Bellingham Police and Western's Police occupied Western's commissary building for four hours Monday night and early Tuesday morning to conduct one of two SWAT training sessions scheduled during October. The commissary was chosen, in part, because of its relatively remote location. Photo by Alex Roberts
In conjunction with the Bellingham Police Department, Western’s University Police is holding two training sessions for the SWAT team at Western’s commissary. The training will allow the team to familiarize itself with the campus while exercising techniques and tactics, Sgt. David Garcia from University Police said.
The first session was held Monday night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday morning; the next will take place Oct. 26.
The training involves a small-scale, inside-oriented operation, so residents in the surrounding areas including Fairhaven and Buchanan Towers are not alerted, said Lt. Craige Ambrose, commander of the SWAT team.
“If it’s just going to be working on the inside of the building that’s not accessible to the public and not going to be in the public eye, then there’s no reason [for notification],” Ambrose said. “It’s pretty low key.”
Garcia sent out safety plans to the employees in the commissary beforehand explaining what was to happen. Police also briefed custodians and gave them reflective vests to show they are not part of the training, Garcia said.
The team has trained in buildings all over the city. Exercises on Western’s campus began spring 2009, Garcia said.
“If you can imagine where SWAT might be needed, we try to be familiar with those areas and train there if possible,” Ambrose said. “This is not new.”
Training scenarios include situations with an active shooter, dealing with a barricaded suspect and rescuing a barricaded hostage. Volunteers portray the suspects and hostages.
Before a training exercise in the chemistry building last spring, Steve Gammon, professor and chair of the chemistry department, said the department was not sufficiently notified.
Students and faculty, not including Gammon, who had stayed in the building after normal hours were still there when the training began.
Garcia said nothing major happened as a result.
“Nobody got hurt or anything or hauled off to jail,” Gammon said. “The people on campus who were organizing it, they agreed that there was a breakdown in the notification. We got lots of assurances that that would never happen again in that manner.”
While Ambrose said they operate openly in the police department, smaller-scale exercises such as this and Monday night’s are designed to be discreet.
“We’re not looking to draw impact,” Ambrose said. “This is not a show; this is not a demonstration. People can usually look and see and make an assessment that it’s the police and they’re doing some training.”
SWAT teams are called in when a situation is too dangerous for a normal patrol response, Ambrose said. For example, the police would employ officers from the SWAT team in order to issue a “high-risk warrant” to a convicted felon with the presence of firearms, he said.
The team of approximately 26 officers consists of negotiators, tactical operation dispatchers and a hazardous devices team, Ambrose said.
Western sociology professor Ronald Helms researches criminology and punishment. In his criminal and research policy class Friday, he discussed security on university campuses.
“Colleges, in order to function well, have to be open environments,” he said. “We want security but at the same time we want an open environment we can engage in.”
There is a lot of debate in determining the most appropriate policies and protocols with regards to an emergency such as a shooter on campus, he said.
“It’s not an easy solution—you have to know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Most of [the protocols] never get played out. We hope that they never get played out here.”
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