BEAUMONT, Texas — The Beaumont Police Department has introduced new hands-on training to help officers tackle worst-case scenarios.
The 60-hour SWAT (Special Weapon and Tactics) training consists of how to run through a hostage situation to how to communicate with a barricaded suspect.
Training like these are vital for officers who will be expected to make split-second decisions to save lives.
Officers from all over our area gathered Wednesday to test if they have what it takes to be on a fast-moving SWAT team.
“The best of the best, whether it's from training.. or the officers in general, to be on swat you need to be the best of the best," said 15-year sniper team leader Jared Dupree
This intensive course will prepare officers for any scenario from raid planning to handling gas and distraction devices.
“From swat you learn over the years that we don't have near the applicants that try out for SWAT, so our goal here with Beaumont Police Department is to spread the wealth and instruct the new guys to become SWAT operators,” Dupree said.
However, starting this training program does not mean you will complete it.
Beaumont Police Officer Haley Morrow says since training started Sunday, some people just couldn't hack it.
“We started out with 24 officers and we made it down to 16 for this basic SWAT school. We have over eight different agencies participating. It's hosted and instructed by Beaumont Police Officers who are on our SWAT team,” she said.
If all goes according to plan, those 16 officers will graduate with their basic SWAT training to return to their home agencies and share the action skills they learned while in Beaumont.