Since January of 2012, PCSO Regional SWAT has been activated on 10 occasions county wide. The average number of SWAT personnel per call out is 10 and the average call out time for each incident is 5.45 hours.
Most recently on 4/6/2012, PCSO Regional SWAT was activated to assist the Maricopa Police Department regarding a barricaded subject. The incident lasted 11 hours and members from the Chandler Police Department SWAT team were brought in to relieve PCSO and successfully apprehended the subject without incident.
In 2011, PCSO Regional SWAT was activated 88 times.
It is the mission of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team to support the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, all law enforcement agencies within Pinal County and any other requesting Law Enforcement agency with a tactical response to critical and/or high risk incidents. The presence of a highly trained, highly skilled police tactical unit has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of injury or loss of life to citizens, police officers and suspects, while a well‐managed team response to critical incidents usually results in a successful resolution.
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team is comprised of thirty‐two Swat Operators, seven Crisis Negotiators and four Robot Unit personnel. The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team is a multi jurisdictional team with local agencies involved, Casa Grande Police Department, Coolidge Police Department, Eloy Police Department and Florence Police Department.
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team handles High Risk Warrant Service, Barricaded suspects, Hostage Situations, Executive Protection, Counter Sniper and other situations where the level of violence is great.
Other specialty units within the SWAT team are the use of Chemical Munitions, Explosive Breaching, Sniper functions, Armored Personnel carrier / vehicle, Robot Unit and a Tactical Medic.
