I recall have seen mention several times that, at one point, the Alaska State Troopers considered making their SRT airborne capable. Probably the only state in the union that could make a good argument for it.
If the Netflix documentary "Murder Mountain" is at all accurate, I could maybe see some use for airborne SWAT in the Emerald Triangle. But I don't think those small departments could afford it...
I thought this was a joke. What a fucking waste of taxpayer money LARPIng.
#RESIST
There are law enforcement organizations that need this capability. This county sheriff's office probably isn't one of them. Per Wikipedia, the whole county's 795 square miles, with a population density of 547+ per square mile. That's the most populous county in the state of South Carolina (again, Wikipedia). By the time you get them briefed, rigged, into the air, and out the door, you could have driven there.
250,000 dollar office furnurture sets and airborne (can we blouse our trousers now?) training for cops. Same, same. Nauseating.
I get the arguments either way. As being the guy in charge of training, I utilized or leveraged metrics constantly to get my guys all that I could.
Dept wants to be a Tri-Arc Calea certified agency? Is it bullshit? Who cares, so be it, and btw I need XYZ for a full-time tactical unit. You got it.
We are a full-time unit of over 50 guys that is NTOA certified and you want to be a "Tier 1" NTOA team, sure I can do that, again I need XYZ. We far exceeded that NTOA standard and that got my guys a lot of training and a lot of equipment.
Yes Sir, you want to be a FEMA type 1 team? Sure I can do that for you, we again need XYZ, and we did it.
My agency is a long way from nowhere with many MOA's in place for State, Fed facilities, Military bases, etc as a primary response for HRT and other situations, so the money was spent to ensure we had things covered. Are some things a bit far out there? Sure, I have yet to FAST rope into a live situation, put on SCBA for a water insertion, etc. Rappel, static line, skid light, dogs and helo, sure thing. They were options available only because we had trained them.
So perhaps some smaller agencies might put resources elsewhere, but if it is there, take it, sometimes training opportunities are unique to a certain discipline being offered. Might I want something else but if Joes jump school is offering special training at a special price, it is it legit, go for it. I sure as hell took all I could from the bean counters and leveraged every option to make it happen for my guys. Bearcat, command Vehicle, bomb truck, additional helo, training unprecedented for a local agency, sure thing. I don't feel the least bit questionable about any of it.