Today, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons and former ECSO PIO Sena Maddison discussed SWAT on the anniversary of a call-out that involved three officers being shot 14 years ago.
The sheriff said a deputy’s performance is considered when the agency selects its SWAT officers. “There’s a lot of training involved. Every couple of weeks, we’re training specific to SWAT, and you just kind of earn your wings more or less. You’re on a perimeter, then you make your way up to an entry team, then you’re a team leader, and then you’re a squad commander. That was the way that it worked out for me.”
Sheriff Simmons continued, “There is a physical fitness standard. We have an interview process where you sit there and answer questions. We ask about your career, how you handled this, and what the most stressful thing you’ve been on is. If you’ve been in Escambia County for a while, you’ve been on a lot of pretty high-stress calls, and we have a lot to evaluate. And then again, we have to have someone that has that desire to go beyond because a lot of times people, they’ll work their shift and then it’ll be off the next couple days, but with the SWAT, the day you’re supposed to be off, you’re going to go and do some SWAT training, do some physical fitness. You obviously do a lot of range time, and you must be a great team member. We can’t have any little wolves.”
Last week, Mayor D.C. Reeves unveiled the Pensacola Police Department’s Bearcat for its SWAT unit. Simmons served as the police chief before joining Escambia County, first as an assistant county administrator and then as chief deputy before running for sheriff in 2000. He also was the PPD SWAT commander and joked about what it was like before the Bearcat.
“We had a wood panel van, and sometimes we rented a van,” Sheriff Simmons recalled. “I do remember one case where we all jumped into the back of this moving van because we’re doing a search warrant at a hotel room, which is very difficult. And we actually had an easel in the back of that van, and wewere drawing on pieces of paper talking about how you get to side A, B and C and D. We had fold-up chairs back there. Literally, we’re going through that. Of course, that was a long time ago. We’re a lot better now.”
Photo by Ian Powell on Unsplash