FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Less than a year after the Fairhope Police Department made plans to start an Emergency Response Team, the first group of team members received basic SWAT training last month by the FBI.

“I would have liked to have sent the entire team, but due to manpower requirements, we had to choose nine officers and send them,” said FPD Sgt.Craig Sawyer, who managed team development and training and serves as the senior team member. “Hopefully we can get the others trained soon so we can begin joint training with other SWAT teams in the county.” 

The officers who attended the school are Sgt. Craig Sawyer, Cpl. Brett Murray, Cpl. Wendell Thomas, Cpl. Jeremy Anderson, Cpl. Eric Johnson, Officer Earnest Bishop, Officer John Morgan, Officer Ben Taylor and Officer Charles Varnado. Other officers assigned to the team are Officer Fred King, Sgt. James Davis, Cpl. Shane Nolte and Officer Eugene Maye.  

Sawyer said other officers are training in preparation to try out for the team, and those who did not attend the first school will attend at a later date.

In April, the first nine members of the team attended Basic SWAT Training conducted by the FBI. The training was a week-long school covering marksmanship, tactics, building clearing techniques, and other aspects of SWAT operations.   

“It was a great school but tough,” Cpl. Murray said. “We were pushed physically and mentally, but we’re all glad that we were able to complete the training. We have been working toward this for nearly a year now.”

Murray helped coordinate the development of the team, including significant fund-raising efforts.

The team was not a part of the city’s budget, so members purchased weapons and equipment with their money and sought larger donations from private citizens and businesses.

The local community donated $62,685, Sawyer said.

“We are extremely grateful to our donors, but they wanted to remain anonymous,” he said.

An ERT is a specialized branch of a police department using advanced training, specialized weapons and equipment and highly-developed tactics to respond to emergencies that might overwhelm police patrol units, Sawyer said. The Fairhope Police Department ERT will be capable of responding to an increasing array of emergencies as the training continues, he said.

Sawyer said the team began to form in the summer of 2007 at the direction of Capt. Steve Griffis, and Lt. Joe Petties was given oversight as the unit commander. 

“This is the type of thing that we all feel better having, but all hope we never have to use,” he said. “I compare it to airbags in a car; great devices that can save a life in an emergency, but nobody ever really wants to see them used.”