ANNAPOLIS -- Two Howard County residents told members of a state Senate committee today that their lives were  traumatized by police tactical team raids on their homes, and urged the committee to adopt a bill providing more oversight of such teams.

Karen Thomas told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee that she heard Howard County police shoot and kill her dog in her Ellicott City living room in September 2007, while she lay upstairs on the floor, surrounded by police who had not identified themselves.

“In my mind, terrorists had just killed my son and they were going to kill me next,” she told committee members.

Thomas said that police were searching for drugs, but none were found.

She said she hoped the legislation could help others avoid her plight.

“I don’t think any family should have to endure what I endured,” she said.

Choking back tears, Boyd Petit told committee members that during an April 2008 raid on his Highland home, a police tactical team had handcuffed him and his family outside his home, at gunpoint and in front of his neighbors, while other officers searched his house.

“Our collective lives flashed before our eyes,” he said.
 
Petit claimed the raid on his house was prompted by a former customer, who made false allegations about him to police. He said police were searching for a specific weapon, but it was not found.

A Howard County police spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment on the raids.

The issue of police raids has emerged in Howard County in the wake of the Jan. 15 raid on Elkridge resident Mike Hasenei, whose dog was shot and killed by a police tactical team that was searching his house for stolen police weapons. The weapons were not found and no arrests were made in that raid, which was first reported in the Howard County Times.

Hasenei did not testify before the senate committee.

The issue also has sparked controversy in other jurisdictions. The bill discussed at today's hearing was introduced by state Sen. Anthony Muse of Prince George’s County, who worked on the bill with Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo.

In July 2008, Calvo’s two dogs were shot and killed by Prince George’s County police during a much-publicized raid on his home.

Calvo testified at the hearing, as did a resident of Montgomery County, who also complained about a police raid.

Muse’s bill requires police agencies to report the number, purposes, location and results of all tactical team raids to the state attorney general’s office monthly. The reporting would make it easier for legislators and law enforcement officials to identify trends, and perhaps make necessary changes.

Muse said his bill was not meant as a slap in the face to police.

“I believe we can talk about what goes wrong without indicting law enforcement as a whole,” Muse said.
 
Sen. James Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat, said the bill did not go far enough. “I think what happened in Howard County was so egregious,” that even more oversight is required, he said.

But several law enforcement officials testified against the bill, claiming that police agencies could handle tactical teams through education and training, and that police already kept the relevant statistics.
 
Percy O. Alston, Jr., representing the Maryland State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, said tactical team raids are often essential because police do not know what they are going to be confronted with when they go into a home.
 
“You don’t necessarily know the intent of the person on the other side of the door,” he said.

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user comments (9)

user observer says...

One of the legacies of the Bush era is a dangerous tilt towards a police state mentality in this country. Local law enforcement, recipients of countless Homeland Security grants, often joined in. Now, it is time to adjust the balance back towards the Constitutional rights of American citizens--at the federal level, for sure, but also here at home.

Posted 10:27 PM, 03.03.09 | Permalink

user independent says...

The measure of moving forward will be to re-balance without skewing too far in the opposite direction.

Posted 8:31 AM, 03.04.09 | Permalink

user mdl7 says...

One of the legacies of the Clintonian times - lack of oversight on local law enforcement agencies. Come on - don't just blame it on Bush - we are all to blame. Y'all stood around and let it get to this - why didn't you stop it 4 years ago?

Posted 8:47 AM, 03.04.09 | Permalink

user bingo says...

My family was awoken one early morning by two locale law enforcement officers after a family member left a car on the side of the road in Howard County. The two law enforcement officers yelled and pounded on our door waking up my family and some of the neighbors.

Posted 1:29 PM, 03.04.09 | Permalink

user fieldsofpeople says...

Posted 7:27 PM, 03.04.09 | Permalink

user fieldsofpeople says...

This is a budgets issue. If the police tactical team doesn't justify its budget by doing raids, they're all out of jobs. So they have to raid as many people as possible to keep the money flowing into their department. Remember that the next time the Fraternal Order of Police calls and wants your money.

Posted 7:29 PM, 03.04.09 | Permalink

user mattsafari says...

This bill does not go far enough. Notify your local representative! http://mdelect.net/electedofficials/

Posted 9:54 AM, 03.05.09 | Permalink

user givemeabreak says...

“In my mind, terrorists had just killed my son and they were going to kill me next,' she told committee members." This is one of the reasons these paramilitary police tactics are BS. The police claim that no-knock entries are safer for officers in certain situations, but in reality, it isn't safer for anyone. I own a gun, and if the cops broke into my house unannounced, there is a very good chance that one of two things would happen: 1) I shoot a cop, or; 2) the cops, armed with M4 carbines and MP5 submachine guns, shoot me 213 times after I attempt to defend my home. In situation #1, I am going to go to jail for the rest of my life, even though in MD we have the right to use deadly force in defense of our homes. If #2 were to take place, absolutely nothing would happen to any of the police officers. They would all just put in the report that this big, crazy man w/ a .45 caliber drew down on them, and in perceiving hostile intent, they made the decision to use lethal force and smoke the homeowner. End of story.

Posted 10:08 AM, 03.06.09 | Permalink

user hocoblows666 says...

First and fore most Givemeabreak's scenario is pretty much exactly how it would go down if they ransacked a lot of people's house like that. Either way something needs to be done because the police in the Howard county area are egotistical, selfish, and sometimes down right dangerous. I have had to unfortunately deal with them and it is not a pleasant experience. None of that matters though if they can't get their facts straight before they enter a house in the manor that they do then the next thing to happen is someone is gonna be killed. I am still blown away that no public apology or anything of that matter has happened. I feel that Howard County Police department is a sad excuse for "Protecting the People".

Posted 8:27 PM, 03.19.09 | Permalink