Day 5- February 3, 2010

The Guam Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) presented on their division which falls under the Operations Bureau (Special Operations Division). Sgt. Chaco shared some of his experiences along with the other SWAT officers. He shared with us that along the way, they have made a few mistakes during their operations. One of them were during an arrest of two prisoners who escaped, the detective in charge of the case gave the wrong information to them therefore causing the SWAT team to break into a home of an innocent family instead of breaking into the house across the street. But, the family knew who the officers were looking for, and in fact that family were the ones who gave the "tips" on the whereabouts of the prisoners. An important lesson they gave was regarding the issue of operating with force. The most important thing to remember is presence. Then follows, verbal tactics then physical tactics. An interesting fact I learned about the SWAT was that they do not need a warrant of arrest when they arrest, prisons that have escaped.