ShawnCowden
Member
A need to be able to take care of themselves, it's the reason given for the formation of a new SWAT team in our area.
It's work which has pulled together three East Tennessee counties in an effort to increase homeland security and local law enforcement capability.
Volunteer TV's Eric Waddell has a story you will only see here on East Tennessee.
Law enforcement from three counties Loudon, Morgan and Roane county and the cities within are banding together to do something never before seen in Tennessee.
Form a multi-jurisdictional swat team.
"The way this is coming about and the teams that are being put together would make response time less because you have members from each city and county," says David Haggard, Roane County sheriff.
A need for speed of response and offensive capabilities to deal with potential homeland security situations.
"Where there are a lot of lives at stake I think rapid response is very important. I feel with a regional swat with in 30 to 45 minutes we could be up," says Jack Stockton, Harriman Police Chief.
Law enforcement estimates currently it would likely take 2 hours to get SWAT help from outside sources.
Currently the team is being formed and is in preliminary training. Up next, a specialized SWAT training course in March.
"We are hoping to be operational by April or May. We are going to try and have the best trained officers we can get," says Sgt. David Flynn, Lenoir City Police Department.
The team will address local law enforcement needs but fits in a larger picture, homeland security. Part of the theory, what would people in those three counties do if there was no help available from the outside.
"We wanted to provide the citizens of these counties with a safe environment to have these tools to mitigate these untold events," says Howie Rose, Roane County EMA Director.
The money to pay for the training and equipment comes from a $173,000 Homeland Security grant. No local tax money has been spent.
The officers are not being paid for their extra effort.
The SWAT team in will answer to the chief or sheriff in each jurisdiction it's deployed to.
The team will have two units to reduce response time.
It's work which has pulled together three East Tennessee counties in an effort to increase homeland security and local law enforcement capability.
Volunteer TV's Eric Waddell has a story you will only see here on East Tennessee.
Law enforcement from three counties Loudon, Morgan and Roane county and the cities within are banding together to do something never before seen in Tennessee.
Form a multi-jurisdictional swat team.
"The way this is coming about and the teams that are being put together would make response time less because you have members from each city and county," says David Haggard, Roane County sheriff.
A need for speed of response and offensive capabilities to deal with potential homeland security situations.
"Where there are a lot of lives at stake I think rapid response is very important. I feel with a regional swat with in 30 to 45 minutes we could be up," says Jack Stockton, Harriman Police Chief.
Law enforcement estimates currently it would likely take 2 hours to get SWAT help from outside sources.
Currently the team is being formed and is in preliminary training. Up next, a specialized SWAT training course in March.
"We are hoping to be operational by April or May. We are going to try and have the best trained officers we can get," says Sgt. David Flynn, Lenoir City Police Department.
The team will address local law enforcement needs but fits in a larger picture, homeland security. Part of the theory, what would people in those three counties do if there was no help available from the outside.
"We wanted to provide the citizens of these counties with a safe environment to have these tools to mitigate these untold events," says Howie Rose, Roane County EMA Director.
The money to pay for the training and equipment comes from a $173,000 Homeland Security grant. No local tax money has been spent.
The officers are not being paid for their extra effort.
The SWAT team in will answer to the chief or sheriff in each jurisdiction it's deployed to.
The team will have two units to reduce response time.
