Escondido Police’s New SWAT Unit Will Take Over for Sheriff’s Team : Enforcement: Fear of budget cuts to the sheriff’s SWAT team persuaded Escondido to create its own group to handle high-risk situations.

Escondido will become the first North County city to have its own special weapons and tactics team when a Tactical Operations Unit is formally established Wednesday.

The Escondido Police Department had previously relied on the San Diego County sheriff’s 18-member SWAT team for emergencies such as hostage situations or serving high-risk search warrants.

But threatened budget cuts to the sheriff’s SWAT team have convinced Escondido police that they need to take greater control over their own operations.

“The concern we have had lately is how much longer are (the sheriff’s SWAT officers) going to be funded to the degree that they have been in the past,” said Mike Stein, Escondido assistant chief of police.

“You could sort of see the handwriting on the wall. Every time they needed to cut the budget, one of the first things they looked at was can they continue to operate the SWAT team, and we couldn’t just wait until the SWAT team wasn’t there anymore,” Stein said.

Escondido’s SWAT team will be composed of 17 officers, detectives and sergeants already on the staff who will take on the additional duties.

Over the past nine months, the unit has undergone training from other law enforcement agencies in Southern California as well as from the Navy and Marines, said Sgt. Chuck Milks, a member of the unit.

The Escondido Police Department has spent more than $50,000 to equip the team and cover training costs, with most of the funds coming from assets seized in anti-drug operations, Stein said.

Equipment includes heavy-duty, bullet-proof vests, ballistic shields, rifles, automatic weapons, gas masks and refurbishing an armored vehicle, Stein said.

“Primarily, we use the tactics team for guarding dignitaries that may come, particularly during election years, hostage situations and . . . high-risk search warrants,” Stein said.

The unit already conducted a search warrant in Valley Center in conjunction with a sheriff’s SWAT team operation last week, Stein said.

Lt. Kurt Fettu, commander of the sheriff’s SWAT team, cautioned that there are risks with having a part-time special tactics unit.

“A part-time team is 100% better than sometimes having no team, but you have to weigh the pros and cons. If there is not enough training, then your liability and danger factor can increase,” Fettu said.

The Escondido Tactical Operations Unit plans to train three times a month.