State lawmakers approve home-raid bill
Jurisdictions would have to report how and how often SWAT teams are used
By Derek Simmonsen
dsimmonsen@patuxent.com
Posted 4/08/09
State lawmakers approved a bill Monday that would require local jurisdictions to report how and how often their SWAT teams are used.
Several Howard County residents had testified in Annapolis in support of the bill, including an Elkridge man whose dog was shot and killed by a Howard County Police tactical team at his home in January and two others whose homes also were the targets of police raids.
The House of Delegates passed the bill March 28 on a vote of 123 to 13 and the Senate unanimously approved the House version of the bill April 6, replacing a version of the bill it adopted earlier in the month.
If signed by the governor, the law would take effect Jan. 1, 2010.
The bill requires jurisdictions to report to the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention every six months on how many times a tactical team is deployed, along with the location, reason and legal authority for the deployment.
Police and sheriff’s departments will have to state whether they made arrests, whether property was seized and whether they made forced entry, fired their weapons or injured a person or animal.
Unless renewed, the bill would go out of effect in 2014.
Four members of the Howard County House delegation were among those who voted against the bill, including state Dels. Gail Bates and Warren Miller, both Republicans, and state Dels. Steven Deboy and James Malone, both Democrats.
“It’s additional overhead and it takes away from (law enforcement agencies’) real mission,” Miller said of his opposition to the bill.
All three senators representing Howard County supported the bill.
The issue of SWAT team raids gained statewide attention after Prince George’s County police raided the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo in July 2008. His two dogs were shot and killed by police during the incident. No one was arrested.
Three Howard County residents described their own experiences with police tactical teams while testifying before legislative committees.
Ellicott City resident Karen Thomas said police shot and killed her dog in September 2007 while searching for drugs, which were not found. Highland resident Boyd Petit said he was handcuffed along with his family and held outside at gunpoint in April 2008 while police searched for a weapon that was not discovered.
"We've very excited. We're hopeful that the governor's going to sign it," said Petit, who approves of adding more oversight to the use of SWAT teams. "We believe it's the right thing to do to try to change something that's out of control."
The most recent raid involved Elkridge resident Mike Hasenei, whose home was raided Jan. 15 while a tactical team searched for stolen police weapons.
The weapons were not found and no arrests were made.
Del. Guy Guzzone, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said the bill could shield homeowners from similar ordeals in the future.
“I hope it will help to avoid those kinds of situations,” he said. “Obviously for the people involved they were very scary incidents.”
This story has been updated.
Several Howard County residents had testified in Annapolis in support of the bill, including an Elkridge man whose dog was shot and killed by a Howard County Police tactical team at his home in January and two others whose homes also were the targets of police raids.
The House of Delegates passed the bill March 28 on a vote of 123 to 13 and the Senate unanimously approved the House version of the bill April 6, replacing a version of the bill it adopted earlier in the month.
If signed by the governor, the law would take effect Jan. 1, 2010.
The bill requires jurisdictions to report to the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention every six months on how many times a tactical team is deployed, along with the location, reason and legal authority for the deployment.
Police and sheriff’s departments will have to state whether they made arrests, whether property was seized and whether they made forced entry, fired their weapons or injured a person or animal.
Unless renewed, the bill would go out of effect in 2014.
Four members of the Howard County House delegation were among those who voted against the bill, including state Dels. Gail Bates and Warren Miller, both Republicans, and state Dels. Steven Deboy and James Malone, both Democrats.
“It’s additional overhead and it takes away from (law enforcement agencies’) real mission,” Miller said of his opposition to the bill.
All three senators representing Howard County supported the bill.
The issue of SWAT team raids gained statewide attention after Prince George’s County police raided the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo in July 2008. His two dogs were shot and killed by police during the incident. No one was arrested.
Three Howard County residents described their own experiences with police tactical teams while testifying before legislative committees.
Ellicott City resident Karen Thomas said police shot and killed her dog in September 2007 while searching for drugs, which were not found. Highland resident Boyd Petit said he was handcuffed along with his family and held outside at gunpoint in April 2008 while police searched for a weapon that was not discovered.
"We've very excited. We're hopeful that the governor's going to sign it," said Petit, who approves of adding more oversight to the use of SWAT teams. "We believe it's the right thing to do to try to change something that's out of control."
The most recent raid involved Elkridge resident Mike Hasenei, whose home was raided Jan. 15 while a tactical team searched for stolen police weapons.
The weapons were not found and no arrests were made.
Del. Guy Guzzone, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said the bill could shield homeowners from similar ordeals in the future.
“I hope it will help to avoid those kinds of situations,” he said. “Obviously for the people involved they were very scary incidents.”
This story has been updated.
user comments (1)
user citizentaxpayerjane says...
Howard County Police are inviting community residents to come by Monday Apr 20 at 7pm to the Marriottsville location to provide them with feedback on services. See their site.
Posted 5:31 AM, 04.12.09
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