Article by Sgt Pat Schneider, Ada County Sheriff's Office

During the month of April, seven members of the Ada Metro SWAT Team successfully completed GTI's Level II SWAT School. This nearly 4-week school is very intense in both technical classroom work and practical field exercises. GTI's Level II SWAT curriculum is approved by the Federal Department of Homeland Security and the tuition was entirely paid for by a federal grant.

During the course students were tested with quizzes, practical live fire exercises and a 150-question final exam. Students are required to wear all gear almost every day during practical exercises. Working on clearing large buildings and large schools from top to bottom with 55 pounds of gear and gas mask was quite physically demanding.

GTI Instructors brought plenty of real-world experience to the table and were a huge benefit to all students. Some of the topics during the course included, Tactical Mindset, SWAT Concepts, Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Use of PPE Equipment (Bio-Suits), Rappelling, Mission Planning, Tactical Movement, Combat Firearm Use, and all forms of Breaching, to include: Explosives, IED's, Hostage Rescue, Chemical Agent Use, Vehicle Assaults among others. Students had to pass all practical and written tests in order to graduate from the course.

The majority of Ada Metro SWAT members are now certified as Federal Level II SWAT operators, which classifies the SWAT team as a Federal Level II SWAT Team. Ada Metro SWAT is one of very few Level II Certified SWAT Teams in the Northwest region. The Federal Government has created this typing system as part of the War on Terrorism. Ada County Sheriff's Office Ada Metro Members; Jared Meyer, Mitch Running and Aaron Miner all successfully completed the course. Ada Metro SWAT members from Garden City Police Department and Meridian Police Department; Bryce Johnson, Leroy Sunada, Nick Kulack and Ryan Rhoades also successfully completed the course alongside three great Boise Police Department SOU members. GTI Instructors commented that these students are some of the best they have instructed. Congratulations to all of these members of Ada Metro SWAT and Boise Police SOU on a huge accomplishment! "Ne Desit Virtus" - Let Valor Not Fail.

The current model for most law enforcement training programs is failing our officers. In the past decade law enforcement agencies, the threats we face, and operational concepts have all undergone substantial change. It stands to reason that the thinking about our missions and capability and training must also change. We cannot train for yesterday's mission. Today's threats (career criminals, drug cartels, violent gangs, transnational criminal groups, anti-government extremists, terrorist groups and lone wolf attackers) are adaptive, smart and innovative. Their actions cannot be predicted with any degree of assurance. They look for ways to attack our vulnerabilities and will attack people using asymmetrical means. Our training must address the current threat.

On 26 April 2012, GTI president, Chadd Harbaugh presented two speeches to an international audience of intelligence agencies, law enforcement, military, academic, and policy personnel at the International Counter Terror Expo in London, United Kingdom.

The Counter Terror Expo is established as the largest premier global event for those who are tasked with the demanding and complex role of delivering a robust defense against the threat posed from international terrorism.

This year's event brought in over 10,000 attendees representing more than 80 different countries; over 400 exhibiting companies and 150 internationally recognized experts in the field of counter terrorism to debate the issues faced, define operational strategies, and to help shape future policy.

Other distinguished speakers at this year's conference included:

• Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess - Director, U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency
• Dr. Jamie Shea - Deputy ASG of NATO
• Mr. Dvir Rubenshtein - Aviation Security Operation Center Manager, State of Israel
• Mr. Chris Phillips - Former Head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NACTSO)
• Ms. Sue Hemming - Head of the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, Crown Prosecution Services
• Dr. Michael Rubin - Senior Lecturer at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School
• Dr. Julia Pearce - Department of War Studies, Kings College London

Mr. Harbaugh presented speeches under two critically important programs within the conference: Protecting Crowded Places and Global Counter Terrorism.

The Global Counter Terrorism conference, chaired by Dr. Dave Sloggett covered:

• The Evolving Terror Landscape
• The Fight Against Terror Financing
• Defeating Radicalization, Violent Extremism and Homegrown Terror
• Understanding Emerging Threats
• Tactical Counter Terrorism

Mr. Harbaugh's topic was "Tactical Operations for Terrorism Response."

Professor Chris Kemp, Executive Dean of the International Center for Crowd Management and Security Studies, chaired the Protecting Crowded Places conference in which Mr. Harbaugh spoke about "Tactical Responses to Crowded Places." With the Olympics being hosted in London this year, the Protecting Crowded Places conference block was the largest of the year's Counter Terror Expo.

Following the speech, Chadd sat in on a discussion panel with other distinguished speakers BG Loannis Galatas, MD - former Head of the Department of Asymmetric Threats, Mr. Chris Case - Vice President of the Institute of Explosive Engineers, and Professor John Tyrer - Professor of Optical Instrumentation, Loughborough University.

I can't believe it is May already and summer is fast approaching! This past April took us to Charleston SC where we spent 5 days teaching a custom Basic SWAT Class. It was a privilege being there and I want to thank Mike Thomas for all his hard work behind the scenes.

We then traveled to sunny Southern California where we conducted two back to back Immediate Action Teams Classes. It is always good to be back with our California clients. A total of 35 officers went thru the class. We ended the month of April back at our starting grounds of Boise Idaho, where we put on a Type 2 SWAT Class for members of the Ada County Metro Swat Team and Boise PD. Special thanks to our instructor Travis Peterson for all his hard work.

In May we've hosted Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office for a Type 3 SWAT Class at our facility in Barnwell, SC. We took a trip to Knoxville TN where we conducted a Custom Rappel Course. Thanks again to Jenny Holden for her tireless work in putting everything together for us. We'll finish the month off by traveling to PA where we will conduct a 7 day Basic SWAT Class. Special thanks to Jim Decker for his hard work in getting funding and getting the details nailed down.

I hope you all have a safe summer. If there are any training needs I can help with, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Alec Sarrazolla
Training Coordinator, Government Training Institute
Contact info@gtitraining.org 803-259-1935 - Office

The JOC is a former nuclear fuels reprocessing plant that has been converted into an all hazards training site. With much of the structures remaining complete, including control room, tanks, miles of pipes, etc. The JOC can offer a real world training experience.

GTI, in conjunction with Savannah River National Labs (SRNL), have the facilities and additional assets to offer the most advanced CBRNE training solutions available.

The Joint Operations Center is a premier tactical training center for today's military and law enforcement personnel. Centrally located in South Carolina, the JOC is a decommissioned nuclear fuels processing plant with over 300,000 square feet of buildings, a 50 million gallon controlled access private water training area and many other amenities to solve your facilitation needs.

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Founded in 2003, GTI is a center of excellence for law enforcement officers and military personnel whose mission is to train the nation's first responders. GTI's staff comprises 400 years of operational military and law enforcement experience and combines traditional classroom work, research-based training and real-world field exercises to address the requirements of government and law enforcement agencies. GTI delivers more than 30 highly-specialized training programs in the fields of anti-terrorism, terrorism countermeasures, police sniper operations, specialized patrol, high-risk policing activities and a host of law enforcement and military topics relevant to the post 9/11 world.

GTI's Type III SWAT, Type II SWAT, Type I SWAT, Immediate Action Teams (IAT) Active Shooter, Basic SWAT and IED Awareness curricula are approved by the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) grant funding program. In 2008, GTI relocated its training facility from Boise, Idaho to South Carolina. The company is headquartered in Eagle, Idaho.