TACTICAL TRAINING
Area agencies take advantage of LCPD’s insight into SWAT
BY VANESSA C. DEGGINS AMERICAN PRESS
Last week, the Lake Charles Police Department hosted it’s first special weapons and tactics, or SWAT, training course. The idea for a local program had been in the works for a couple of years, said Lt. Mike Johnson. “We had so many certified officers (with the Lake Charles Police Department), so we decided to conduct our own,” Johnson said. Twenty-four officers, representing five nearby agencies, participated in the free week-long, 60-hour course. Johnson said they wanted the first course to be free to allow as many agencies as possible to take part. “It can be expensive starting up a SWAT team with the cost of equipment and travel to send someone to another agency to get certified,” he said. Johnson said the course follows certification guidelines from national and Louisiana tactical officer associations. The majority of the training — about 50 hours — was handson or in the field “We first give them a history lesson about SWAT and then move on to things like diet and fitness and legal updates and cases involving SWAT,” said Sgt. Billy Toten. In most departments, after a certain number of years, officers apply to join the SWAT team, take a fitness test and have their employment history reviewed. Daily hands-on exercises were held throughout the parish and included practice on responding to hostage situations in vehicles and houses.
The most important subject, Toten said, was mission planning. “SWAT teams are called to very dangerous situations, so it’s important to have as much information as possible for our officers and the people inside,” Toten said. He said officers have different methods, depending on the suspects’ background and who they take as hostages. “We try to get floor plans, interview witnesses and pull backgrounds to be aware of any health issues or if there is a young child in the house,” Toten said. “Our guys are responsible for everything they do in the house and any bullet they fire.” On the final day, officers took a written test, then moved out to a home in Moss Bluff to practice a hostage situation where negotiations eventually break down and require a team to enter. The house belonged to a local doctor who is on standby when SWAT teams have to be put in place. “He said he was getting a new front door, so he didn’t mind us destroying it,” Johnson said. The participating officers were from the Lake Charles and DeRidder police departments, Beauregard and Acadia sheriff’s offices and the Ward 3 City Marshals Office. VANESSA DEGGINS / AMERICAN PRESS Four SWAT course trainees and an instructor with the Lake Charles Police Department prepare to move toward a house to deliver a “drop phone” that negotiators will use to communicate with “suspects” inside.
VANESSA DEGGINS / AMERICAN PRESS A tactical law enforcement team trainee enters a house during exercises staged by Lake Charles Police Department trainers.
