Who Goes on SWAT Call-outs?

When the SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team is called out, you know it's serious. These are the guys who can show up with MARV, machine guns, armor-piercing bullets, etc. You know - the heavy-weight stuff. The "fun" stuff, some would say. Who's MARV? That's MARV, just to the right.

And when the team rolls, who is on the team? Only the qualified, certified, trained, experienced SWAT members. Right? Really?

Rumor has it that certain Corrections (that's "jail" to you and me) officers are allowed to accompany the SWAT team. So, apparently, someone who works in the jail and who is not a certified law enforcement officer (not a "deputy") and who perhaps hasn't even qualified with a firearm at Department minimums gets to go along.

If this rumor is true, why would the Sheriff, the Law & Justice Committee, and the County Board approve the risk involved?

It seems to me that there is tremendous financial exposure and risk to McHenry County, if this is the case. What if a corrections officer is hurt while participating in an activity for which he has not been trained?

What if a corrections officer causes some harm to another person while on a SWAT call-out? How many tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars will pour out of the County coffers to defend the County and then to pay off the person(s) harmed?

The dividing line between SWAT-qualified and not qualified shouldn't be in the sand. It should be painted with a wide, solid, black line right across the hallway ion front of the door to the SWAT shed. If you are not SWAT-certified, Keep Out!

And this should apply to anyone on the SWAT team who isn't certified and currently qualified. Period.

So, are all the rules of "good business" being followed at McHenry County Sheriff's Department?

Is the rumor true, or is it just a rumor?

Is everyone on the SWAT team certified? Everyone?

Sheriff's Dept. SWAT Team

What do we know about the SWAT team at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department?

I haven't called over for information yet, but I do wonder if I'll get the same response as I did when I tried to get information about the ICE program. That response is an easy one to write about in one word. Nothing. Or with two words: No response. Or three words: Calls not returned. (That's calls, not call.)

So, about SWAT. There is considerable general information available on the web about SWAT teams. When you read it, you learn that SWAT teams are special operations. Now, not "black operations" but, instead, carefully selected, psychologically qualified, highly trained, problem free law enforcement officers. Officers "with a clean noses"; i.e., no history of problems and no problems with unauthorized or improper use of force. There should be no room on a SWAT team for a bully.

These team members have to be cool and maintain cool in very delicate, often dangerous circumstances. Therefore, we can expect that they will be carefully screened, thoroughly "vetted" (the popular buzz word of the decade), properly and completely trained, certified by any State-level professional law enforcement agencies that certifies SWAT team members, such as the Illinois State Police, (if there is such State certified (and, if there isn't, there should be))and properly authorized and designated by their own agency.

Those agencies don't need braggadocios out on the street, flexing their muscles, wearing their tight black t-shirts, running around with shaved heads with an "I Dare You" attitude.

They should be the coolest of the cool, and I don't mean "cool". For one reason they have awesome weapons that are not available to the "routine" officer, deputy or trooper.

They must be keenly aware of the Constitutional rights of citizens and operate strictly within the law. In other words, if they have the correct legal authority to enter private property, they have that authority (warrant) BEFORE they enter the property. No one calls the judge for a warrant while the SWAT team is standing in the living room with guns drawn.

The team must respect one another, including all the commanders. They must operate as a "team". There is no room for a hot head, a loose cannon, a solo operator; those guys endanger themselves, and they endanger the team.

So, what do we have in McHenry County?

Members of the County SWAT team and of local law enforcement agencies are invited to post your comments, information, advice right here. Pick a screen name that completely hides your identity and agency, and tell us, the public, what we need to know.

Or you can email it to me for careful editing (not of content, but to further preserve your identity) and publication.

S.W.A.T. Teams

When a law enforcement agency has extraordinary power available to it, does it tend to use it more often, whether really needed or not, just because it has it and wants to use it?

I was thinking the other day of a stand-off not too long ago in McHenry County on Lamb Road near Charles Road. Anyone remember that one? Deputies surrounded the house for hours and then took a man into custody and hauled him off to the South Street psychiatric facility.

Does anyone remember any criminal charge ever filed against him? Maybe that’s because none ever was.

Then I got to thinking about the sheriff’s department response in the Wonder Lake area to the residence of David Maxson in September 2006. In only 46 minutes the situation escalated to the point where deputies were threatened and Maxson was fatally shot. After reading the police reports and attending the coroner’s inquest, I wondered how different the outcome would have been, if deputies had taken a more reasoned approach and created less confrontation with a person who presented symptoms of mental illness and/or intoxication.

And this got me to thinking about why the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department would have such a unit. Who’s in it? What are the qualifications and training for deputies assigned to it? How does it function?

First, what is “Special Weapons and Tactics” (S.W.A.T.)?

S.W.A.T. is commonly an elite special operations tactical unit in American police departments. It is trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular patrol officers, including serving high-risk arrest warrants, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, and engaging heavily-armed criminals.

SWAT teams are often equipped with specialized firearms including assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, carbines, riot control agents, stun grenades, and high-powered rifles for snipers. They have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, entry tools, armored vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers inside of an enclosed structure.

Watch for a follow-up article about the McHenry County SWAT team.

The source of a portion of the above information is Wikipedia, which allows copying of its content.