SWAT and SRT

SPECIAL WEAPONS AND TACTICS (SWAT)

The mission of the Yavapai County Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team is the preservation of life and property during critical incidents and high-risk operations. The SWAT Team is called upon to respond to high-risk search and arrest warrants, incidents involving barricaded suspects, hostage negotiations and rescues, active shooters, crowd control, and other situations requiring resources beyond the capacity of the patrol division. Members of SWAT also provide training in tactics to other members of the Sheriff’s Office during directed training exercises.

The SWAT Team is currently comprised of 26 positions. Members participate on the team as a collateral duty, in addition to their full-time assignments within the Sheriff’s Office. Assignments within the team include perimeter containment, precision marksmanship, tactical medics, less lethal and chemical munitions operators. As an additional resource, a Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) is attached to SWAT and is available for establishing dialogue with various subjects at a critical incident in an effort for safe resolutions through communication.

Members of SWAT are selected during a competitive process in which their physical fitness, firearms skills, communications skills, decision making abilities, and job performance are evaluated. Once selected to the team, members are sent to a basic SWAT School, where they receive concentrated instruction in tactics, movement and searching techniques, as well as firearms handling and marksmanship. Members of SWAT train together at a minimum two days a month with certain specialty positions training more frequently. Additional specialized training is attended individually or in small groups.

SWAT maintains a wide array of equipment to aid in the safe accomplishment their mission, including but not limited to: two rescue vehicles (Lenco and Bearcats)  and remotely-operated camera devices, which allow SWAT to operate in and search many areas without exposing themselves to gunfire.

Members of the SWAT Team are expected to be available "on- call" at short notice, dedicate a significant amount of personal time to training, and strive for continuous improvement in the performance of their mission - saving lives.

SPECIALIEZED RESPONSE TEAM (SRT)

SRT is similar to SWAT but it is made up of Detention Deputies who handle all high liability, low frequency events within the detention. 

We train, cell extractions, dorm riots, dorm searches for drugs and weapons, high risk transport, and high profile court hearings to name a few.