Statement from David McGuire, ACLU of Connecticut Legislative and Policy Director, on Stamford SWAT Killing of Dylan Pape

Another person has died after a SWAT raid in Connecticut, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut to call for increased oversight and reporting requirements regarding SWAT units. On Monday night, the Stamford Police Department Special Response Team, a SWAT unit, shot and killed twenty-five-year-old Dylan Pape outside of his home.

“We do not know what happened to Dylan Pape, and we have no assurances, under Connecticut law, that we ever will. This is sadly not the first time that a SWAT unit has killed someone at a Connecticut home. Connecticut residents need and deserve transparency about how, when, and why police use SWAT units,” said David McGuire, Legislative and Policy Director for the ACLU of Connecticut. “In 2016, it is unconscionable that a highly militarized police unit can barge into someone's home or property, use lethal force, and face no requirement to explain itself. Yet this is precisely the situation in which we find ourselves today. Right now, there are no laws requiring SWAT team oversight or reporting in Connecticut. We call on the legislature to pass legislation to provide comprehensive, clear SWAT team reporting and oversight.”

Last year, the Connecticut General Assembly considered a bill that would have required police SWAT unit reporting and oversight. That bill failed on a tie vote of 22-22 in the Judiciary Committee.

In 2008, the Southwest Regional Emergency Response Team, a regional SWAT force, forcibly entered a home in Easton, Connecticut, searching for drugs. Police detonated flash bang grenades, and an officer shot and killed an unarmed man in the home. The case was settled with the five towns represented by the Southwest Regional team for $3.5 million.

Since 2009, state and local police in Connecticut, including SWAT teams, have acquired $12.9 million worth of military equipment—including a military helicopter, mine resistant vehicles, bayonets, and automatic weapons—through a Department of Defense program. Nationally, the number of SWAT raids has increased 20-fold since the 1980's, to 60,000 per year.