Carson SWAT: This was only a drill

From the looks on their faces, seeing the Carson Sheriff's Office SWAT team setting up in the parking lot near the old hospital was upsetting to more than one passer-by.

Sheriff Ken Furlong said there also had been some calls to his office concerned that something horrible was happening.

Not so, he said. It was just a very realistic training exercise for the team using a vacant medical office building.

Most SWAT training is conducted out of public view, but occasionally the team members get access to a building where they can put together a scenario to hone their skills.

"We've got to come out and train for the horrible things that can happen," said Sgt. Mike Cullen, who leads the team in the field. "The more times we can use some of this equipment, the better. We have a lot of different toys, and we try to be prepared for everything."

To make things realistic, Capt. Bob White said, they take their training scenarios from real events that have happened around the country. Wednesday's scenario was a takeover of a clinic by anti-abortion terrorists who are threatening to blow up the building and everyone in it unless the clinic shuts down. The two terrorists were holding two hostages, played by Carson community policing volunteers.

White said the team has to evaluate the situation and decide which options are best "to protect the hostages in there and defuse the situation."

In a real situation, he and Cullen said, that has to be done very quickly.

As team members prepared to enter the vacant building Wednesday, several people entering the parking lot gave them strange looks, ranging from curiosity to concern to alarm. One vehicle turned around and left the area. One woman parked but watched the team apprehensively as she walked 50 yards to a nearby medical building.

Finally, dressed in camouflage suits, wearing protective vests and heavily armed, the team charged in through a back door and quickly up the stairs to where the hostages were being held. A "flash-bang" grenade was followed by loud banging noises from upstairs and the hostages yelling for help.

A few minutes later, the team emerged from the building and gathered to evaluate what they did and how well it worked - debriefing.

In a real event, Cullen said, most members probably wouldn't be wearing the camouflage outfits because they would be responding from their regular department job whether was in patrol, detectives, the jail or another department.

White said the team members receive 10 hours training every month to hone their skills.

Cullen said Carson's SWAT team has 10 members in addition to himself, who all have other jobs in the department. He said Carson is classified as a Type 2 unit. To move toward becoming a Type 1 unit, he said, they are adding two Carson Fire Department medics to the team.

In addition, they need self-contained breathing apparatus and to make the members full-time instead of part-time on call. That last one is the most difficult because the small department, which has only about four-dozen sworn officers, can't afford full-time SWAT members, he said.

Cullen said they also need more real-world practice. He said they would be happy to hear from any businessman or homeowner with a vacant building they can use - especially one slated for demolition, where they don't have to avoid damage.