Photo Caption: Dustin Hendrix of Dark Watch Tactical LLC shows officers a faster way to load and unload their AR-15s and switch them out with their pistols when out of ammunition. SHANNON SHAW DUTY/Osage News
The Osage Nation Police Department hosted a Tactical Response Team training for area officers to update them on latest techniques in S.W.A.T.
“We do this once a year, have an annual S.W.A.T. training. It’s something we do to meet the standards of the NTOA, the National Tactical Officers Association,” said ONPD Officer Nick Silva, who is also the commander for the ONPD officers who are on the Tactical Response Team. “We come out here and we work with Dark Watch … they gladly come up and help us every year to keep us updated on the current trends in S.W.A.T.”
Dustin Hendrix, an instructor for Dark Watch Tactical LLC, an Oklahoma City-based company that trains police officers in best practices and latest techniques in S.W.A.T., spent the day with the officers. The six ONPD officers help to make up a 13-member Tactical Response Team for Osage County. Also making up the response team are officers from the Osage County Sheriff’s Department and the Pawhuska Police Department.
Hendrix, who has taught a training to the group before, was invited back after having done such a great job the first time, Silva said. “They’re a great group of guys, I enjoy coming out here,” Hendrix said. He created scenarios for the officers, showing them techniques at becoming faster when loading their guns and switching them out with pistols while hitting targets at close range. He showed them techniques to quickly enter situations and move fast while protecting themselves and their partner.
“Osage Nation is the only agency that sends every officer on the force every year for S.W.A.T. training,” Silva said. “ONPD officers receive 40 hours of S.W.A.T. training a year. We also have to go through mental health training and 25 hours of regular training.”
Silva also mentioned that his mother, ONPD Officer Terri Silva, who is a trained sniper “but I don’t call her mom, she’s Officer Silva,” is nationally recognized. She attended sniper school in Malvern, Ark., in May 2016 and they taught her long distance precision shooting in hostage situations.
Silva said the ONPD works hard to cooperate with surrounding police agencies so that they can work together to protect the citizens of Osage County, the largest county in Oklahoma and is often compared to the size of Rhode Island.
“We invite agencies around, all the way within Osage County, Washington County, Kay County. These kinds of trainings just don’t show up in our backyard every day,” Silva said. “It’s something we go out and seek and try to bring here for other agencies to meet the modern demands of policing. Especially with S.W.A.T. teams now, and school shootings, workplace violence, that’s a big issue now and we’re working to take care of that.”
By
Shannon Shaw Duty
Original Publish Date: 2018-04-17 00:00:00
