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PrintLiving It Up: SWAT Training
Tonight, Living It Up is joining one of law enforcement’s most highly skilled and trained units. Jackie Johnson's finding out what it takes to join the SWAT Team.
(WSVN) -- Jackie: "Hey we are Living It Up today, and guess what, we're learning how to SWAT."
Greg: "No, no, we're not learning how to SWAT."
Jackie: "We're not?"
Greg: "We're learning how to become a member of the SWAT Team, we're not out here swatting bugs, you are going to get out here and get to work."
Jackie: "That sounds like hard work."
Jackie: "Okay Greg, just tell me a little bit about your position."
Greg: "I am the commander of the Broward County Sheriff's Office SWAT Team."
Jackie: "And what's the most common situation that you guys find yourselves in?"
Greg: "Well we do a lot of high-risk drug search warrants, that's what, that's kind of like our bread and butter
. Most of our other calls are barricaded suspects, where they may have hostages."Jackie: "And what goes into preparing yourself for a job like this?"
Greg: "First you have to be a deputy for 2 years, you've got to have a good record, and then we put you through a selection process which is extremely rigorous."
Jackie: "And what would that include?"
Greg: "The first day, you are going to come out here and do a mile and a half run, you are going to do a 100 yard fireman's carry, you are going to do the obstacle course which you see out here, you are going to do a 300 yard swim, you are going to do a repel tower drill."
Jackie: "How often do they do this?"
Greg: "We do this twice a year, our guys have to qualify and do this within 3 minutes and 30 seconds twice a year."
Greg: "Okay what you are going to do now is we are going to get you rigged up with a repel harness. This is a repel tower, what we use repelling for is essentially if we had to get from the top of a building to another part of the building... we also repel out of helicopters."
Greg: "Right now we are in our sim house, which means we are using simulation rounds, where we practice moving through a house to find people."
Jackie: "And what kind of gun do I have here?"
Greg: "You have a Beretta 9 mm which has a simulation barrel or a marking cartridge barrel in it, it will not fire a live round, it will fire essentially a plastic bullet that has a little bit of solution in it that marks where you hit the target."
SWAT guys: "Sheriff's office, search warrant!"
Give me a lot at the end
Jackie:
"Sheriff's office get down, well that's what it's like Living It Up with the BSO SWAT team, a big thanks to these guys, I'm Jackie Johnson 7 News."On Tuesday, Jackie's working with some very sharp knives.
She's learning how to become a chef at Benihana.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: jjohnson@wsvn.com