LAPD’s Battering Ram Roars Back Into Action

For the first time in nearly a year, Los Angeles police wheeled their famous battering ram-equipped armored vehicle into action Tuesday night to smash their way into a house believed to be a narcotics dealing center.

At about the same time, Police Cmdr. William Booth said, other officers used a more traditional pry bar to break into a house across the street in the 5300 block of South Manhattan Place.

Seven suspected drug dealers and buyers, as well as what Booth described as large amounts of rock cocaine and cash, were reported seized in the simultaneous raids.

Also seized at the house hit by the battering ram, Booth said, were at least nine guns, including an Uzi submachine gun.

He said the raids concluded an investigation during which undercover officers purchased narcotics as recently as Tuesday. Neighbors, Booth added, welcomed the narcotics and SWAT team officers.

The much-publicized, six-ton armored vehicle with its 14-foot-long steel battering ram was used four times since its introduction last February, but had not been involved in an actual drug raid since last April.

Critics of the machine claim that police shied away from using it following the filing of several lawsuits and pressure from groups opposed to the method on both legal and safety grounds.

The state Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether use of the ram is constitutional.