SWAT according to Sarge...

Since I haven’t seen any movies lately & spent most of Sunday looking for a leak in my water heater, I’ve been a little devoid of blog material. Okay not really, though I wanted to add my observations and experiences as another angle to Whit’s post regarding SWAT over usage.
To lead off, please remember a central thought, which is my outlook on this issue: SWAT teams ARE being used inappropriately and entirely too often. Plus there are far too many SWAT teams lurking around, waiting for anything to happen.
I wanted to get that out in the open, since I will try and maintain a dissociated, neutral tone throughout most of this, which might lead one to believe I support this nonsense and think a tactical assault to bust some teenagers drinking beer while the parents are away is justified. Nothing is further from the truth. But I do want to offer some explanations as to why I think this has become the problem it has. Not excuses, just the factors that contribute to the current problems with these teams.
If one looks at the history of SWAT, or at least the concept, one can understand why a paramilitary division would be justified in a large city. You cannot train every police officer to effectively handle the rare, dynamic events like a riot, hostage situation, terrorist operation, etc. People who handle those types of things need special training and constant practice to maintain a competitive edge. It should not be a surprise this type of unit was forged in the battleground of LA during the 60's. Where things went wrong, I think, was when even SWAT-type outfits were further subdivided and the powers that be took the approach of “if 60 SWAT cops are good, then 300 should be great”!
My father was a member of one such offshoot. He was one of the first members of ATL’s Tactical Response Team when it was created in the mid 1990’s. Think of it as a SWAT team without the special benefits, no fancy weapons and nowhere near the attitude. Atlanta’s “Red Dog” squad is (sort of) another example (easiest way to explain them is that they are the main anti-drug group). These subgroups fill a large gap, the one between the regular policeman and the elite SWAT. So they have more specialized training (the Red Dogs are good at busting into crack houses, the TAC Team was for riots & widespread civil unrest), but not as much freedom/leeway/whatever. In fact, Dad wore his spiffy TAC uniform to work every night for the years he was on the team and I can count on one hand the number of times they were activated, and they never handled anything of note. But they were there, doing their regular job and only called IF NEEDED. What a concept. Other than riot gear, Dad never was trained on or even saw an assault weapon. And, without the perception of do-what-you-want, there was never a single incident from his Team.
So what makes a cop want to be a SWAT member? If you look at their makeup, you will find a lot of people who have some degree of military service. In fact, I’d be willing to bet you could find a lot of people who wanted to be part of “elite” military units (i.e. SEALs, Rangers) but couldn’t make the cut. They get out, join a police force and the SWAT idea appeals to them. If they are actions junkies, look out: we have another seed for problems.
I think one of the biggest reasons, though, is both sheer number and cool toys. Another anecdote: several years ago I did an intro Scuba class for a group of SWAT police. What blew my mind is that they weren’t even with the City-o-Huntsville; they were from one of the little “suburbs”!!! (may not be the best word since HSV is only 300,000….kind of hard to have ‘burbs at that size). But sure enough, there they were. Drove their tricked out cars LOADED with special equipment and all the trimmings. After talking to them, I got some great insight: starting a SWAT Team got their little city substantial extra money for law enforcement work. They get those funds every year and HAVE TO SPEND THEM. So they buy lots of expensive gear, specialized training, blah blah blah. AND, here the best part: since they can be trained for anti-terror operations and response, they are ALSO eligible for money from Dept. of Homeland Security!!! These days, all you have to do is say something is for terror preparedness and a town basically gets a blank check from Uncle. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but not much. Lots of money means lots of other ways for city officials to skim off some cash, get more funds for their projects, so why not get a massive, well-armed team of adrenaline junkies to support YOUR agenda?!?!?!
Here’s why: they have to DO something. The numbers of SWAT officers they have cannot just sit around all day lifting weights (else they couldn’t justify the numbers to watchdogs and auditors and hence couldn’t get as much money), so they have to do something. Can you begin to see why SWAT guys are writing tickets and serving papers? You couple that, with the “we’re untouchable” mentality and you can see why these bullshit incidents are happening. You take some young, masculine aggressive Type-A guy, train him extensively for bad things, equip the hell out of him, and then what? Tell him to go cite some schmuck for jaywalking? This poor dude is primed and just looking for an excuse to put his testosterone and training to use. Unfortunately his superiors give him enough leeway to go overboard and we see things happen.
There isn’t a reason in the world for the increased numbers of bullshit SWAT assaults (and that’s what they are). With the amount of surveillance technology at their fingertips I can’t think of a single reason the wrong house should be stormed or they should bust in and literally scare an old woman to death. If they aren’t disciplined enough as individuals then they have no business wearing a badge. That’s probably why they aren’t doing this in the Military in the first place, since they are very good at screening people out who are there for the wrong reasons. And if some mid-level commander OK’s an OP on a flaky tip from a junkie, then his ass should be canned without wasting time. If these cops can’t control themselves and can justify in their own minds beating down some pot-head who was sitting at home watching TV… then I think they should be busted back down to the bottom of the chain and Patrol on foot, armed with nothing more than a whistle and a can of Mace. They mess up again? Jail time buddy. I’ll leave these thoughts for you folks to digest; a bit long again, and I really hope this crap stops before it gets any further out of hand (the SWAT thing, not you good people reading my ramblings). For that to happen, though, the higher ups would have to admit mistakes and take a stand, and we can’t have that now, can we? How on Earth with they keep getting promoted if they rock the boat?