Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Alex Cabrero ReportingSWAT teams use special tactics and weapons when they're called out. A class held today showed everyday people why SWAT teams work the way they do.
The class is citizens police academy. Most departments have them, and a lot of people are interested to know more.
Today, the Roy CPA went to Ogden, to do what's probably the best part of the class-- shoot guns.
Where else do you get to fire guns like these in front of police officers.
Renetta Garcia: "It's a lot of fun."
It is a whole lot of fun! Which is part of the reason why some 20 Roy residents signed up for citizens police academy.
Larry Brown: "I've got a lot out of it."
"You keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to pull."
Angela Metcalfe/ Roy: "It's really great to learn what they do, what they put up with, what they have to go through."
Saturday's mission was to shoot the various kinds of guns the Ogden Metro SWAT teams uses. Most of the participants had never shot a fully-automatic weapon before.
Angela Metcalfe: "I'm so glad there weren't any more bullets in there. I probably would've been knocked on my butt."
But, she's smiling.
Lt. Tony Fox/ Metro Ogden SWAT Team: "Yes, they like this, and I don't know if they'll get that opportunity anywhere else."
Lt. Tony Fox is in charge of the gun part of the program. He also showed the group how SWAT teams operate, and why it's so important to keep people away when they're doing an actual operation.
Tony Fox: "You can't count the payback you get from doing it for people."
Tony Fox: "I think we've got some fans here, and maybe even with these young people, we'll have some future law enforcement officers."
But most of all, citizens' police academy is to show everyday people what police do, and for everyday people to understand what police do.
Dave Evans/ Roy: "There's other things to the police force, and it's to serve and protect. It's not to hunt and kill, it's to serve and protect."
Guns are only one week of a program that lasts several weeks. They also learn drug interdiction, why police officers do the things they do when they pull over a car, and how they gather evidence at crime scenes.
