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City's first SWAT team ready for unexpected
By MOLLY MOORHEAD ZEPHYRHILLS -- With an eye toward emergency preparedness, five police officers and one paramedic recently completed four days of military-style training, and the six men emerged as the city's first SWAT team. Police Chief Jerry Freeman initiated the idea of establishing a Special Weapons and Tactics team and went looking for volunteers in his department. "In a town like this, we have to be prepared to meet the needs of public safety," Freeman said. True emergencies -- hostage crises or school shootings -- are practically unheard of in Zephyrhills, but Freeman said the department will now be better prepared should such a situation arise. Officers Billy Adams, Daniel Hill and Ken Keith, Detective Mike Kirk and Sgt. Scott Raymer volunteered, so each of the department's squads is represented on the team. Firefighter Chuck Blankenbeckley, the city's only certified paramedic, is the sixth member of the team. Freeman said that makes the group unique in Pasco County -- no other teams have paramedics in their ranks. "If you have to make a high-risk rescue of an injured person, you need the SWAT team for control and the medic for treatment," Freeman said. Blankenbeckley, a former Marine, went through the same training as the police officers. The schedule -- four 14-hour days -- included lessons in night-vision shooting, man-down drills and antiterrorism preparation. Raymer called the experience "intense." The team members will continue practicing the skills they learned such as room-to-room searches and building entries, and could return for an advanced class. "It's definitely a continuing education program," Raymer said. "You don't just learn it once. You keep learning it." The team was in training at Withlacoochee Technical Institute with other squads from the Pasco, Citrus and Hernando sheriff's offices. Those teams invited the Zephyrhills group to train with them in the future. Freeman said that kind of cooperation is an important aspect of SWAT work. "Frequently, situations involve multiple SWAT teams, so they like to train together if that happens," he said. "We would fall right into their stack," Keith said. Keith noted that SWAT teams, as much as anything, are a powerful psychological tool to use against criminals. "If we show up on the scene, we've almost won the battle without firing," he said. Freeman wants the team members to train other officers in the techniques of rapid action deployment, in which a responding officer can react to a situation without waiting for a SWAT team. Eventually, Freeman said, he plans to send more officers to the four-day course. The department hasn't purchased any special equipment for the SWAT team. It has six M-14 rifles acquired through military surplus before Freeman became chief. The rifles are kept in a gun safe. Freeman said he didn't know if SWAT members would ever use them. -- Molly Moorhead covers news about Zephyrhills and crime in east Pasco. She can be reached at (352) 521-5757 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6108, then 29. Her e-mail address is moorhead@sptimes.com
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