Officers sweep a room to be sure its empty.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — The electricity was off, making the large, unfamiliar building more dangerous and difficult to maneuver around.
That’s just the environment the Hancock County Joint Tactical Team wanted, a place to give members of the squad a chance to train in difficult situations.
“We’re always looking for ways to train where our goal is to clear a structure,” said the team’s commander, Capt. Michael Schwamberger of the Greenfield Police Department.
Schwamberger, who has led the squad for nearly five years, said it’s important for them to train for dynamic, fast-paced sweeps as well as deliberate, slower searches.
The training session late last week at Hope Center Indy, 11850 Brookville Road, was designed to simulate what team members might confront during high-level warrant calls, hostage rescues or active-shooter situations. Hope Center, which is undergoing some remodeling, offered a good opportunity for officers to work in low lighting conditions.
Officials with the women’s shelter invited the team to train there, an invitation the county team couldn’t pass up.
“It’s pretty primitive there with the remodeling — no electricity, no heat — but that was ideal for us because there are situations where we might be called to and we cut the power,” Schwamberger said.
The tactical police unit likes working in darkness. It gives members an advantage when breaching a building in which life-threatening danger may be around any corner.
“A lot of our calls are in low-light situations or last into the night, so this kind of training is good,” said assistant team leader Dave Wood, a detective with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
The county squad is composed of 18 members, with representatives from the GPD; the sheriff’s department; and police departments in New Palestine, McCordsville, Fortville and Cumberland. A couple of medics from county fire departments also participate with the team, which gets together to train twice each month. That includes working on firearms proficiency; outdoor and indoor movements; working with their vehicles; and securing structures.
The group spends 12 hours a month in training. For Wood, who has been with the team since 2013, there is no such thing as too much training.
“We like to do as much training as we can,” Wood said. “We take the 12 hours we get each month and try to make the most out of it to maintain a high level of proficiency.”
Wood, who has been with the sheriff’s department since 2012, noted being a part of the joint tactical team is special, because it’s full of officers who do their jobs at a high level.
“I really enjoy the camaraderie of working on a team,” Wood said. “We do that at our respective agencies, but working closely with guys on a regular basis where you are honing your skills for one common goal, I like that aspect of it.”
While the team often trains in county schools, which allows them to become familiar with the layout of the buildings, training in an unfamiliar large facility, like the Hope Center, was also helpful.
“Everyone we have on the team is there because they have an interest in helping out on high-risk events,” Schwamberger said. “That’s the whole purpose of the team.”
Schwamberger couldn’t help but laugh when he thought about how much the county team has evolved throughout the years when it comes to its training, equipment and vehicles. When Schwamberger first joined the team in 2010, they used to arrive on a scene in a van with no specialized safety measures. Now, they have better equipment and two armored, military-type vehicles to protect officers so they can get as close as possible in dangerous situations.
“Having someone barricaded in is typically one of the most frequent situations we are called to,” Schwamberger said. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of the crime in Marion County kind of drift out there because of where we are at.”
Not only does the county team continue to help in dangerous situations locally; they’re open to helping other agencies and have worked in Indianapolis and elsewhere in the state.
“We’ve done several joint operations outside of our county for sure,” Schwamberger said. “If there is a good reason, we’re going to go help, and we’ve seen the relief on officers’ faces when we roll up in our units.”
