CPD starts Basic SWAT school

Commerce Police Department hosted its first weeklong Basic SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) School, which culminated in team practical exercises at the vacant former A.C. Williams Elementary building Feb. 25. Additional participating agencies included University Police Department, L3 Communications, Texas A&M police officers, and Commerce ISD school resource officers, with some of the training done by FBI agents.

Public Information and Warrant officer for the city of Commerce, Alex Suarez, said it was helpful to have local, federal and state agencies participating together to work as a team.

"We're excited because of the fact that it's several agencies that came together, and so we're able to gather information from all different agencies," Suarez said. "Having that many people from the city involved in this training is going to help us, because if something happens within the city…the schools or…the university, then they know what to do, because they've worked together; they've trained together."

The 60 hours of detailed training included instruction on weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons where officers shot pepper spray, and FBI instruction on hostage negotiations. The officers worked with firearms, focusing on accuracy as specific as shooting dimes off of targets, using handguns and rifles.

Typically this kind of training would cost around $500 a person to go through; however, the equipment and instruction for the CPD Basic SWAT School was donated and cost agencies only $40 an officer.

"To be able to use tear gas, flash bangs, diversionary tactics…that's another certification you have to have to be able to use that type of stuff," CPD Assistant Chief of Police Steve Harrison said. "It's teaching them different ways to do building searches as a team, work as a group, not as a single patrol officer answering a call."

The officers practiced hazardous warrants, barricaded person, and active shooter exercises at the old elementary school, using simunition rounds. These paint-tipped bullets sting when they hit someone, but are safer to use and as close to real life training as they can get.

"Our biggest deal for doing this is because of the high-risk search warrants we do all the time, the drug warrants we do and the active shooter," Harrison said. "Hopefully we never have one here, but this right here will help these guys out, give them some training ideas…whether it's shooting or whether it's building clearing or anything like that.

Royse City Chief of Police Tom Shelton was at the school to lend advice on dynamic entry, where a group of officers move quickly through a building conducting primary and secondary searches.

"This is an excellent training site," Shelton said. "It's perfect."

CPD Sgt. Chris Vaughan, who has been in law enforcement almost 17 years, said the school has been very effective and the officers have learned a lot.

"It's been really intense training throughout the whole thing, especially today," Vaughan said. "You learn a lot when you bring the different agencies together."

According to Harrison the main motivation for the Basic SWAT School comes down to the training.

"This is specialized," he said, "This isn't something you could go to a one day or two day school to learn how to do all this."