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FOCUS Get More From SWAT Training is offcer down drills. Offcers would practice using cruisers or armored vehicles to rescue injured offcers. Task Three is range training. Offcers would practice different SWAT range courses. Task Four is scenario exercises. The full team would group up and practice different scenarios. Some other stations could include room dynamics, deploying distraction devices, gas mask exercises, defensive tactics work, or whatever a team leader or trainers consider important to practice. The benefts for this type of training are that a lot of material can be covered in shorter amounts of time. If a particular tactic is going to be covered, the team leader can send out the information prior to practice via email or written material. Offcers could read or study the material and be more prepared for a presentation on the content at the team practice. Then the tactics can be incorporated into a station or as a full team exercise. Don���t forget tabletop exercises develop leadership. The use of tabletop exercises should be considered for a station. This type of training allows offcers to think about more than just particular skill sets or individual assignments. Officers are tasked with fguring out how to best approach a situation using team resources and tactical considerations. This type of exercise can also help develop leadership within team members. Besides tabletop exercises, offcers should be encouraged to make suggestions on training stations or set up different ones and direct them. The use of this type of training can help a team better utilize its training time, allow offcers to practice using equipment they may not have familiarity with due to other offcers usually handling it, as well as develop leadership for team members. It should be considered as part of a SWAT team���s training function. Half the team practices deployment and approaches... Tom Wetzel is a northeast Ohio suburban police lieutenant, SWAT officer, trainer and certified law enforcement executive. He holds a black belt in Goshin Jujitsu. He can be reached at wetzelfamily05@sbcglobal.net. LaO Post your comments on this story by visiting www.lawandordermag.com 24 LAW and ORDER I December 2012 ...while the other half does firearms training.