Posted By: airforce
SWAT Practice on Real People - 09/12/2011 07:34 PM
Radley Balko found this article in Tactical Response magazine, apparently a magazine for military and SWAT people. Note this incredible passage:
I have to admit, that almost made my eyeballs explode. The author is saying that SWAT commanders should urge that their teams be deployed in situations for which they normally wouldn’t be to ensure they’re in good practice for when a "real" situation comes along.
Um, what's wrong with this picture?
Well, for one thing, people die in these SWAT raids. Haven't I posted enough articles here to illustrate that basic concept? There are living, breathing people on the other ends of these raids. I have lost count of how many articles I've posted about women, children, elderly people, the developmentally disabled, and just plain ordinary people who lived at the wrong address, who needlessly lost their lives in these SWAT raids. And, yes, I've posted articles about officers who also lost their lives for no reason.
But here is the author, Ed Sanow, arguing for more of the same. Because SWAT teams need practice in the "real world."
Onward and upward,
airforce
Quote
Team commanders must raise the profile of their teams. Stay active. Yes, I mean do warrant service and drug raids even if you have to poach the work. First, your team needs the training time under true callout conditions. If all your team does is train, but seldom deploy, you will end up training just to train. You need to train to fight. You already know that.
Second, make SWAT familiar to senior police staff. Everyone fears the unknown. Don’t let SWAT be that unknown. Make deploying SWAT something that is routine, not something only done after much hand-wringing. “Oh, no! You mean we have to call SWAT? Oh, I don’t know, I just don’t know. Really? Call SWAT? Really?”
Yes, you should have clear guidelines for activating the team. But how many times has the callout of a part-time team been delayed or denied when those callout criteria were met? We really do need to explain that SWAT is less of a threat than the people in the calls we are responding to—you know, those vewy, vewy bad people.
Second, make SWAT familiar to senior police staff. Everyone fears the unknown. Don’t let SWAT be that unknown. Make deploying SWAT something that is routine, not something only done after much hand-wringing. “Oh, no! You mean we have to call SWAT? Oh, I don’t know, I just don’t know. Really? Call SWAT? Really?”
Yes, you should have clear guidelines for activating the team. But how many times has the callout of a part-time team been delayed or denied when those callout criteria were met? We really do need to explain that SWAT is less of a threat than the people in the calls we are responding to—you know, those vewy, vewy bad people.
Um, what's wrong with this picture?
Well, for one thing, people die in these SWAT raids. Haven't I posted enough articles here to illustrate that basic concept? There are living, breathing people on the other ends of these raids. I have lost count of how many articles I've posted about women, children, elderly people, the developmentally disabled, and just plain ordinary people who lived at the wrong address, who needlessly lost their lives in these SWAT raids. And, yes, I've posted articles about officers who also lost their lives for no reason.
But here is the author, Ed Sanow, arguing for more of the same. Because SWAT teams need practice in the "real world."
Onward and upward,
airforce