S.W.A.T.

By Sheriff Frank Reynolds

When I began working for the Cherokee Sheriffs Office in 1994, the agency did not have a formal tactical response team to handle critical incidents. Observing a growing need for such a team, former Sheriff Roger Garrison created a Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) team in 1997.

After a lengthy vetting process, I was fortunate to have been selected as one of the original 10 S.W.A.T. team members. I stayed on the team for eight years and served on both the marksman and entry teams.

Our first special operations vehicle was a converted bread delivery truck, and our equipment was minimal. What we lacked in equipment, we certainly made up for in specialized training and enthusiasm.

As Cherokee County continued to grow, so did the need for a S.W.A.T. team. Today, the team is multi-jurisdictional and is complemented by a Crisis Negotiations team with members from the Cherokee and Pickens Sheriffs Offices, as well as local municipal police departments. Additionally, we provide this service to other counties in north Georgia that do not have a special response team.

Currently, there are more than 30 members on the S.W.A.T. team, including six tactical medics from Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services as well as six designated defensive marksmen. The team members are not assigned full-time. They are, however, assigned to the various divisions within the CSO to include patrol, warrants, criminal investigation, and training.

Each S.W.A.T. member is chosen after a grueling selection process and is required to undergo hundreds of hours of training before becoming a master S.W.A.T. operator. Also, members of the team routinely train with various state and federal law enforcement agencies and the United States military.

When an incident occurs, on-duty personnel respond, while other members assemble as the situation dictates. To supplement the teams effectiveness, a dozen crisis negotiators assist in solving critical incidents peacefully.

Besides growing in the number of members, the S.W.A.T. team is now equipped with some of the best equipment and technology available to law enforcement.

Fortunately, we retired the old bread delivery truck years ago, and we now rely on a small fleet of command vehicles and an armored truck. Most of these vehicles were purchased through a federal grant. The command trucks are often used during civic events for establishing an incident command headquarters and radio communications integration.

You may be asking, Do we need all this equipment and personnel? Well, it is a fair question. First, tactical situations in Cherokee County are rare, but they do happen. The type of incidents that require S.W.A.T. and crisis negotiations range from barricaded persons, search warrants that pose a heightened risk to law enforcement, and persons suffering from a mental health crisis.

As your sheriff, I want our special response team to be ready and capable to handle any crisis that will adversely impact our community. Our citizens deserve the best, and that is exactly what you have in the Cherokee Multi-Agency S.W.A.T. and Negotiations team.