Thursday, May 06, 1999
SWAT teams sharpen skills
Trainer's aim: Avoid violence
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — When citizens are in danger, they can turn to the police. When police are in danger, they rely on their elite forces: the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams.
Because SWAT teams are the last line of defense against increasingly well-armed criminals, it's essential that these officers train regularly, said Al Preciado, a SWAT consultant who is in town to train officers from at least eight Tristate departments. Officers from the Kentucky State Police, several Warren County departments and the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Interna tional Airport were among those who joined Hamilton officers for the two-week course.
“Training is like insurance: You hope you never have to use it, but you had better have it,” Mr. Preciado said, noting that incidents like the April 20 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo., underscore the need for SWAT officers' readiness.
While the Colorado SWAT teams have been criticized for not storming the building to try to save more victims, Lt. Scott Scrimizzi, commander of Hamilton's SWAT team, said he thinks officers there responded appropriately.
“They had officers in there within 30 or 40 minutes, and that's outstanding,” Lt. Scrimizzi said. “From what I could see, they did what they were supposed to do. If they had just gone in there willy-nilly, without knowing there were more than 30 bombs in there, there actually could have been more people killed.”
If such a large-scale incident were to occur locally, officers might encounter problems because there can be significant differences in the way they have been trained, he said. “That's why it's a good idea for SWAT teams to train together,” Lt. Scrimizzi said.
The training with Mr. Pre ciado, which began last week at various locations in the city, includes how to use firearms — but just as important, how to avoid using them, said Mr. Preciado, a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer. He served that department for 31 years, 23 of them on the SWAT team — the nation's first such unit. There are now an estimated 3,000 SWAT teams throughout the nation.
“When people think of SWAT, they think of what they see in the movies and on TV. In a half-hour show, they'll kill five or six people — and most SWAT teams won't do that in an entire lifetime,” he said. “SWAT teams use tactics to prevent shootings, and SWAT, if anything, is a life-saving organization. That's the thing the public doesn't understand.”
The National Tactical Officers Association, an organization of SWAT officers, has been compiling data on use of force. Their recent findings showed that suspects surrendered to SWAT officers without gunfire or lethal force in 71 percent of the incidents studied. Lethal force was used in 14 percent of the incidents, and the suspect was killed by SWAT officers in less than 1 percent of the cases.
SWAT training is focusing increasingly on communication skills and using less-than-lethal force, Mr. Preciado said. However, he is concerned that many police chiefs, particularly in small departments, do not give SWAT officers sufficient time for training that will keep their skills sharp. In larger cities, officers are assigned to SWAT full time. In smaller cities like Hamilton, officers perform SWAT duty on an as-needed basis. The team in Hamilton is deployed about 30 times a year, Lt. Scrimizzi said.
Authorities recommend that SWAT officers spend about one-quarter of their on-duty time in training, Mr. Preciado said. While that might seem like too much time to spare, it prevents “bad shootings” and the costly lawsuits that come with them, Mr. Preciado said.
“With one of the top people in the country coming in here and teaching us, everyone's like sponges trying to soak up everything we can from him,” said Lee Buchanan, a Hamilton SWAT officer.
He thinks that the Littleton shootings actually might help the public see that “we're not a bunch of overaggressive officers with too much testosterone.”
“We're an elite unit, we're disciplined, and we're not going to tolerate the "hot dog' or "Lone Ranger' types,” he said. “We're a team that's trained to rescue people and save lives.”
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