Expert: Dick Rogers - 8/1/2009

Question
My name is hope and I'm 15, I have been watching the s.w.a.t team insiders on t.v and it amazes me what they do. I want to become a police officer and hopefully a s.w.a.t officer too. I'm looking forward to becoming and officer and helping the law inforcement out. Can't wait to try it, my questin is how many years do I have to go to school to become a s.w.a.t officer and what degrees do I have to have. Thank you:)

Answer
Hope, becoming a member of a swat unit is a natural progression for someone in police work in a general sense.  By that I mean that one would be a police officer or deputy sheriff and in the course of his/her training, there is usually an opportunity for the person to apply for assignment to a swat unit.  In the department I was a part of they had a yearly shootoff for all persons assigned to the Special Enforcement Bureau.  This took place of a day and involved shooting a sniper rifle under varying conditions.  When the day ended, surprise of surprises, I found out that I was the top shooter.  Our department had ten swat teams.  Going back to your question on college...most police officers today are college graduates.  So, that should be the first thing on your priority list.  Along with that as you advance through college is that you steer clear of any involvement that would raise a red flag for department recruiters...that includes drugs, gang affiliation, money problems, etc.  Once you are a sworn member of a department (seek larger departments) you can let it be known that you want to be a member of the swat unit and you'll be surprised how things work out.  The best to you.