— Members of the Roswell Police
Department SWAT team competed in October in
the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association’s SWAT
Competition in Round Rock, Texas. The RPD team had
an impressive showing, finishing ninth overall among
36 teams in the Oct. 5-8 competition.
The competition consisted of eight events during
the four days with most events focusing on physical
fitness, shooting skills and team communication. Results of each event were based on a
variety of factors, including teamwork and response times in accomplishing the presented
situation or objective. The Roswell SWAT team had its highest placing (fifth) in an
individual event in the Steel Scramble Challenge, which required shooting a series of steel targets using both handgun and rifle. In
addition, the team needed to obtain a
series of colors and passwords so the
correct targets could be revealed. The
team also finished in the top 10 (10th) in
the Bus Assault event.
RPD was one of just two New Mexico
teams to participate in the competition,
which every year has a preponderance
of Texas teams, but draws teams from
other states as well. The SWAT team
from the Bernalillo County (N.M.)
Sheriff’s Office finished 20th overall.
RPD’s ninth-place overall finish made it
the best non-Texas team in this year’s
competition that also included teams
from Louisiana and Idaho.