AT THEIR BEST, SWATS RESCUE VICTIMS AND SAVE LIVES

Few people deny that highly trained paramilitary police squads are
essential in the event of domestic terrorism or crazed gunmen.

"You damn well better have a team in place to handle those situations,"
says criminologist Peter Kraska, an authority on SWAT teams.

Indeed, while SWAT team mishaps make the headlines, there are plenty of
instances in which teams nabbed a dangerous subject, provided backup,
defused a dangerous situation or stood in position - just in case the worst
happened.

For example:

On July 2, 2000, the Columbia County emergency response team aided in
apprehending Thomas Kowalski Sr., who took his wife hostage at a Wisconsin
Dells campground after killing her boyfriend and shooting another man.

On Oct. 18, 1999, the Muskego SWAT team was called to disarm a reportedly
drunken man who began to fire rounds from his 20-gauge shotgun inside his
apartment. The SWAT team fired chemical irritants into the apartment and
took the suspect, 31-year-old Frank Falkner, into custody.

On May 28, 1996, at a Burger King outside Green Bay, 20-year-old Matthew
Baumann held a female assistant manager at gunpoint during a 16-hour
standoff. Baumann eventually surrendered. Brown County officials credited
the county SWAT team with the peaceful resolution.

In Madison, "barricaded subjects" have prompted police officials to field
the entire emergency response team four times in the past four years,
according to Madison police Capt. Jeff LaMar.

On July 28, 1999, 39-year-old Sylvester Phillips, wanted on a parole
violation, surrendered after a seven-hour standoff when emergency response
team officers shot tear gas into his Ellen Drive home. Phillips told police
he was not going back to jail and asked them to shoot him.

On May 28, 1998, police closed off a downtown neighborhood in Iota Court
after 31-year-old Ty Schissel threatened to set off explosives. Schissel,
who was wanted for beating and threatening his ex-girlfriend and their
3-year-old son, surrendered after several hours.

On Jan. 21, 1997, Steve Post, a 19-year-old armed jail escapee, held police
at bay for several hours at the east side Select Inn motel in a 15-hour
standoff during which Post fired a gunshot in his room. He eventually
surrendered peacefully.

On March 29, 1997, 23-year-old John Henry High surrendered after
barricading himself for hours in his Schroeder Road apartment. Police
converged on the apartment house after receiving reports that High had
fired shots at two women with whom he'd had an argument.

A smaller contingent is called out roughly "a couple dozen times a year"
for dynamic entry situations, including drug searches, LaMar said.

For instance, last Jan. 4, emergency response team officers raided an
apartment at 123 E. Johnson St. to arrest three people suspected in a
series of violent home invasions. The team came under scrutiny for that
incident because an 18-year-old suspect was burned when the officers fired
a diversionary "flash-bang" grenade in the apartment.

LaMar said small-town police departments could face similar situations, so
there's some logic in those departments fielding SWAT teams, if they keep
them properly trained.

"If they equip those people and train them as a team, they are frequently
more suited to handle these situations than a regular police officer," he said.