Crime & Safety
SWAT Teams Offering a Public Showcase
More than 30 tactical squads unite for competition, training and camaraderie in 7th annual event sponsored by West Hartford police.
The Connecticut SWAT Challenge was hard to miss Tuesday on quiet Nod Road in Simsbury in the shadow of Talcott Mountain.
With 34 emergency response teams forming the second largest SWAT competition in the country, the police activity was formidable. Look for Hartford’s 29,400-pound V-150 Commando armored vehicle, the one that says, "knock, knock."
The annual Connecticut SWAT Challenge, hosted by , began in 2005 and attracts local, state, federal and military emergency response teams. The competition, open to the public, continues Wednesday and Thursday at the Connecticut State Police Range and Metacon Gun Club on Nod Road and at the reservoir on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford.
The event, which includes a law enforcement trade show, is part training and part competition, West Hartford police Lt. Jeremy Clark said.
“Camaraderie is a part of it too. Take a look around,” Clark said. “The camaraderie is important.”
The 34 SWAT teams serve more than 10 million residents in 300 towns and cities from eight states, mostly in the Northeast.
The three-day competition involves seven tests of elite police skills, physical fitness, mental sharpness and teamwork. Individual and team titles are awarded.
“There was a group of us on the [West Hartford] SWAT team, and we started off wanting to run a competitive training event,” said Clark, a 14-year West Hartford officer and an Army Airborne veteran. “Take the best of competition, take the best of training, mix it together and then you have the best of both worlds.”
The event started with a smattering of teams and law enforcement vendors. The competition is now the largest of its kind in the Northeast and features more than 125 vendors from across the country, Clark said.
“We started off small and did it on a wing and a prayer,” Clark said. “People talked about it for a lot of years. It wasn’t a new concept but betting on it coming to fruition was. It was just a natural extension of what we’ve been doing — training — and now we do it with other people.”
The official opening ceremonies are Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. on Nod Road with West Hartford Mayor Scott Slifka and police Chief James Strillacci.
Sniper, handgun and rifle competitions are scheduled Wednesday on Nod Road. On Thursday, teams are scheduled to compete in a physical training exercise from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the reservoir.
Livermore, CA, won the team competition last year. The North-Central SWAT team that includes police from Farmington, Avon, Canton, Granby, Simsbury and Windsor won in 2009.
The Connecticut State Police, winners in 2007, are steady top-five finishers.
“There’s a vacuum for good training and teams are always looking for good places to train,” Clark said.
