STATE PANEL SUGGESTS NEW SWAT GUIDELINES

New SWAT team policies are not likely to have saved 11-year-old Alberto
Sepulveda, authors of a statewide report said Tuesday. But they said their
recommendations might save someone else's life.

"The commission was committed to bringing some meaning to this senseless
tragedy," said Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian, who led a
broad-based blue-ribbon panel created in the wake of the Modesto boy's death.

Two years ago Friday, Alberto lay face-down on his bedroom floor as Modesto
Special Weapons and Tactics team officers arrested his father. Police
officer David Hawn's shotgun discharged, striking the boy in the back and
killing him.

Three investigations labeled the shooting an accident and cleared Hawn of
criminal wrongdoing.

An attorney for the Sepulveda family said Tuesday that he was disappointed
that the statewide recommendations do not mirror policy changes already
made in Modesto. They prohibit SWAT officers from pointing guns at people
who are following orders.

"That's a standard (that) no reasonable person could object to," said
Arturo Gonzalez, the family attorney.

The policies are recommendations, not mandates. Attorney General Bill
Lockyer said forcing changes in SWAT team procedures statewide would
require a change in California law.

Stanislaus County Sheriff Les Weidman said it was "very fitting" that
Lockyer presented the commission's report in Modesto the week of the
shooting's anniversary. The report also coincided with Lockyer's annual
conference with area law enforcement authorities.

Lockyer put tactical experts, attorneys and officers from throughout
California on the panel, which held public hearings up and down the state.

"This was not something done in a back room among a bunch of police and
sheriffs," said Weidman, the commission's vice chairman.

The group determined that there is no standard protocol for SWAT teams in
California, although more than half of the 600-plus law enforcement
agencies throughout the state have their own versions of SWAT teams. The
group studied "best practices" and came up with broad recommendations.

They include developing minimum guidelines for training and equipment and
for when SWAT teams should be used, as opposed to regular officers.

"These are not mandates but are simply our best thoughts about ways of
running effective SWAT team operations," Lockyer said.

State law prohibits him or anyone else from mandating such sweeping
policies, Lockyer said -- adding that he does not think such a mandate is a
good idea. That is because what might work in Los Angeles might not
necessarily work in Modesto, he and Weidman said.

And, "if you try to mandate from the top down, you get resistance," Lockyer
said. He emphasized that more than 95 percent of the time, SWAT teams do
their business without firing shots, according to the National Tactical
Officers Association.

Weidman said: "Once this (report) comes out, there is no question in my
mind that every law enforcement executive in California will look at this
as the guideline. While it may not be a mandate, it's spelled out in black
and white" as the closest thing to a statewide standard.

Gonzalez said he had not reviewed Tuesday's report. After seeing a version
of a draft several weeks ago, he asked for statewide policy changes similar
to those made in Modesto.

After the shooting, Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden agreed to require that
SWAT officers refrain from pointing guns at people who comply with orders
and from taking witnesses to the police station without the witnesses'
consent. And, officers are not to take children to the station without
first advising their parents.

Melekian said Wasden's "candor, honesty and forthrightness really helped
put the commission on track."

Wasden's policy changes played a key role in settling the family's lawsuit
against the city in June. Modesto officials agreed to pay $2.55 million, of
which insurance covered all but $500,000.

Earlier this year, the federal government paid the family $450,000 for the
role that federal drug agents played in the search.

The boy's father, Moises Sepulveda Sr., early this month pleaded guilty to
a felony marijuana charge, avoiding trial and, possibly, jail time. His
sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 12.

Lockyer said he hopes the report will put pressure on the California
Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to take more of a role
in developing statewide policies for SWAT teams.

"This is the beginning of this conversation, not the end," Lockyer said.