OTTAWA POLICE CREATING SWAT TEAM

The Ottawa Police Department is assembling a new Special Weapons and
Tactics team.

Fresh out of a week-long training course in Iowa, the team of eight
officers already has responded to its first incident.

"They just got back from class and we had a search warrant that had to
be executed; it was a situation for another agency," Ottawa Police
Chief Brian Zeilmann told The Times Monday. "(The agency) was
conducting an investigation that pointed to a location in Ottawa and
there was some indication weapons were present in the home."

The team executed the search warrant without incident.

While not considered a full-blown SWAT team, as additional training is
needed, the unit can respond in some situations.

After years of planning, Zeilmann said the initial step in organizing
a SWAT team has been taken. Eight officers last week completed a
weeklong class in high-risk tactical warrant service.

"Basically, what we've done is we've established a tactical entry team
for use whenever we need to serve search warrants," Zeilmann said.

A SWAT team is not necessary for all search warrants, but will come
into play in potential high-risk situations, such as a house where
weapons are suspected to be located.

"With a SWAT team, they're basically addressing a wide variety of
tactical needs, be it neutralizing a hostage situation, to just making
any type of tactical entry in any volatile situation," Zeilmann said.
"We've at least completed the initial stages and our long-term goal is
to create a full-blown team in Ottawa."

Zeilmann said Ottawa police, in the past, have requested tactical aid
from other teams, including Illinois State Police, La Salle County
Sheriff's Office and Streator police.

"We've used (outside tactical teams) periodically," Zeilmann said.
"We've tried to take more of an aggressive approach in addressing the
drug problem in town, and a lot of times we would make our own entries
without a tactical team.

"Police officers do get training in tactics, at least at the very
basic level. Now we're establishing a team that's taking that step up
and we're establishing a team that can make entry into any type of
situation," Zeilmann said.

The officers training for the SWAT team all expressed interest in the
position, are in good physical condition and some already are trained
in areas such as hand-to-hand combat and sharpshooting.

Zeilmann said the officers will continue to take classes, and the
department also will be determining equipment needs.

However, Zeilmann said SWAT team members already have purchased some
of the equipment on their own with their equipment allowances.

Eventually, Zeilmann hopes to expand the team.

Once the team becomes more established, Zeilmann hopes to have at
least one member state-certified as a sniper.

"These are things you hope you never have to use," he added.

The team members will continue to serve in the normal department
duties as patrol officers or detectives.

"This is the initial step; it's not something I want to necessarily
rush," Zeilmann said. "I want it done right."