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Fred Hampton — Part 3
Page 112
112 / 251
108 Nos. 77-1698, 77-1210 & 77-1370
out the foolishness of these various proposed alternatives
if the purpose of serving a particular warrant was to
search for and seize an arsenal of illegal weapons in a
probably unfriendly neighborhood and to arrest those
who were found to be possessors of those weapons.
Nevertheless, because the nature of the raid has been
given significance, it is necessary to analyze the existing
situation.
In settling upon the early morning hour as the ap-
propriate time for making the raid, Groth, as the com-
manding officer of the group, complied with Illinois law
which provided that a search warrant may be served at
any time of the day or night. § 108-13, Ill.Rev.Stat. Ch.
38 (1969). As the state defendants point out the key fac-
tor in that decision was to surprise the occupants while
hopefully they would be asleep, thus avoiding, if possi-
ble, any use of force or resistance, and that the
possessors of those illegal weapons would most likely be
present subject to arrest at the early morning hour. The
apartment was located in a residential area and police
arriving in any force at the scene during a daylight
hour, even during working time, would.attract a crowd
and in the event of any shooting the lives of nearby
citizens would be in danger.
The police had a right to anticipate the possibility that
the guns in the apartment might be used against them
particularly in view of the well-known attitude of the
Black Panther Party on the subject of the dispensability
of policemen.
As the Supreme Court stated in Terry v. Ohio, 392
U.S. 1, 28 (1968):
Certainly it would be unreasonable to require
that police officers take unnecessary risks in their
performance of their duties. American criminals
have a long tradition of armed violence, and every
year in this country many law enforcement officers
are killed in the line of duty, and thousands more
are wounded.
One of the occupants, Anderson, indeed said that he
was searching trying to find his shotgun which he had
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