically immune from all criminal charges.

So well said John

"Don't worry, we're the good guys!" *Tosses grenade at baby.*

As always, the root of the problem, the root of *every* problem John talks about these days, is a lack of accountability. Nobody is facing punishment for the horrible things they're doing... so they're going to keep doing those things. If a system cannot correct the errors (intentional or not) of those practicing that system, then the system is fucking *worthless.*

Can't watch this episode. Sorry, it's sickening, and in the way you meant it so good job, sincerely. I just can't see anymore of this evil before bed. Thank u for letting the world know, you're doing is a great service sir

If anything, John Oliver undersold just how insane 'Cop Rock' is. For anyone who hasn't seen it, I highly recommend checking out their songs on youtube. It will change your life.