Mesa Police Department 2001 Annual Report
News Article

SWAT: A school of hard knocks

by Tamara Leitner
The Mesa Tribune
February 24, 2001

     Chandler paramedic Seth Bacon had no idea what he was getting into when he became one of a few paramedics on the Chandler Police SWAT team. His first real training came this week during the Mesa Police Department SWAT school.
     "I've been tased," he said. "I've been gassed. It's a lot more intense than I expected. I'm just a hose-puller fireman, so this stuff is all new.
     Bacon was among 60 firefighters, police and FBI agents from various states and Venezuela to participate in Mesa's highly touted program. 
     "We have a reputation for putting on a good school," said Mesa police firearms instructor Dean Timmons.
     The weeklong SWAT training is not for the timid. Participants go through classroom instruction, roughly 25 hours in the field using various firearms, and mock scenarios such as hostage rescues.
     "The hostage situations are stressful," said 27-year-old Glendale SWAT team member Rachael Bousman, the only woman to participate in the SWAT school.
     Teams of four entered the "live-fire" building set up to resemble a four-bedroom house. Each room was sparsely furnished and  had dummies as well as "humanoid" targets -- pictures of real people -- that SWAT members had to either rescue or kill.
     One team rushed the house yelling "search warrant, police." In one room, a target of a man stood in a corner pointing a gun. In another room, a stuffed dummy sat in a recliner. The dummy was a "no shoot target," meaning he needed to be rescued. A pregnant woman holding a flashlight pointed like a gun was waiting in the last room.
     Five members of the Apache Junction SWAT team said that on at least two occasions in the past year, they could have used the non-lethal techniques they learned. Both were standoff situations that lasted hours, but could have been resolved quicker if the SWAT team members had access to taser guns or bean bag guns they learned to use during the SWAT school, said Sgt. Pat Wagner, and Apache Junction SWAT team members. 
     "All of this is advanced training and we needed it," said Wagner, who has been through other SWAT schools.

--Tribune writer Tamara Leitner can be reached by e-mail at tleitner@aztrib.com or by calling (480) 898-6446.

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