Expert: Philip Sweeting - 6/7/2007

Question
Hi my name is Tim.
I'm 15 yrs. old And I want to know what you do in a SWAT team and what I need to do to get there. What kind of classes and how many years of college? Should I go to a University?

Answer
Ideally you should go to college but it is not necessarily a requirement...depending on the hiring requirements of the department that hires you. There is really not a whole lot you can do to prepare for SWAT until after you are hired by a police department. Then it usually takes at least 4 years before you would be considered to become a member of the SWAT team.

To be considered to be on the SWAT team not only must you be physically fit but you must also and more importantly be level headed. In other words they want team players and people who can control their emotions. If as a police officer you have complaints of excessive force, you are perceived as heavy handed, abuse your authority or overreact to situations...you would not make the ideal SWAT officer.

But if you demonstrate that you can perform your duties calmly under stress and treat everyone with respect...no matter how they treat you...you would be an ideal SWAT officer.

In most police departments it is a part time job. In other words you work as a regular police officer until they need a SWAT team and then you are called out. Some large departments have full time SWAT teams.

SWAT members do go through a lot of specialized and continuous training. You should first work to get hired by a police department and find out if they even have a SWAT team. Many smaller agencies don't have their own SWAT team but have an agreement to use another agencies when needed.....such as the Sheriff Departments....which is more cost effective. Most police departments only need a SWAT team a few times a year...if that many times...so it doesn't pay to buy the equipment, train the officers, etc., when they are used so seldom....not to mention the liability if not properly trained. All too often SWAT team members get hurt by fellow members either in training exercises or on actual entries. Hope this helps.