Two Chester Police Officers attend tactical training

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Two Chester Police Officers recently attended tactical training, one serving as student and the other as an instructor. Officer Robert Young, a member of the ILEAS Southern Illinois Response Team Region 9 &11, served as an assistant instructor at the Basic SWAT Tactical Response Training Program. One of the students in attendance was Officer Joe Jany. The course was five days June 15-19th.

The class is designed to certify officers for SWAT tactics at the entry level. Upon graduation, the student performs the basic tasks required of a SWAT team member. One big benefit is that a patrol officer can apply these techniques to their daily duties and will be able to act as a liaison to a tactical team in the event of an emergency in their jurisdiction. Class topics included communications, dynamic entries, systematic entries, team movements and numerous practical exercises. Both written and practical exams were given at the end of the course. I feel that the City of Chester benefits from our officers attending tactical training, as a form of continued training. Several of our officers have received continued training in this area. I think that it is essential that we keep our officers prepared for the worse possible scenario. I'm also proud to have one of our own officers taking on the role of teacher / instructor. A few other members of our staff have begun to take on this responsibility and it's something to certainly be proud of.