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No Budget Doesn’t Mean Not-Safe

Budget cuts, layoffs and agency sizes make for interesting times for agencies today. The creative use of reserve officers and extending the life of in-service equipment may help to alleviate the hit taken by training budgets. Yet regardless of the money situation, cops still need to stay well trained to meet today’s often-sophisticated threats.

Even agencies big enough to have SWAT are pressed to consider multi-agency teams to help cut costs. Today, some ask, do we need SWAT? Most people don’t think about it — until they need it. We need SWAT where we can afford it, but like the Rolling Stones song goes, “you can’t always get what you want.”

I was once interviewed on 60 Minutes for a show about SWAT. I told the reporter, “Not all towns like Pumphandle, Ala. need a trained sniper. Then again if you are being held hostage in Pumphandle you’d sure like a good sniper to show up to shoot by your head.” What holds true for snipers holds true for SWAT. Where I live we can get a SWAT team to respond, but it will be hours before they’re in place, ready to function. Do we simply try to “contain” until they arrive? That might not work.

 

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