Enid is Home to the #1 Team in Oklahoma
SWAT
In early May of this year, the Enid SWAT Team quietly brought home a mighty proud win - top honors as the Oklahoma SWAT Champions. The competition held on the first Wednesday in May is by invitation only and provides the opportunity for ten teams across the state to test their physical and mental agilities as well as their marksmanship while under stress.
An EPD Detective carries an eighty pound weight bag fifty yards up range to the next team member during the team obstacle relay course.
The event (modeled after the National SWAT competition) is comprised of multiple categories that the individual members or groups of the team will participate in. The accumulated points are then aggregated to the overall team score. Though the Enid SWAT Team meets the fourteen-member minimum requirement for the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) standard, they competed against much larger teams with forty to sixty members from even larger departments (FBI and US Army, to name two). "That's why that win was so impressive." said Chief Brian O'Rourke. "It just shows the level that these guys have reached with their training and
by Haven Apple, City of Enid HR Assistant
their strict regimen." The SWAT command structure consists of twelve members and two team leaders; commander Capt. Dean Grassino and assistant commander Lt. Gary Fuxa. In addition to being fulltime officers from various departments within the EPD, the team is on-call 24/7/365 and are the responders to surrounding counties and the district. Started in the early 1970s, the Enid SWAT team became more formalized in the mid 1990s. Their first time "We want to be cutcontending in the state competition was in 2006, where they achieved sec- ting-edge. I think when they leave, ond place. Since then, the Enid SWAT team has continually finished in they'll be pretty impressed, “ said the top five. Grassino. As the winners, the Enid SWAT "We plan on team will host the May 2, 2012 comshowing them that petition - rain or shine. While the we can not only compete with the hosting team does not compete, they metro areas, but we can exceed what will construct the 2012 course and run the event. Including vendors and they can do," added O'Rourke. "You win it once; it doesn't mean you give SWAT officers from around the state, up. That's the overall attitude of the the event is anticipated to bring close department. We want to be the best to two hundred people to Enid. Though the event is not open to the in the state." public and the guests may or may not spend the night, "...it will bring a lot of people to showcase Enid," Grassino noted. In hosting the event, EPD will be building a new course (as it is required to change every year) designed to be very dynamic and to test the invited teams' SWAT officers in sniper challenges, relay races including multiplegun challenges, and mental agilities to develop tactical operational plans. The course will be permanent and utilized after the competition for yearround training by the team, patrol An EPD Detective positions himself on a mock residential roof top officers, and other agencies. to engage clay pigeon targets during the sniper competition. 7