Four Northeast Tarrant County cities are saving money and, in some cases, increasing police protection by combining resources for a new SWAT team.
"Unfortunately, having a SWAT team in today's society is a necessity," said Bedford Deputy Police Chief Eric Griffin.Hurst, Euless, Bedford and Grapevine will deal with that necessity together under Griffin's command.The Northeast Tarrant County Area SWAT Team, or Netcast, not only will reduce costs for some cities but also will double the number of officers ready to respond to emergencies.Bedford Chief Roger Gibson said the move "will save us, on a conservative estimate, $33,000 [yearly] just in the overtime for training associated with it, along with the uniforms, ballistic vests and ammunition for the training."A ballistic vest costs $1,800 to $2,000, Griffin said. Ballistic shields can run $800 to $2,500 each. Both must be replaced every five years.Another advantage is that regional SWAT teams are favored over individual teams for federal equipment grants, Griffin said.Each city will provide eight officers, three negotiators and one commander, said Griffin, a 25-year police veteran with 20 years in SWAT."This will reduce the city of Bedford's SWAT manpower requirements from 22 personnel to 12," he said. "This alone will have a significant impact on the cost related to training."Grapevine will get about $26,000 in savings, Sgt. Robert Eberling said. The cost impact in Euless will be negligible, Police Chief Michael Brown said."We'll probably spend about the same dollars," he said. "We cut the number of officers involved, but on the back side of that, we increase training hours for those who are there."Euless' greater benefit is "a bigger team, a lot more resources to pull from, and more equipment that we don't have to worry about buying or borrowing in an emergency," Brown said.Other teams are also looking forward to sharing such equipment as Bedford's 40-year-old Chrysler Peacekeeper armored personnel carrier and a device called the wall banger, which converts a flash-bang grenade into a shape charge to shear off deadbolt locks or hinges.Hurst won't see much change in its SWAT team budget, Assistant Police Chief Steve Niekamp said, but having two 16-person tactical teams and two six-person negotiating teams at hand will improve the city's ability to respond to emergencies."We get the benefit of having 32 tactical officers instead of the 11 we currently have and 12 negotiators instead of the seven we currently have, without increasing our operating costs," he said.Even for cities with enough officers to staff full tactical and negotiating teams, responding to a call can stretch people thin, Niekamp said."It takes 15 to 20 guys on the initial call out, and that can be quite a drain on a small police department's personnel," he said.The four cities average five SWAT emergencies each per year, and the frequency of situations that could escalate into deployments is growing, Gibson said."There is an increasing number of emergency mental detentions we're facing," he said. "A lot of those don't get to the level of SWAT activation, but you'll have teams on standby and have negotiators involved in resolving those matters where people have barricaded themselves."Fort Worth, Arlington and North Richland Hills have SWAT teams. Keller, Roanoke, Colleyville and Southlake formed the North Tarrant Regional SWAT in 2010.The advantages of having another regional team depend on perspective, Griffin said.As far as residents are concerned, the greatest advantage is response time, he said.Unlike firefighters, SWAT team members have regular duties -- working traffic, patrolling, investigating crimes. When called out, SWAT officers have to muster somewhere to gear up, then get to the scene. The closer a team is to a situation when it happens, the better the outcome, Brown said."The theory behind this is that when you have a tactical incident, if you can bring highly skilled officers to that scene quickly, the chance of everyone walking away safely is a whole lot more likely," he said.From the officers' perspective, the more teams on hand the better, said Keller's SWAT coordinator, Lt. Brenda Slovak.Her regional team counts on the North Richland Hills team as its backup. That became crucial July 26, 2011, when Slovak's team answered a call in Watauga, where a suspect shot at officers and barricaded himself."It was very hot," she said. "It's hard to stay outside with all that gear on without some relief."After several hours on the scene, the regional team welcomed North Richland Hills officers, who relieved them so they could cool down and eat, Slovak said.This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.Terry Evans, (817) 390-7620Twitter: @fwstevansHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
