Regional SWAT team skillfully resolves conflicts as crime rate rises

Hollywood would have us believe that every time the SWAT team arrives, they bust through doors, blow down walls and run into houses with guns blazing.

The Northwest Montana Regional SWAT team pursues suspects who have committed a felony, a misdemeanor with a weapon or have a criminal history that makes them dangerous to the community, but the way they go about it is far different than Hollywood’s depiction, say several team leaders.

Four different agencies have joined forces to form the Northwest Montana Regional SWAT team: two officers from the Whitefish Police Department, nine from the Kalispell department, one from the Polson department and 10 from the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department. Additionally, four medics, three from the Whitefish Fire Department, support the team.

Sergeant Travis Smith, a SWAT team leader, said while these agencies have always backed each other up, this year is the first time they have operated as one unit. He said they serve a large area and will go anywhere they are required but their main priority is the citizenry of Flathead County.

“We average about a call a month. In the month of May we had five,” Smith said. “People don't realize how busy we actually are, which is a good and a bad thing.”

Four of the five calls SWAT responded to this May were in Whitefish.

“We are super fortunate to be able to pair with Kalispell PD, Polson PD, Whitefish PD, and we’re hoping to grow the program,” said Smith. “We're hoping to reach out and continue to get more resources to deal with these super difficult problems.”

The members of the SWAT team work full-time jobs in law enforcement; their work with the SWAT team is an auxiliary duty that requires an extra 20-30 hours of training each month. Recently, they had a unique opportunity to train in a soon-to-be-demolished house in Whitefish.

At the end of April, the team held a training session at the house near City Beach. Homeowners, Tara and Douglas Zimmerman, learned their house could provide an excellent training ground for the SWAT team.

”We’re growing at an astronomical rate in the valley and this is another team here that we can support,” Zimmerman said. “We have even more protection as residents.”

After notifying the city and the neighborhood, the team commenced to spend a day at the property running drills and practicing various scenarios.

“We try to keep our training as realistic as we absolutely can so some of our role players tend to get a little animated which is good because that’s the situations we deal with,” Smith said. “We try to be as respectful as possible of the neighborhood that we’re in but also keep it as true to life as we possibly can.”

Zimmerman said the team allowed her and her husband to detonate explosives on a window. The explosives had been placed so carefully, it blew out just the glass, leaving the frame undamaged. She called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“They showed us how they had busted into one of the bathrooms but they literally shot to where it just opened the door through the lock and it didn’t damage anything else,” Zimmerman recalled.

According to Smith, opportunities like this are limited for the SWAT team and they are grateful for chances to train in various structures that provide a fresh look at some unique problems.

“Any type of support is always welcomed. We’re always looking for training venues,” Smith said. “We are grateful for the citizenry and the support that we do have.”

The SWAT team might be best known for their unique equipment and weapons. After all, their name is Special Weapons and Tactics team. Some of the most successful tools of their trade are likely the most unexpected.

The team has tools not typically seen in law enforcement, like the “less-lethal” weapons they employ to facilitate submission. They say their job entails shaping behavior in order to encourage a suspect to decide to surrender.

“The goal every time is to not hurt anybody,” said SWAT team leader, Sergeant Alan Brooks. “The suspect always has a say in that.”

The negotiators are among the most valuable tools the SWAT team has, as their conversations with suspects often lead to peaceful resolutions.

“Negotiators have a lot of training and a lot of understanding in the behaviors and the things that are influencing a person in crisis,” Brooks said. “So they have the ability to communicate at a level that is better understood by the suspect.”

Smith says the depiction of SWAT teams in the movies is “completely unrealistic” and adds, “We’re surrounding, we’re talking. A huge portion of our tactical calls are solved by our negotiators.”

Brooks has been a SWAT team member for over 10 years and says the best addition he’s seen to the team is the canine unit. Deputy Pat McGauley and his dog, Audie, joined the team about a year ago. Brooks stated that McGauley is one of the top handlers in the United States.

“We’ve resolved multiple incidents with the canine, specifically searches on unknown locations for suspects and then the apprehension of those suspects when they weren’t compliant,” Brooks said.

McGauley added that it doesn’t have to be a serious offense to call on Audie as he excels in locating suspects.

“He’s primarily a locating tool…” McGauley explained. “What the suspect does… when we find them dictates whether or not Audie gets sent to actually bite and hold them.”

THE NORTHWEST Montana Regional team is stretched for manpower and could use more resources, including a custom-made, bulletproof vest with a camera mount for Audie. Still, they are a highly-skilled team dedicated to providing world-class protection to the people of the Flathead Valley and surrounding areas.

“The vast majority of our work is not flashy, not movie-like, not guys knocking down doors and running through a house,” Brooks said. "Being a SWAT guy is not just having cool tools and tactics but it's the ability to have the right information, make the right decisions and lead the guys around you to make those decisions.”

The team’s goal is always the safe surrender of a suspect. The team says they are a life-saving organization; their tools are all used for the protection of life, both the citizens’ and the suspects’. Smith added the team strives to be safe while causing as little harm as possible. That ability to remain level-headed is crucial to the safety of the growing community.