Little SWAT-chens:

The Colonial Special Operations Team raided police headquarters at Lafayette Hill after someone came in and pretended to take a hostage. The team, led by Sgt. Jeffrey Nowak, then apprehended the suspect and taught some important lessons to the kids.

“We’re called out when the situation’s going to be especially dangerous,” said Nowak. He related the urgency of the mock hostage situation to his daily life. “We have to be ready at a moment’s notice,” he said.

Since part of that job is catching the suspect, a SWAT team member must always have his equipment ready. Nowak and fellow team members Sgts. Chris Ward and Francis Wheatley showed the group the weapons they use, including a sniper gun, submachine gun, machine gun, tear gas gun and a ballistic shield to help cover a SWAT member when he/she first enters a dangerous area.

The 10- and 11-year-olds then posed for photographs wearing the helmets and vests of the SWAT team members.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 6:27 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.