Hallandale Beach Police Department

Last updated
Hallandale Beach Police Department
AbbreviationHBPD
Jurisdictional structure
Legal jurisdiction Hallandale Beach, Broward County, Florida, U.S.
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters400 S. Federal Highway
Hallandale Beach, Florida, U.S.
Agency executive
Facilities
Stations1
Website
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/index.aspx?NID=17

The Hallandale Beach Police Department is the law enforcement agency of Hallandale Beach, Florida. Its headquarters is located in a municipal building at 400 South Federal Highway, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009. In 2022, the chief of police is Michel Michel.

Contents

On June 9, 2020, the entire SWAT team resigned en masse from the team (though not from the Police Department), citing "today's political climate" and "several recent local events". They also stated that "the team is minimally equipped, undertrained and often times restrained by the politicization of our tactics to the extent of placing the safety of dogs over the safety of team members." They criticized the city's government, and especially Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana, for making "ignorant and inaccurate statements attacking the lawful actions of the city's officers and SWAT team, both from the dais and her social media accounts." [1] Among their grievances is that the Police Chief "took a knee" in solidarity with the George Floyd Protestors. [2]

Radley Balko, author of The Rise of the Warrior Cop , cited Hallandale Beach in the book as an example of why small cities do not need SWAT teams. He also notes that "at times, the annual number of people killed by its police department has nearly equaled the number of murders in the city. (Nationally, the ratio over the past few years has been about 15 murders for every killing by police.)" [3]

Howard Bowe incident

The "lawful actions" the officers refer to deal with the killing of Howard Bowe. A SWAT team of 15 officers showed up at his home on May 8, 2014, to serve a search warrant as part of a narcotics investigation. They shot and killed his chained pit bull, broke down the door, deployed a stun grenade, and fired a single shot into the unarmed man's chest as he stood in his kitchen in his underwear. The man died in hospital 11 days later. [1] A grand jury did not indict the shooter, [4] and the Police Department's Internal Affairs cleared the officers as well. [5] However, the City had to pay $425,000 to settle a civil lawsuit filed by Bowe's heirs. [6]

Javellana and other demonstrators called for the State Attorney to reopen the case. According to her, "We have our own George Floyds and Breonna Taylors". She "explained what she said was in reference to the police department's history of SWAT raids from 2016–2014 in northwest Hallandale Beach, which she said is historically black." [1]

According to Mayor Joy Cooper, since Bowe's death, the Police Department has been reformed, revising policies on use of force, instituting body cameras, de-escalation training, and diversity training. Also, the Police Department has again become accredited. [1]

Eduardo Prieto, Jr., incident

In December of 2016, a grand jury did not indict three officers for the 2012 shooting of Eduardo Prieto Jr. [7]

Michael Eugene Wilson

In May of 2016, Michael Eugene Wilson was shot and killed by a police officer. [8]

Daniel Dunkelberger

In 2018, two officers were placed on administrative leave after a bystander recorded them beating a mentally challenged man, Daniel Dunkelmeyer, with batons. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SWAT</span> American law enforcement unit

In the United States, a SWAT team is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to handle riot control or violent confrontations with criminals, the number and usage of SWAT teams increased in the 1980s and 1990s during the War on Drugs and later in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. In the United States by 2005, SWAT teams were deployed 50,000 times every year, almost 80% of the time to serve search warrants, most often for narcotics. By 2015 that number had increased to nearly 80,000 times a year. SWAT teams are increasingly equipped with military-type hardware and trained to deploy against threats of terrorism, for crowd control, hostage taking, and in situations beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement, sometimes deemed "high-risk".

In the United States, a no-knock warrant is a warrant issued by a judge that allows law enforcement to enter a property without immediate prior notification of the residents, such as by knocking or ringing a doorbell. In most cases, law enforcement will identify themselves just before they forcefully enter the property. It is issued under the belief that any evidence they hope to find may be destroyed between the time that police identify themselves and the time they secure the area, or in the event where there is a large perceived threat to officer safety during the execution of the warrant.

Ryan David Frederick, born 1979 or 1980 (age 42–43) is a former prisoner of the state of Virginia. He was convicted in 2009 of killing an on-duty police officer who was serving a search warrant. Frederick has said he acted in self-defense and did not know that the person breaking into his house was a police officer. Frederick was reportedly released in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jose Guerena shooting</span> 2011 fatal law enforcement incident

Jose Guerena was a U.S. Marine veteran who served in the Iraq War and who was killed in his Tucson, Arizona home on May 5, 2011 by the Pima County Sheriff's Department SWAT team. Deputies were executing a warrant to search Guerena's home while investigating a case involving marijuana being smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Militarization of police</span> Law enforcement using combat methods

The militarization of police is the use of military equipment and tactics by law enforcement officers. This includes the use of armored personnel carriers (APCs), assault rifles, submachine guns, flashbang grenades, sniper rifles, and SWAT teams. The militarization of law enforcement is also associated with intelligence agency–style information gathering aimed at the public and political activists and with a more aggressive style of law enforcement. Criminal justice professor Peter Kraska has defined militarization of police as "the process whereby civilian police increasingly draw from, and pattern themselves around, the tenets of militarism and the military model".

Corey Jones was shot to death by police officer Nouman K. Raja, while waiting for a tow truck by his disabled car, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

On January 28, 2019, in the Pecan Park area in the East End district of Houston, Houston Police Department (HPD) officers initiated a no-knock raid on a house, killing the two homeowners, a husband and wife: Dennis Wayne Tuttle and Rhogena Ann Nicholas. They were aged 59 and 58, respectively. Five HPD officers sustained injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Floyd protests in Florida</span> 2020 civil unrest after the murder of George Floyd

This is a list of protests in Florida in response to the murder of George Floyd. On May 31, 2020, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis activated the Florida National Guard, and deployed 700 soldiers to assist law enforcement agencies across the state. Additionally, DeSantis instructed the Florida Highway Patrol to mobilize 1,300 troopers to assist in policing actions.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Baitinger, Brooke; Svekis, Steve; O'Matz, Megan (June 13, 2020). "Hallandale Beach SWAT team resigns en masse". Sun Sentinel .
  2. ↑ Cetoute, Devoun (June 12, 2020). "Hallandale Beach SWAT team steps down, outraged over police chief kneeling with protesters". Miami Herald .
  3. ↑ Balko, Radley (June 17, 2020). "An entire Florida SWAT team resigned last week. It's for the best". Washington Post .
  4. ↑ Alanez, Tonya (April 8, 2016). "Grand jury pardons Hallandale Beach cop who shot, killed man during 6 a.m. raid". Sun Sentinel .
  5. ↑ "Cops cleared in 2014 killing". Sun Sentinel . 14 October 2016. p. B1 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Kornfield, Meryl (June 20, 2018). "$425,000 payout OK'd to family of man killed during police raid". Sun Sentinel .
  7. ↑ "Hallandale Beach cops will not be charged in fatal shooting". Miami Herald . December 6, 2016. p. A9 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Associated Press (23 May 2016). "Police fatally shoot alleged car burglar in South Florida". Orlando Sentinel . p. B2 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Two police officers under investigation". Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida). 2 June 2018. p. B4 – via newspapers.com.
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