By Nick Jacobellis, P1 Contributor
Before you read this article I want to be crystal clear about my position on specialized tactical teams known as SWAT, SRT or ESU. SWAT cops are some of the most dedicated and highly trained law enforcement officers in our profession. Any comments I make about the need to modify or change the way law enforcement provides tactical response are meant to encourage a healthy debate.
How cops used to handle enforcement actions
This may sound like a strange concept but every sworn/commissioned law enforcement officer should be capable of making any arrest under any set of circumstances without being “SWAT” qualified.
For a long time, police officers, deputy sheriffs, state troopers, highway patrol officers, detectives, special investigators and federal agents were responsible for making their own arrests. When you needed assistance, help was assigned in the form of other officers or investigative personnel. When you needed to go in heavy, your supervisor handed you a sledge hammer and a shotgun, and off you went. If extra personnel were unavailable and you had to take action or risk losing a subject, you went in with what you had, even if it meant you and your partner kicked in the door and made the arrest without help. This was how law enforcement conducted business.
Today, investigative personnel will participate in some enforcement actions, but often have a SWAT team handle certain activities. The same thing has happened in drug enforcement and other undercover operations. SWAT teams take the place of plainclothes personnel who once served in bust crews and back-up teams. What happened that made criminal investigators and other plainclothes personnel unable to “go tactical” when necessary? Why have we increased our reliance on SWAT teams to perform duties that for a long time were an integral part of a police officer’s job description?
While some may see this as progress, I believe the time has come to evaluate if the steady increase in the use of SWAT teams has caused a negative disruption in the vending of law enforcement services, where this overspecialization could cause some law enforcement officers to stop acting in a tactically aggressive manner when appropriate.
In order to keep this discussion fair, I admit that one reason to justify the formation of a SWAT team is because some law enforcement personnel lack the physical fitness, skill sets and motivation to perform certain tactical duties. Just because this is true does not mean we shouldn’t seek changes or improvements to the way law enforcement services are provided.
We need higher standards across the board
SWAT cops are required to complete a rigorous tactical training program, while also maintaining their proficiency during a regular course of scheduled training. This includes requiring a SWAT candidate and a certified SWAT operator to qualify with a much higher firearms qualification score than “regular” law enforcement officers.
Why does a SWAT cop or a firearms instructor need to qualify with a higher score – such as a minimum of a 240 out of 250 points – but a regular street cop who is a first responder can be a less proficient marksman? Who is more likely to initially respond to a robbery in progress or an active shooter: a uniformed patrol officer or a fully trained and equipped SWAT cop?
My next comment is not politically correct but it’s true. While SWAT doesn’t accept mediocrity, other units do. In fact, SWAT screens personnel as if they were applying to serve in a Special Forces unit. This means that SWAT takes the cream of the crop, while patrol and investigative units can have a wider variety of personnel with varying degrees of capabilities. In other words, LE agencies have allowed SWAT to become an elite unit, while patrol and investigative units include all kinds of people, from the hard chargers to those who are less capable. Who allowed this to happen?
How a SWAT lite program would work
One concept worth considering is to create a tactical officer program aka SWAT lite. This program would establish condensed versions of SWAT training and equip qualified patrol and investigative personnel to perform tactical operations as required during any enforcement action that is considered time critical. (Even though every LEO is technically supposed to be “all that they can be,” the reality is that not all LEOs are as capable as others.)
At the very least, establishing such a program would increase officer safety and potentially save lives because the designated tactical officers on scene would not have to wait for a “traditional” SWAT team to be mobilized. In fact, even agencies that can afford to maintain a full-time SWAT team should create a SWAT lite program to ensure a larger number of first responders and investigative personnel can effectively handle high-risk situations.
If this means training and equipping first responders to use flashbangs, Kevlar helmets and breaching tools, then so be it. It doesn’t take a fortune to make some critical SWAT equipment available to every first responder, or at least have some of this gear secured in a patrol supervisor’s vehicle. Investigative units are no different and must be trained and equipped to handle any situation that comes up.
I feel strongly about this for the following reason: If LE agencies believe it is important to be highly trained to perform certain high risk enforcement actions then the time has come to provide some form of advanced tactical training to all first responders and all investigative personnel. Otherwise, we will continue to encourage our first responders and investigators to do what any civilian witness can do: call 911 for help.
Criminals were just as violent when SWAT didn’t exist and somehow the job got done. By merging the “can-do” mentality that existed in the past, with all that we have learned about providing tactical operations in “modern times,” we should be able to vend a much better product, while also increasing officer safety.
In a SWAT lite program, fully trained SWAT operators serving as tactical field training officers (TFTOs) would help train and increase the tactical capabilities of patrol and investigative personnel. Having fully trained SWAT personnel integrated in patrol and investigative units would also ensure that some number of the most highly trained sworn personnel would always be available to respond to high threat situations.
Regardless of their actual rank, fully trained TFTOs should also be given tactical command of any high-risk incidents that occur in the field to ensure that the right tactical response is provided in the most dangerous situations. This should especially be the case when an agency does not have a full-time SWAT team that can respond in a timely fashion.
LE agencies should also formally consider the title of tactical officer to be a promotion that warrants some form of additional compensation. This could include hazardous duty pay for hours spent in training and serving on higher-risk missions, an actual raise in pay and/or additional vacation time being awarded to anyone designated as a tactical commander, a tactical field training officer, a tactical investigator or a tactical officer.
Conclusion
Creating a SWAT lite tactical officer program would serve as a force multiplier, as it would eventually create larger numbers of qualified cross-trained tactical operators and tactical support specialists who could perform on their own during a serious incident, or in conjunction with a traditional fully trained SWAT Team.
While variations of this concept exist, I believe the time has come for a more broad-based acceptance of the need to expand the tactical capabilities of sworn personnel.
Every time SWAT is given more missions to perform, other members of the law enforcement profession tend to lose a mission, which degrades their tactical capabilities. My point is not to get rid of the SWAT mentality, but to spread this tactical mindset throughout the ranks, so it is pervasive throughout the department and not something that can only be found in the weight room or at the firing range.
About the Author
Nick Jacobellis is a medically retired U.S. Customs Agent and a former police officer who was physically disabled in the line of duty while working undercover as a federal agent. During his career with the U.S. Customs Service, the author participated in numerous enforcement actions, air, marine and ground-based interdiction missions and high risk undercover operations.