Police Swat

Police Swat

Are all SWAT members also police officers when not on a call?

I’m in a cadet program and we had the city’s SWAT (SERT, whatever….) come in to talk to us about various things involving their team.
They mentioned that in addition to their normal police duties, they are also involved and on call for the SWAT team.
Do all cities operate this way with dual-duty police officer/SWAT team jobs, or are some separated?
Also, if I were to join the state troopers, can I still be a member of SWAT?

Most very large departments have full time teams, but most other agencies only have members who are called out as needed.

Most state police agencies do have some sort of special teams, but these are almost always called out as needed from the ranks of the regular officers who are selected and trained for these teams.

Being that all of these teams are set up by their local or state agencies, there is no national standard for structure. There may be suggestions and some templates available, but the final choice is local. The same pattern holds true for most federal agencies. There are a few cadre of their teams on staff, but most serve out in the field. There are only a few exceptions.

As to your state, since we do not know it, this would be hard to answer. You should build a relationship with some of them and learn what you can. I would bet that the answer is that you could join and if you made the physical, psychological, shooting and scholastic requirements, you would be accepted gleefully.

I have seen most agencies looking for good people to fill most slots. A lot of people apply, but wash out in the pre-selection process or initial training You just have to be one of those people that can deal with it and that fact needs to be obvious to all around you.

That is the magic… Reputation and image rule this type of work. Good enough never is — you need to be the best and it needs to show through to anyone watching.

Good luck — I am in some ways jealous of you. They will be putting me out to pasture before long and I will be missing the fun.