SWAT teams, our first line of defense

The press has been criticizing the police for appearing to have too much military equipment. This equipment is usually donated by our government to local police departments and is deemed surplus. The most sorted after item is a single armored motor vehicle, so that officers can store their equipment and also transport at least a dozen SWAT team members to the scene. This armored vehicle, fully loaded, is usually stored in a secured location at headquarters and ready to respond in minutes. There is no way that the municipalities could afford to purchase this type of vehicle and residents should be thankful for this gift.

I am sure you noticed that some officers wear black uniforms and some wear camouflage uniforms. The reason for this is because city response teams prefer black and rural teams seem to prefer camouflage to blend in with surrounding country. Naturally when additional teams are called out together one would notice the mixture.

Another fallacy going around is that some departments have tanks among their weaponry. I don’t have any knowledge of any SWAT team having or needing that kind firepower with the exception of the F.B.I.

We live in a very dangerous world today and we should be very thankful that we have men and women on every police department in the United States and are willing to man these positions, Some are called Emergency Response Teams, SWAT Teams, E.S.U. , Police Rangers, including regular police officers. So the terrorist better be aware that in every city and town in the United States there is a very well trained and equipped unit ready to pounce on them. They are truly our first line of defense. They know what they are doing. We should back them up.

Paul Dittmar
Vernon