On a January morning, Howard County police learned that two of their cruisers had been broken into while parked in an Elkridge neighborhood. Someone stole penlights, a Police Department baseball cap, citation books - and a high-powered rifle and nearly 150 rounds of ammunition.
The next day, a SWAT team raided Mike Hasenei's nearby mobile home.
Hasenei says an officer hit him in the face with a shield, knocked him to the ground and handcuffed him and his wife. Police shot one of the family dogs.
But no weapon was found. And Hasenei has added his voice to those raising questions about the use of SWAT teams by Maryland police agencies.
"It's just a sad situation that could have been avoided if they had done some homework," said Hasenei, a 38-year-old senior computer analyst for Marriott International.
Howard County Police Chief William J. McMahon defended the raid, one of three that night on homes in Elkridge's Deep Run Park.
"The bottom line is that we had information that we believed the weapons can be in that home, the judge agreed and authorized to do the search," McMahon said. "Nobody feels good about the fact that a dog was killed."
Hasenei, who has filed a complaint with county police, says he plans to testify Tuesday at a state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing. He is in favor of a bill that would require a standard report for police agencies that would include how often SWAT teams are deployed, for what purpose and the results of those raids.
Requests for data from several police agencies throughout the Baltimore region produced varying amounts of information about tactical unit deployment last year, including how many warrants led to arrests in Baltimore County and the number of hostage situations handled in Howard County. But none could readily provide comprehensive information about their units' activities last year.
In pushing for the bill, Hasenei joins Cheye Calvo, the mayor of a suburban Washington town, whose dogs were killed by a SWAT team last year in a raid that made international news.
"It's pretty clear to me that police are using SWAT teams for duties that used to be performed by ordinary police officers," says Calvo, whose Berwyn Heights house was raided July 29 when police mistakenly thought his wife was involved in drug trafficking. "No question, there are times when SWAT teams are appropriate. What strikes me about this is that police are using SWAT teams as an initial response rather than a last resort."
