Media Advisory: Author of book on militarization of U.S. police forces, victim of home raid to speak at KU

CONTACT: Mark Kind, 913-406-7113, acskulaw@gmail.com, American Constitution Society Chapter President, University of Kansas School of Law Chapter

WHO: Radley Balko, author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces” and Addie Harte, attorney, former CIA employee, and victim of SWAT-style home raid by militarized police force on false suspicions of marijuana production

WHAT: Eye-opening discussion of the increasing militarization of U.S. police forces at the local, state and national levels, and the erosion of rights in the 3rd and 4th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

WHERE: University of Kansas School of Law, 104 Green Hall, 1535 W. 15th St.

WHEN: 12:30 p.m. Tuesday March 4

SPONSORS: School of Law student chapters of the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society; and Morgan Pilate LLC, Kansas City, Mo.

Radley Balko is an acclaimed author and columnist who writes a regular online column for the Washington Post. A former policy analyst for the Cato Institute, Balko writes on drug policy, police misconduct and civil liberties. His work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Playboy, Time, the Los Angeles Times and Slate. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC and National Public Radio.

Addie Harte is a Kansas City-area resident, an attorney and former CIA employee. She and husband Robert Harte have two children. Although they have no connections of any kind to illegal drugs, police raided their home in 2012 on an unsupported suspicion that they were growing cannabis. In 2014, Harte has testified in the Missouri and Kansas statehouses on law enforcement legislation, including a Kansas proposal to open up local police records concerning the evidence used to obtain search and arrest warrants.