“All units, we have an armed robbery in progress at the Kwik Trip on Highway 12,” dispatch crackled.
Almost immediately, the response was: “SWAT 12, we are on scene on the Northeast corner of the building. Have the next responding unit come in and secure the Southwest corner. The suspect is armed with a black semi-automatic handgun. He is still inside and unaware of our presence.”
Some might ask, “How is it possible that a SWAT unit could be the first officer to arrive at the scene of an armed robbery?”
The fact is, it’s happening all over the country.
Since the emergence of SWAT in the United States, many agencies have formed SWAT Teams, and three models have emerged for the formation and deployment of these teams in large cities, medium cities, and rural counties.
There is the full time team that is on stand-by for high risk call-outs. Other agencies have a “part-time” team, whose members all have other primary duties. When the “Bat Signal” goes off they stop, drop, and roll, to steal a term from our friends in the fire services. After call triage they decide if it is possible to stop what they are doing, drop what they are doing and roll on the call. Still another popular model is the combined team model. These are teams which obtain personnel from a number of different agencies, within their county or area.
By their configuration, smaller agencies have had this capability naturally. Some larger agencies have also found ways to deploy SWAT to work alongside patrol. No matter which model is followed, many agencies are discovering there are advantages to having SWAT-trained officers responding to high risk calls in a first responder capacity. Here’s a look at several examples of the different SWAT configurations, and instances in which they made the difference in the outcome of an incident.
Richmond Police SRT
November 14, 2008 Chief Bryan Norwood began deploying SWAT Team members on patrol on Friday and Saturday nights in Richmond, Virginia to assist patrol officers when high risk calls are dispatched. Lt. Mauricio Tovar, who is the executive officer (2nd in command) of the Richmond Police Department SRT says it is called “Support Through Rapid Tactical Response.”
Lt. Tovar explains that the team members are deployed strategically, according to existing intelligence reports and they respond primarily to hot calls such as robberies in progress and reports of weapons in the hands of the “seriously dangerous.” They respond along side patrol and serve as a back-up with special equipment and tactical know-how. The Lieutenant says that the move has been well received by patrol officers.
Lt. Tovar tells of one incident in recent history, where a 300-pound, agitated, and belligerent suspect promised to resist with great sincerity. Officers on the scene agreed that there was great potential for substantial injury to officers and the suspect. SWAT officers on the scene obtained their TASER — TASERS are issued to SWAT in Richmond — and the TASER probes convinced the huge adversary that he no longer wished to be adversarial. The suspect was taken into custody without injury. This was a win on anyone’s score card.
Lt. Tovar says homicides have dropped dramatically in the last year in Richmond. He explains that this was a result of dramatic efforts taken by investigations and patrol. The Lieutenant said the move to have SWAT accessible, during peak weekend hours is one more proactive effort to keep those trends heading in the right direction.
Sauk County Emergency Response Team
The Sauk County Sheriff’s Department recruits team members from departments throughout the county. The Sauk County Team was the Association of SWAT Personnel SWAT Team of the year in 2006. The multi-agency membership allows for a natural deployment of Emergency Response Team members, throughout the county on all three shifts.
Sheriff Randy Stammen, who was an original member of the Sauk County Emergency Response Team says, “As an on-call multi-agency Emergency Response Team, members are spread all over the county on all shifts and are often first responders to critical incidents. The disadvantage of this is they arrive on scene with only their personal equipment. The advantage is we usually have a SWAT Team member able to quickly respond and properly coordinate the approach and arrival of the rest of the team for the best results.”
Lt. Travis Hilliard of the Sauk Prairie Police Department and Sauk County Emergency Response Team feels strongly about SWAT trained police personnel being a part of the patrol response. He says, “I prefer to see SWAT Team members out on patrol. There is something to be said about having their tactical skills and mind-set available to other officers on a regular basis.”
Lt. Hilliard and the rest of the Sauk County Sheriff’s Department Emergency Response Team applied this philosophy September 16, 2006, when a man robbed the Home Depot in Sauk County. A private citizen followed the man and watched him enter a room at the Shady Nook Hotel. The citizen then called the police.
Some of the first responders arriving on the scene were members of the Emergency Response Team. They set up a tight perimeter and called out the team. The suspect agreed to allow a throw phone to be delivered to his room.
Lt. Hilliard and other members of the Sauk County Team approached to deliver the phone and the suspect opened fire. The acceptance of the throw phone delivery was a ruse to ambush the team. More than fifty rounds were fired in the ensuing exchange of gunfire and the tactical shield was hit, but the team members were unscathed. The suspect, who had spent his entire life making bad decisions, made one final bad decision. He decided to ambush a well equipped, highly trained, and honorably motivated SWAT Team. He gambled that the team would not be ready for his sudden deadly assault. He lost.
This incident shows that the initial response to these high risk calls can determine whether officers’ names go on a wall or an award.
Milwaukee Police Tactical Enforcement Unit
The Milwaukee Police Department Tactical Enforcement Unit was formed in the midst of riots that rocked Milwaukee in 1967. Milwaukee’s team members train together extensively, but throughout their history in between call-outs they are out on the street in squads 24 hours a day and act as first responders to high risk calls.
Milwaukee’s team earned the 2005 ASP SWAT Team of the year for winning a firefight with a suspect on a cluttered back porch. The suspect had heavily barricaded himself in his home. The team rescued the suspect’s family, which was held prisoner and terrorized in an improvised jail in the home.
Edward Kondracki was an original member of the tactical unit. Kondracki says, “It is reassuring to most police officers to know, that there are highly trained, well-equipped officers as available back-up.”
La Crosse Police Emergency Response Team
The La Crosse Police Department formed its Emergency Response Team in 1990. Edward Kondracki was appointed Chief of Police in La Crosse in 1993.
During his tenure, Chief Kondracki has supported extensive and ongoing training for the team. He has arranged for budgets that bought the team weapons, tools, lodging, vehicles, and state-of-the-art negotiation equipment. He has approved the training of SWAT to members of patrol who are not on the team. He also has encouraged the cross-training of team members, which enabled negotiators to be SWAT-trained and tactical operators to be negotiator-trained.
Team members have primary positions within the department on all shifts and in all divisions. On nearly every high-risk call there is a SWAT-trained officer already at the scene of the incident by the time the Emergency Response Team is called out.
Chief Kondracki talks of an incident in La Crosse where an armed felony suspect was located at a local hotel. He could be heard inside his room making threats on a phone as he worked the action of a 9mm semi automatic. The first three officers at the scene were a crisis negotiator and two tactical team members who were working the shift.
When the suspect finally hung up the phone he was startled as it immediately rang again. He answered the phone and discovered that the person on the line was a negotiator. While he had been issuing rambling threats on the phone, the hotel had been evacuated and the entire Emergency Response Team was called out and moved into position. What followed was a nine and one half hour stand-off, during which the suspect fired one shot into the floor. Eventually tear gas was introduced into his room, after which he exited. He was “decentralized” and taken into custody by an arrest team with no serious injury to anyone involved.
Chief Kondracki uses this example to make the point, “In my experience, many of the more serious situations are resolved without serious incident because of those highly trained first responders.”
Overlapping Philosophies
Large, medium-sized, and rural agencies are deploying their SWAT officers to make them instantly available. It is clear that in all three environments policing can be dangerous. In all three venues there is a need for the occasional deployment of highly trained, well equipped, group of police officers, who can effectively apply winning team tactics.
All of these departments and commanders have found ways to incorporate their personnel, equipment and tactics, where the rubber meets the road. Where is that you ask? I t is right where it has always been and where it always will be...on patrol!
