SWAT Teams Face Off in Knock-Down, Drag-Out Contest

Ventura Police Officer Ray Harer spent the day waiting for eight heavily armed and armored SWAT teams to find him hiding in a closet.

“It’s not real hard,” a patient Harer said. “I just have to sit there real quietly and wait. At least the guns aren’t loaded.”

It was all part of the fun at the second annual Ventura Police Department SWAT Competition, where guys who get their kicks kicking in doors get to have a gangbusting good time.

While Harer played the barricaded bad guy, buff SWAT teams took turns springing into action, trailed by officers carrying clipboards and judging their every move.

Eight law enforcement agencies from Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties spent all day Monday playing commando and vying for a slew of plaques, ribbons and bragging rights.

The team from Torrance was doing a convincing job of looking menacing. Gripping black machine guns, they executed a cautious entry through the back door of a vacant Ramona Street house, impressing judges--until they set off a tripwire.

Although armed and dangerous, they suddenly looked sullen and disappointed. This was a competition, after all, and they had just lost points.

“That was tricky,” said Torrance SWAT member Tom Aldrich, whose name tag said Boo Boo. “They told us there wasn’t a tripwire.”

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But there were still four more sites for the Torrance team to prove their mettle: two firing ranges, an obstacle course in Camarillo and another simulated bust farther down Ramona Street.

The mile-long obstacle course was no easy feat. The herculean tasks included climbing up a water tower, carrying a 150-pound log half a mile and pushing a patrol car 75 yards. Even the pistol range competition involved running in full gear between targets.

But the SWAT teams didn’t mind. This was their idea of a good time: friendly competition, a chance to practice their finely honed life-saving techniques and networking with other Special Weapons and Tactics types.

Back on Ramona Street, where landlords had given permission to assault two vacant houses, Team Torrance made a comeback by busting through the door of the second home with enough fire-power to blow it clear across the street--had the guns been loaded.

“Nice entry,” remarked Ventura Officer Ralph Martinez, who got to play a surprised drug dealer. “I’m pretty impressed. They moved real quickly.”

Neighbor Johnnie Palmer was more impressed with the way the SWAT team members looked in their uniforms. She sat on her porch watching the competition with her friends and two dogs named Crystal and Cisco.

“Those sure are some fine, handsome officers,” she said. “I’m single and I could use a man. You should have seen the one from Santa Barbara. He was big, buff and mighty fine.”

Most neighbors, however, were more concerned with what the heck was going on.

“First I thought it was a bust, then I thought they were filming a movie,” said Ken Swanson, who lives across from one of the houses. “Sure is exciting.”

In the end, Torrance wasn’t able to muscle onto the winners’ platform. Third place went to the team from the Santa Monica Police Department, which came in first last year. Oxnard Police captured second place. And the best door-diving, camo-wearing, hostage-liberating squad of all was the Ventura Sheriff’s Department. But some onlookers from Ramona Street, which police say has seen its share of drug arrests, weren’t impressed by any of them.

“We’ve seen plenty of raids down on Ramona,” said Elizabeth Guillen. “It ain’t nothing new.”

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Guillen’s sister Blanca Lopez said she knew right away the raid wasn’t real.

“There’s no way they’d be out there in the open planning the raid before it happened,” Lopez said. “If it were real, they’d be racing out of paddy wagons and storming the place.

“This isn’t authentic. I’ve seen enough real ones to know.”