SWAT Teams Hone Skills in Contest

In a kind of ballet with bullets, SWAT officers from nine departments participated Monday in an elaborately choreographed competition of running and shooting.

The fourth annual Ventura Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics competition pitted teams from all over Southern California against one another in a daylong test of wits and skills.

From a tortuous uphill obstacle course set up in Grant Park, to precision firing drills in Camarillo and then tense staged hostage situations in an abandoned Oxnard high-rise, the officers were tested in skills that could mean the difference between life and death in their work.

With police officers trailing them with clipboards, judging their every move, a team of Oxnard SWAT officers edged into a crowded hallway, preparing to move into a maze of rooms in which an armed man held two hostages.

Sgt. Scott Whitney directed his team slowly down the hallway and to the front door while carefully peering inside.

The scenario was full of the potential for lethal mistakes. As set up by the Ventura police, who sponsored the competition, the building used in the exercise Monday was a mock chemical plant that produced oxygen supplies. That meant no explosive “flash-bang” devices could be used without risking an explosion--and a lot of points deducted from a team’s score.

“It’s important that you ask the right questions,” said Ventura Police Cpl. Quinn Fenwick, who was helping judge the event.

The man playing the suspect also changed jackets with one of his hostages, hoping to confuse the team. He taunted officers by occasionally screaming at them and firing off his weapon. “Come on in and get me,” he said.

After pulling a woman playing a hostage to safety, the team decided that it had to rescue the man playing the second hostage.

Firing off paint pellets instead of bullets, officers moved in, peppering the suspect with pellets after he refused to drop his weapon.

“Yeah,” said Cmdr. John Crombach as he observed the assault, relieved that the only one hit during the exchange was the man playing the suspect.

The teams represented police departments in Oxnard, Simi Valley, Santa Barbara, El Segundo, Santa Monica, Barstow, Anaheim and Pasadena, as well as the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

On Monday, the Oxnard Police Department came away with the top prize, with El Segundo second and Pasadena third. Last year, the Santa Monica Police Department SWAT team won first place. The year before that, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department grabbed the top prize.