The Bellingham SWAT team has been active in Bellingham since the 1970s. The presence of a SWAT team allows “the agency flexibility to have a core group of people who train specifically to solve different problems” without having to pull from patrol resources, Bellingham Police Sergeant Don Almer says.
Blue Team members start all training days with high-intensity weight exercises so that later in the day, they’ll be tired during training practice. “We train in such a way that you’re fatigued when you shoot. It basically helps replicate the stress of a mission,” Officer Chris Kaiser says.
Team members practice pushing through the threshold and prepare to clear the threat. In Almer’s experience, suspects are more likely to give up the fight when several officers enter the room. “Then they don’t get hurt, officers don’t get hurt, and members of the public don’t get hurt. “
Officer Luke Haas fires a Remington 870 at a target. This shotgun can be loaded with special rounds that disintegrate on impact, so if they shoot a door, people on the other side won’t get hurt.
Team members set up shooting targets before they start their rifle drills. They practice firing at targets and covering each other while they reload.
Officer Haas performs a fire-line drill in full gear including a helmet and gas mask. The gas masks make it difficult to breathe — sometimes fogging up — and can make one feel claustrophobic, the officers say. “If we introduce a chemical to a house and need to go in, you need to be able to know what that’s going to look like through a gas mask,” Sgt. Almer says.
The team loads up their gear after a long day of training and drive back to the station to break for dinner for an hour before starting their last training session discussing theoretical scenarios that could happen locally .
