News 14 Carolina's Lisa Reyes takes a look at Charlotte's SWAT team and has more on why it's only a part-time squad.
CHARLOTTE -- A long standoff Monday night ended the year with close to 200 calls for Charlotte’s SWAT team. As the city continues to grow, some argue there’s a need for a full-time squad.
The SWAT team is a part-time squad with only two full-time employees, a captain and a sergeant. Sometimes it goes weeks without responding to a call, but this week, it was busy. Monday’s situation took several hours.
"We are prepared to go longer if need be," Maj. Dale Green of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said.
And it didn’t take long for the first SWAT call of 2008. The team was called into a northeast Charlotte apartment complex Tuesday morning to subdue a suspect.
The part-time squad is made up of six sergeants, 32 operators, 10 negotiators and six tactical medics ready to respond at any time.
"An all call was done and resources responded," Green explained.
The part-time squad is made up of six sergeants, 32 operators, 10 negotiators and six tactical medics ready to respond at any time. They are all on different shifts. Last year, they had enough resources to cover 119 calls, and right now there's no move to make the SWAT team full-time.
"Until we get back to full staffing and we're addressing the needs to the community that way, we're not going with a full-time SWAT team," Green said.
Constantly in training, the team is proud to end all 2007 resolutions successfully. Members hope 2008 will yield the same results.
According to one law encyclopedia, SWAT was developed in 1966 after a murderous rampage claimed the lives of 45 people in Austin, Texas. Police agencies developed the team to handle crisis situations.
Only a handful of SWAT teams across the country are full-time. Austin is not one of them.