Police work to reinstate SWAT
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on June 22, 2016 1:46 PM
The Goldsboro Police Department is taking steps toward reinstating its currently nonexistent SWAT team in the wake of the Wayne Community College shooting that happened in April 2015.
The department will hold a two-day training SWAT orientation course on July 26 and 27 to allow officers to see what the physical and technical requirements of being a SWAT -- Special Weapons and Tactics -- team member are before a full team is developed for the department.
Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West said the end product of the SWAT orientation -- be it in six months or a year -- might not officially be called a SWAT team, but would function as a SWAT team all the same.
"It's an orientation, is what we've classified it as, and kind of the way that came up is a lot of our officers think SWAT is a good goal to achieve, but a lot of the time they don't really have an idea of what is going to be expected of them physically," West said. "It's not just whoever can shoot the best and kick down doors the best. My thought was what we'll do is open it up as an orientation so anybody interested in trying to get to our SWAT team -- when we get there -- is try to familiarize them with what is going to be expected of them physically. They'll go through two days of physical drills, and we'll end up the second day on the firing range. At the end of those two days, everybody can walk away and know if they're lacking in physical parts of it -- that way they've got time to get in shape. It lets the officer know where they're at."
West said the two-day training will consist of physical fitness tests, an obstacle course, K-9 simulations, lifting and carrying SWAT equipment, breaching structures, pistol qualifications, gas exposure and gas mask training, basic shield use training and more.
The training on July 26 and 27 will begin at 6 a.m. each day and go until that day's training is complete.
"It's not going to be a cakewalk," West said. "It's going to be keeping them under stress, keeping them physically taxed the whole time -- there's not going to be a lot of breaks except to hydrate. It's going to be a high stress, physical two days."
The Goldsboro Police Department had an Emergency Response Team several years ago that was allowed to fizzle out due to people retiring, manpower decreasing and equipment costs.
"We couldn't keep up with the training of SWAT, we couldn't keep up as far as the manpower that resigned, due to retirements and people moving on, and I don't want to say we didn't see a need for it -- I think we've always seen a need for it -- I think it just ended up going away and we never could get it going again," West said.
When a gunman walked into the print shop at Wayne Community College on April 13, 2015, and fatally shot print shop technician Ron Lane, West said his eyes were opened to the need for something resembling a SWAT team at the Police Department.
"It's something that we probably shouldn't have gotten away from, and for me the whole Wayne Community College stuff was an eye-opening experience," West said.
West said the department is fully capable of handling an active shooter situation currently, but forming a SWAT team will allow the department to be prepared for hostage situations and the like.
"Active shooters in schools and things like that, we're very capable of handling that. The hostage side of it, if that comes up, we're very capable of being able to secure the scene and hold things as they are," West said. "I don't want people to get the idea that the Police Department is not able to handle things like that, but every scene is different -- there are certain aspects of it that we probably cannot handle at this time -- but overall I think we're very capable of handling the majority of them."
Following the two days of SWAT orientation in July, West said there will be SWAT team tryouts for the Police Department some time in the future, but that no firm date has been set for when it will become a reality yet.