The dynamics between SWAT Commanders and their teams often teeter between cooperation and command. A common, yet often misguided, tendency of SWAT Commanders (often ex-SWAT members themselves), is to dive into a front-line role during operations in an attempt to “solve” problems.
When should senior leaders in general, and SWAT Commanders in particular, jump into a front-line role in operations? Almost never. But I’m not fully against it, on the following conditions:
They aren’t covering up a problem, thinking they are solving it.
If the team is chronically short-staffed, sometimes the commander is tempted to jump onto a call to “help out.” Or, if there is a performance issue on the team, they will take over the work to get it done right. It’s easier for the boss to dive into an operational role, especially one they used to do and are comfortable with than it is to figure out long-term solutions to the much larger problems of resource levels or inadequate training. A SWAT Commander needs to have a broader perspective than solving that immediate issue. They need to be the surgeon fixing the problem, not the band-aid covering it up.
Their motivations are clear
It is very easy for a SWAT Commander to get disconnected from the realities of operational work. Each promotion distorts reality just a little bit more, and memories of what it was like on a containment point for hours on end in the rain become increasingly faded. That sort of disconnection from reality can make armchair quarterbacking more likely. Getting appropriate exposure to the front-line and experiencing first-hand the challenges the team faces is a good way to inoculate against that tendency.
Unfortunately, the motivation for a SWAT Commander isn’t always to regain an appreciation for frontline operations. Sometimes, it is to convince themselves they “still got it.” Maybe they do. But usually, they don’t, and the team will be covering for the commander’s lack of recency or maybe even flat-out incompetence, while the commander is using the call as an ego massage.
They aren’t trying to wear two hats
If the SWAT Commander is also on a containment position, then they will be ineffective at both. Want to go on a call? Get another commander to cover command for you. And even then, your operational role on the call should be very, very limited. And no take-backs. Once you’ve decided you aren’t going to run the call, you don’t get to start over-ruling your Team Leader when the decisions being made aren’t exactly what you would have done.
Obviously, if something is going completely off the rails, then the Commander has an obligation to take corrective action, which may mean assuming formal command. However, if that is necessary then it is clear evidence the commander failed to properly train their team to function in his absence.
They are qualified
Want to jump onto a call (even in a very limited role)? Great. Go run your PT test and pass your firearms qualifications to the SWAT standards. If you can’t do that, you have no business being anywhere near the inner perimeter of a SWAT deployment. And even if you do, realize that you are, at best, a somewhat trained tourist.
They realize no one *really* wants them there
It’s like when the in-laws visit. It’s great to see them, but you kind of want them to leave. This is true no matter how good a commander’s relationship with their team is. The moment a commander steps outside of their role in the command post, they become a distraction and the team will feel under the microscope.
As Dave Reilly, a Captain with the NYPD Emergency Service Unit says, “At each supervisory level, I try to think back to a time I was glad the boss jumped in – and the answer is never.”
Conclusion
I’m all for the boss “picking brass” with the team. There is no job that the Commander is above doing, and there is tremendous value in having an appreciation for the challenges of operations. But that can’t be misconstrued as license to take a front-line role in operations based on a whim.
The SWAT Commander’s job is rarely a “fun” task. It is certainly satisfying and rewarding, but it is unlikely that Commanders will derive the same type of “fun” job satisfaction as they did when they were in an operator role. This can be a difficult transition for some to make, and they have trouble resisting the allure of jumping into the call, even though doing so will be detrimental to the operation and the team.
