Weakley Co. Sheriff’s Dept. trains first SWAT team
WEAKLEY COUNTY, Tenn. — The Weakley County Sheriff’s Department is training a group of deputies and officers this week to become the first SWAT team for the county.
“It’s very important for the citizens of the county and for our schools,” Deputy Christopher Crocker said. “It’s a big thing for our schools in case we were to have an active shooter situation, that way we have a special response team to take care of a situation a lot faster.”
Deputies and two Martin police officers are training for 40 hours this week, learning how to approach some of the most dangerous scenarios.
“Entries of buildings to clearing them, we’ve done some vehicle assaults where they will approach those vehicles and clear them,” Investigator Clay Newman with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office said. He is one of the instructors for the SWAT training this week. “This morning, we did some rural operations that would help out probably lost persons or a fugitive that may have fled into a wooded area.”
These 11 men are training to become Weakley County’s next SWAT team, wearing over 80 pounds of gear and facing heat indexes that have reached triple digits this week. They say it helps them prepare for the worst situations.
“We are going to train in every situation — snow, rain, heat — it’s just part of the job,” Deputy Crocker said. “And we never know what we are going to encounter every day, and every day is different for us. Bad guys don’t care what the weather is like, so neither do we.”
Instructors say they are focusing on teamwork this week, so when they tackle real situations they are confident in each other.
“This is just the beginning. They need to train at least once to two times a month, and it just builds confidence in their abilities, confidence in each other,” Inv. Newman said.
On Friday, the team will take a final to become certified as a SWAT team.
Weakley County used to have a joint force with Obion County according to officials, but this team will be the first just for Weakley County.
