Hallandale Beach’s police chief and the head of the police union are expected to meet Monday to discuss the mass resignation of the department’s SWAT team and their grievances, the mayor said Saturday.
“I will be following up with our chief of police, following up with our unions and, most importantly, ensuring that our accredited department has the resources and the training that they need to protect and serve our public,” Mayor Joy Cooper said.
Her comments came after a firestorm erupted Friday over the mass resignation of the city’s 10-person SWAT detail. The unit claimed they are “minimally equipped, under trained, and often times restrained by the politicization of our tactics.”
In particular, the squad took offense that some protesters, seemingly supported by city Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana, were reacting to a deadly 2014 incident in which the SWAT team raided a home and killed an unarmed black man, Howard Bowe, in his kitchen.
Cooper stressed that after Bowe’s death, the department reformed its policies and practices and the tragic event is not representative of the current department. “We addressed the use of force,” she said. “We implemented body cameras. We instituted de-escalation training. We instituted also diversity training. And we became accredited. “
“I think it’s disingenuous not to make sure the public knows those facts.”
The SWAT team offered its collective resignation in a letter dated Tuesday, June 9, but city officials said they did not receive it until Friday morning. City Manager Greg Chavarria assured the public that the team’s duties will be covered through a mutual agreement with neighboring departments.
The city’s officers resigned from the SWAT team, but did not resign from the police department, Chavarria said.
Cooper said she hoped the SWAT team is reconstituted because it serves an important role in protecting two large venues: The Big Easy Casino and Gulfstream Park, which has shops, restaurants and thoroughbred racing. “I certainly don’t want to be waiting by the sidelines for another agency to respond to incidences in our community,” Cooper said.
In the resignation letter, the SWAT team wrote that: “The risk of carrying out our duties is no longer acceptable to us and our families.”
They talked of the “anguish and stress” of knowing that they are called to serve, while continuing to be condemned publicly for an event from years ago that already was investigated and resolved.
In the May 2014 raid, a team of 15 officers showed up to Bowe’s home about 6 a.m., shot and killed his chained pit bull, broke down his duplex door, deployed a stun-grenade and fired a single shot into his chest as he stood in his kitchen in his underwear.
Bowe, 34, died in the hospital 11 days later. The officers were serving a search warrant as part of a narcotics investigation, but instead killed the father of three and his 13-year-old dog named Tank.
After the shooting, police confiscated about 18.5 grams of crack cocaine from Bowe’s home, according to a police report.
Bowe’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the city and four police officers involved in the shooting, including Officer Christopher Allen, whose name is included in the resignation letter from Tuesday.
The lawsuit alleged that the officers’ “military-style raid committed a series of errors resulting in unnecessary confusion and chaos among the officers,” and also accused them of unjustly roughing up, handcuffing and detaining Bowe’s 16-year-old son.
Two officers dragged Bowe’s 16-year-old son, Howard Bowe III, from his bed and handcuffed him before carrying him over his father’s body and outside, the complaint said. It also questioned why the officers used deadly force on a family pet that didn’t have a history of violence, and called the decision a compromise to the safety of the raid.
“A search warrant should not be a death warrant for innocent dogs,” according to the complaint.
A Broward County grand jury determined that Bowe’s homicide “was the result of the justifiable use of deadly force.” His family won a $425,000 settlement in the case in 2018.
Hallandale Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana was a 20-year-old Hallandale Beach resident at the time. She spoke out against Bowe’s slaying to the city commission when they approved the settlement, and protested against it on Monday.
Her actions angered the city’s SWAT team.
The resignation letter describes their frustrations with the city’s government, particularly Javellana, who they accuse of openly 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.”
The SWAT members wrote in the letter that they were upset Javellana protested against them and had command staff officers take a knee with her. Javellana and demonstrators chanted “Howard Bowe, re-open the case, State Attorney, re-open the case,” the letter said.
“She has shown that she takes pleasure in besmirching the hard work and dedication of the members of this professional agency, having the gall to compare us to the Minneapolis Police Department,” they wrote in the letter.
Javellana said she was shocked to learn about the letter while she was grocery shopping on Friday night. But she said she doesn’t regret attending the protest, which she said was organized by members of the community she knows and trusts.
“I have been vocal about the wrongful death of Howard Bowe since even before I was in elected office,” she said Friday night. “We have our own George Floyds and Breonna Taylors in our own city that we must address before we can heal and reform.”
Javellana said she met Bowe’s sister at the protest, where they hugged and cried together. “I couldn’t imagine the pain I would feel losing my own brother.”
Javellana explained what she said was in reference to the police department’s history of SWAT raids from 2006-2014 in northwest Hallandale Beach, which she said is historically black.
“Point is that Howard Bowe’s life mattered and he should be here living peacefully today with his son and his dog,” she said.
In a statement, City Manager Chavarria said: “The officers who submitted their resignation from their SWAT assignment include the newly elected president of the IUPA Police Union. They specifically mention their displeasure with the Chief joining members of our community in taking a knee against racism, hatred, and intolerance earlier this week. They have incorrectly stated the gesture was in support of an elected official. This is simply not true.”
Brooke Baitinger can be reached at: bbaitinger@sunsentinel.com, 954-422-0857 or Twitter: @bybbaitinger
