MOORE SWAT TEAM TAKES TRAINING

It took 40 seconds.

A new kind of police team stormed and secured its target, arrested the
suspect and declared an all clear. It was the team's second test in SWAT
training, and this time it passed.

SWAT training may be new to Moore County, but it is here to stay. It is
part of a safer future for Moore County residents, according to Sheriff
Lane Carter.

Carter asked Lt. Timmy Monroe to work with Chief Deputy Neil Godfrey on a
training program. Two experts spent a week training a number of officers
from Moore County.

Dennis Crosby retired as assistant chief of the Gastonia Police Department
after a dozen years doing Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) work there. In
retirement, he now trains other officers. He brought along Sgt. Steve
Duncan. The two trained a 12-deputy team, four sniper/spotters and an
officer from the Aberdeen Police Department.

"Minimal classroom, most of it was hands-on, which is the best way," Monroe
said. "We did legal aspects in class. We had a hostage situation laid out
on a shooting range, teaching them breathing, controlling their fire, not
pointing their weapon in a hazardous way."

Crosby trained them on responding to high-risk police assignments like
hostage rescue, barricaded gunmen, aggravated suicides, dignitary
protection and other dangerous work.

"It is the segment of the law-enforcement population that will take part in
things like drug raids," Crosby said. "Most drug dealers these days are
very, very heavily armed. With structured sentencing, they are likely to go
to prison for a long time. They want to try to evade capture.

"You have to do an organized effort to perform high-risk tasks. We
organized into teams. We use an instant command system approach.

That system means the lead officer puts trust in others to do certain tasks
are delegated, he said. It keeps a lead officer from being overwhelmed by
everybody trying to report directly to that one officer.

"It is chaotic, once you first get there," Crosby said. "We work on
creating little modules in the system. That is what an ICS is. It started
back in California, back in the '70s, in fire departments. You have to
delegate authority. We break it down into tasks. Fire departments are the
world's best at this, and we copied them."

The first initial officer has a checklist, places small teams - each under
one person - to do a single job.

"Each person who is in charge of that task will report back to the
commander," Crosby said. "Blocking it down into modules like that keeps the
commander from being overwhelmed. The quicker you can organize it, get this
thing under control, you can make it manageable."

There were physical standards to meet, class work, and written tests.

Live Fire

The trainees moved to a center called Trigger Time in Cameron. There, teams
of two practiced large and small room entry.

"They used live fire, practiced quick entry into rooms set up with
silhouettes," Monroe said. "They had to determine quickly who the bad guy
is, who is the good guy. They went through several dry fires with empty
guns first."

Blue tape identified empty guns. Each weapon was checked twice. Instructors
were taking no chances. With live rounds about to be in play at the next
step, dry fire practice had to be visibly and markedly different from what
would follow.

"To make sure that nobody had a loaded weapon, the range master looked
after it," Monroe said. "Then the team leader came by to make sure they
were taped."

Gas mask drills followed, with OSHA certification a requirement of the
training. Each participant experienced the pain these chemical munitions
deliver.

"They actually have to take the masks off and actually find out how CS
burns," he said. "Oh, man. It feels like your face is on fire. Even with
the mask on. It goes for wet areas, and if you are sweating the least
little bit, it sets you on fire."

Trainees worked with fully automatic weapons. They moved to Southern Pines
in an exercise to train on a building with which they were unfamiliar.

The Moore County Schools assisted in this event, lending the department a
number of school buses. The scenario involved a simulated situation
involving a barricaded gunman at the old water plant near Reservoir Park.
Teams went through the exercise twice.

"They sent a team to look at the building," Monroe said. "We let them plan
it, and they attacked it how they wanted to attack it. Then we brought them
back and critiqued it, told them some of the stuff that needed to be
changed. They went back and hit the building again, and it went
excellently. There was no down time. They had the building cleared and
their suspect arrested probably within 40 seconds."

Special Response Team

Carter was pleased with the way the training went. This, he says, is only
the beginning.

"We have had an offer from the military for assistance," Carter said. "They
will let us use their facilities. We will do that."

Carter and Monroe said training will continue to be part of department
planning.

In Moore County, the unit will be called SRT: the Special Response Team. At
any given time, of any given day, trained SRT members will be on regular
duty spread out across the county and able to act quickly as needed.

They will have what they might need in their patrol cars.

"They will be first responders, have their equipment with them," Monroe
said. "That is why we have 12 to deploy from, in case some are out on
vacation or something."

Crosby had high praise for Moore County.

"They did tremendous work," he said. "I have trained a lot of teams over
the years, and these guys were impressive. They had a great attitude,
worked long, hard hours. And it is important. Moore County is the source of
some major world-class incidents. You have situations there where you will
have dignitaries there from all over the world. People all over the world
are going to take notice. It becomes a homeland security issue. That
creates a need for this type of specialized training."

Having a trained team ready and in place is vital, he said.

"That is what Sheriff Carter is trying to do, is to develop the ability to
handle situations as they arrive," Crosby said. "Major players,
politicians, celebrities, come here. Moore County is going to be on stage."