Police board votes not to investigate search-seizure allegations

Former officers claim chief ordered searches they saw no grounds for

OLD SAYBROOK — The police commission has voted not to pursue an investigation into the legality of the police chief’s search and seizure practices, the latest in a string of decisions forgoing additional oversight.

The commission in late November adopted a policy formally limiting which board members would see complaints against the department and barring individual commissioners from conducting independent investigations.

Earlier that fall, the commission took no action to investigate an incident after a woman alleged police aggressively questioned a man with Down syndrome. Most board members indicated they saw no need to review footage of the incident after a state’s attorney found no wrongdoing.

And in September, the commission voted not to change its own “key contact” information. Some residents had raised accountability concerns during public comment because the town website directs those wishing to reach the commission to Chief of Police Michael Spera rather than individual commissioners. Monday’s motion, which, had it passed, would have requested funds to engage an attorney “with expertise in constitutional protections … to assess the legality and desirability of Chief Spera’s orders or practices in this area,” was made by Commissioner Alfred “Chub” Wilcox.

Under the investigation Wilcox recommended, a lawyer would have interviewed current and former OSPD officers and confidentially reported findings to the commission.

His proposal stemmed from allegations published late last year by CT Examiner , which in December reported that one former Old Saybrook police officer, Mark Testoni, alleged he saw Spera order officers to search a car without permission, and that another, Shannon Warren, said she witnessed Spera order officers to enter a house without a warrant.

The motion failed 2-5, with Wilcox and Renee Shippee the only commissioners in favor.

“We know Chief Spera is a by-the-book guy,” Commissioner Susan Quish said at Monday’s meeting. “There’s no way that he’s gonna order his team to conduct an illegal search.”

Vice Chairman Kenneth Reid shared a similar view, saying that in all the years Spera has been chief, he had “not heard of one illegal search and seizure complaint or anything valid.”

“The chief would never allow or condone anything in such a manner as that type of behavior,” he said.

But both the former officers confirmed their allegations with Hearst Connecticut Media, with Testoni saying he saw no grounds to justify the car search.

Shannon Warren, formerly Shannon Miller, a former sergeant with the Old Saybrook Police Department who now works as an officer in East Lyme, said her allegations concerned in incident in which police searched a house for a person on suspicion of a misdemeanor. She said she was not aware of grounds for the search.

Spera did not return requests for comment.

To search a person’s home without a warrant, police must meet a high bar, according to Michael Lawlor, a criminal justice expert at the University of New Haven. Lawlor spoke generally about search and seizure laws and did not comment specifically on the issue in Old Saybrook.

“People’s homes are the most protected place, you know, your home is your castle, so all of the rules are going to be most strictly enforced when it comes to people’s houses,” he said.

Even if police have probable cause to make an arrest, a warrant usually is required to enter the suspect’s home, Lawlor said. There are exceptions, however, such as when police are in “hot pursuit” or have reason to believe a suspect might destroy evidence.

“You really have to have a good reason to go into a house,” he said. “If it’s just a misdemeanor, it’s going to be hard to justify.”

Dan Barrett, the legal director of the Connecticut American Civil Liberties Union, confirmed that generally, police cannot enter homes to arrest people, though there are some exceptions.

“Even if it’s a super-serious crime, you get a warrant first,” he said. “The home is one of the last safe spaces.”

It’s unlikely to be the last time a motion concerning oversight comes before the police board.

Wilcox already has requested an agenda item that would allow commissioners to discuss being notified about lawsuits involving the Police Department, he said. He pursued the matter after learning through Hearst Connecticut Media’s reporting that the town earlier this year settled a lawsuit regarding police conduct.

The lawsuit alleged Old Saybrook police officers, who denied wrongdoing in court filings, used excessive force against the plaintiff. Wilcox and Shippee both said they had not been notified about the court case.

After being tabled Monday, Wilcox’s request is slated for discussion at the April 26 meeting.