The incident in Orlando reminded me of something that I have wondered about for a long time. I realized procedures are probably different in different jurisdictions, but in a city that has sufficient police resources to have a SWAT or Tac Team, what do those police usually do when there isn’t an incident going on that requires their special resources? Do they just function as normal police and race back to their base to get suited up in their fancy gear when something nasty happens? Or, do they spend their all their un-needed time together practising?
In the small city (population 121K) where my ex was on the SWAT team, they had certain regular training days as a team. However, when the shit hit the fan, it was sort of like a volunteer fire department: all members were called and gathered at the incident command center to respond to the situation.
I had a friend who was part of something similar to a SWAT in London in the 70s. They were a rapid response armed unit in a mostly unarmed police force.
They did do a lot of training and, in those pre satnav days, they did a fair amount of driving, riding or walking around to learn the streets. If there was nothing else on during a night shift, they would take the van out and do vehicle stops. All the serious equipment was locked away in the van and they just set up in a street to stop all passing vehicles - any that aroused their interest were checked for documents and searched. It was a poor night that they didn’t get at least one car with a boot full of stolen goods and any number of unlicensed and/or uninsured drivers.
In spite of that, they spent a great deal of time sitting around waiting for something to happen. Like soldiers - “interminable boredom punctuated by moments of terror,” was their normal life. He quit after a year and moved away to the country.
When I called my local sheriff’s office about some weapons I had found on my property. They sent their weapons expert out to my house. He had all kinds of SWAT patches on his uniform so I asked him about it. He said his main job was weapons related investigations (well, mostly running weapon turn-in programs) but was also on the SWAT team.
So at least around here, SWAT is a secondary but higher priority job.
I know an officer in Ohio, he is a SWAT member, but day to day is just a patrolman. SWAT is an on-demand sort of thing when they need it. I would imagine most small/medium departments are like that. They can’t pay officers to sit around in full gear and wait for something to happen.
Having seen many turnouts SWAT members are regular cops with extra duties / training. When the call goes out they drive their vehicle to the staging area, park, open the trunk of their car and start strapping stuff on. A few minutes later the now transformed officer to SWAT team member joins the crew at the command vehicle and gets his orders.
Thanks guys!
I remember when the TV series SWAT started back in the mid-seventies. They showed the team always sitting around their headquarters ready to be sent out. But even back then, people were saying that this wasn’t how SWAT teams worked in the real world. The officers assigned to SWAT had regular day-to-day assignments and only worked as a SWAT team when they were called together for training or an emergency situation. And this was in Los Angeles not some small town.
They showed the same thing in the much-praised series Hill Street Blues --and it always irritated me.
Back in the 1980’s, that show was pretty realistic in many ways, with believable characters and plots–except for this issue. They went way overboard with the swat team --an entire staff,constantly on alert, in almost every episode.
If they did wear full gear all the time, it would make for some jarring moments at the Dunkin’ Donuts.
You’re absolutely right in that the answer is going to vary by jurisdiction.
Typically, the majority of personal equipment (body armor, weapons, etc.) will be kept with the officer in their patrol vehicle. You only need one officer to bring the armored vehicle/Bearcat & team gear to the staging area near the scene.
Some depts will also have scheduled SWAT service, ie. warrant service.