Police Department
Reference: Presentation by Chief Blackhurst
To: Mayor Richard N. McLean and Members of City Council
Through: Manuel Esquibel, City Manager
Prepared By: Clint R Blackhurst, Chief of Police
Date Prepared: May 15, 2015
PURPOSE
To report to Council the current status of the Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Brighton Police and the City of Commerce City establishing a shared special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team
BACKGROUND
Historically the Brighton Police Department has relied upon neighboring police agencies to provide special weapons and tactics (SWAT) resources when faced with situations requiring a tactical response. Calls requiring such a response include, but are not limited to, high risk search warrants related to criminal cases, hostage situations, subjects who have barricaded themselves and other types of crimes where response by patrol officers could be ineffective and unnecessarily dangerous for the public, victims and officers.
The financial impact of such a team can be cumbersome for any police agency. In order to reduce the overall cost of maintaining a SWAT team the Brighton and Commerce City Police Departments are seeking to establish a partnership. This IGA will provide for a sharing of in-kind services, equipment, personnel and special asset costs by both agencies.
Brighton and Commerce City currently share resources in the way of SWAT personnel. Since July 2014 two members of the Brighton Police Department, one a sergeant and the other an officer, have successfully completed the testing process to become team members. Both have been participating in missions and training with the team. This assignment is an ancillary assignment performed alongside their current assigned duties.
From July 2014 through the end of 2014 there were a total of eight SWAT missions carried out by the team. Four took place in Brighton and four in Commerce City. Six of those missions were the result of action r...
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