Crime & Courts

In Anchorage, SWAT call-outs average 1 per month

Thursday's SWAT call-out marks the 11th time this year the Anchorage Police Department has deployed its heavily-armored tactical unit to deal with a volatile situation.

Officers wearing green body armor and equipped with rifles positioned themselves near a multiplex in the neighborhood of Mountain View. Several officers were perched atop the police department's armored vehicle, affectionately nicknamed "The Bear."

Twenty-six-year-old Eric Nebreja reportedly threatened an officer with a gun at a gas station before running off into the neighborhood and barricading himself inside a residence. A police spokesperson said the tactical resources were meant to ensure that the suspect didn't harm himself, bystanders or officers. He surrendered several hours into the standoff, when police deployed tear gas.

Anchorage police Chief Mark Mew said in a previous interview about the public's perception of police militarization that SWAT missions are needed for situations with "potential for extreme violence."

"The department calls out SWAT when there's a suspect that is entrenched and dangerous and won't come out for patrol (officers)," Mew said. "We're going to need space, time and more people. People with different equipment, skills and training."

Data difficult to procure

Alaska Dispatch News requested several decades' worth of SWAT data from APD in late June after the American Civil Liberties Union released its report "War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing." The ACLU reported that 62 percent of SWAT deployments nationwide in 2011 and 2012 were for drug searches, while 79 percent involved executing a search warrant.

The records request was initially denied because "the data you're asking for is not readily available. It would take hundreds of hours to produce the requested data," said APD spokesperson Anita Shell in an email.

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The data was requested again when national and local dialogue shifted to a perceived police militarization following the death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Ferguson, Missouri, resident who was shot and killed by a police officer in August. Protests are still occurring in the St. Louis area as a result of Brown's death.

APD agreed to compile its SWAT call-outs for the previous two years. Alaska Dispatch News paid nearly $400 for a two-page list that included dates and times of incidents, the type of incident, "force used" and outcomes. The data collection was completed in mid-September.

Small events versus heavily armed offenders

According to the data provided, in 2013, the APD's Special Weapons and Tactics Unit was deployed 14 times.

Five of those call-outs were the result of assaults, one of which was on a police officer. All of the assault-related incidents save one were resolved without the use of force, meaning police didn't have to use tools like tear gas and flash bang grenades.

The assault of the officer occurred on Aug. 22, 2013, and SWAT ended up using gas, Tasers, canine units and flash bangs to arrest the suspect.

The other call-outs in 2013 were for a variety of incident types: two for weapons misconduct, three warrant arrests, two "disturbances," a single welfare check and one homicide, according to the data.

No contact was made during one of those deployments; all the others resulted in arrests. And most incidents ended peacefully. However, several required the use of less-than-lethal weapons.

This year, five call-outs resulted from assaults. There were also two warrant arrests, a burglary and a mental-health check that required the unit, according to the data.

Felony charges, municipal violations and no consequences

Not all suspects involved in SWAT call-outs face charges. Of the 11 incidents in 2014, seven resulted in criminal cases.

On Aug. 1, police got a call about a verbal altercation between 30-year-old Kris Wasuli and his girlfriend. According to the charges against Wasuli, an argument turned violent when he began punching the woman in the face and threatening to kill her. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen and threatened himself and his girlfriend, the charges say.

Alcohol contributed to the crime, police said.

The police department's data indicates the SWAT team did not have to use any force -- lethal or non-lethal -- in that instance. Wasuli reportedly surrendered peacefully.

Wasuli ended up pleading guilty to fourth-degree assault, according to court records. He was sentenced to about five months in jail and up to three months of alcohol treatment. Additionally, he was ordered to pay for the SWAT call-out. The court records don't say how much restitution he had to shell out for "SWAT services."

In a separate incident earlier this year in April, the unit deployed gas and flash bang grenades to apprehend 35-year-old Kristoffer Reuer. For his alleged resistance, he was charged with a municipal violation: resisting or interfering with a police officer, though he faced separate felony charges.

That's why police were trying to arrest Reuer to begin with: They were attempting to execute felony arrest warrants on multiple individuals in the neighborhood of Spenard. When Reuer ignored officers' commands, they shot tear gas into the residence. He still didn't come out, according to the charges.

"The defendant was found hiding inside a false wall," the charges say.

About a month later, a South Anchorage man started an armed standoff after "a disturbance between a man and a woman involving a weapon," police reported at that time. Police originally said the man would face charges of assault and interfering with the report of a domestic violence crime. However, court records show no charges were filed.

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The Special Assignment Unit

The data provided by the police department doesn't include instances when SWAT was deployed but situations resolved before their arrival. It also doesn't include deployments of the Special Assignment Unit, or SAU. That unit's officers perform "street level dope cases and surveillance," said Mew. The unit recently assisted in the arrest of Aaron Sullivan, 26, who allegedly shot at a police officer who tried to pull him over.

The SAU is staffed entirely with SWAT-trained officers who keep the heavier gear inside their patrol vehicles in case a partial team needs to be formed quickly, the chief said.

"If it's a small event and we don't need the whole (SWAT) team, the SAU can deal with it with better capabilities than patrol," Mew said. "They may do high-risk warrant services; help detectives do raids, where they make and entry and secure the place, and get everybody in cuffs. They'll leave and detectives will come in and do the search."

Anchorage police, according to the data, deploy SWAT equally, in general, among the aforementioned scenarios. Mew said the rule of thumb since the 1980s, when he was part of the SWAT unit, is about one call-out per month. The data reflects that assertion, but use of the Special Assignment Unit isn't included because "we don't consider that a call-out," he said.

ACLU reported only 7 percent of SWAT deployments nationally in 2011 and 2012 were for situations involving a hostage, barricaded person, or active shooter. The nonprofit contends police departments are excessively using the units for things like low-level drug busts.

Anchorage's police "attempt to resolve most situations by first using negotiation," Mew said. "If that's not possible then we use other means. But, of course, it's going to depend on the event, what the suspect is doing and how well they're armed ... a lot of criminals nowadays are heavily armed."

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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