The Rochelle Police Department recently acquired an armored vehicle and started its own emergency response team, RPD Chief Pete Pavia said Aug. 25.

RPD took delivery of the vehicle at the beginning of summer and acquired it through the federal Law Enforcement Support Office program, which allows law enforcement agencies to receive excess Department of Defense property at little to no cost to ensure that they have access to necessary resources to perform their duties effectively.

“When I took over as chief, one of the things I wanted was for RPD to have its own ERT, or SWAT team,” Pavia said. “That’s what we’ve done. We now have our own in-house SWAT team. The city council and city manager have supported it and everyone has the armor and supplies they need for it. One thing SWAT teams need is an armored vehicle. Through the LESO program, we applied for it and it’s grant funded. We kept applying and when one became available, they gave it to us. This one came from a sheriff’s office in Iowa that got another vehicle.”

Pavia said the armored vehicle originally cost the federal government $900,000. The city’s expense for it has included bringing it to town, decal work and insurance, a total of just under $8,000. The vehicle can be returned to the LESO program if the city and RPD choose they don’t want or need it anymore.

City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said that any time the city can get an asset for minimal expense, it should consider it. He’s excited about the benefits of the city having its own SWAT team for safety in the community, even if it’s never needed.

“I think it’s great for the community,” Fiegenschuh said. “Any time we can bring those dollars into our community is a good thing, because they’re going to go somewhere. It’s important to have the training for our officers. You hope you never have that situation, but if you do it’s good to have everybody ready and trained for it.”

Pavia said the armored vehicle has not been used for an official call since it was acquired, but could be used in instances such as barricaded subjects or hostage situations when the SWAT team is utilized. The vehicle would allow first responders to safely drive up to a home or structure in a barricaded subject situation.

Before recently establishing its own SWAT team, RPD relied on the Ogle County Emergency Response Team for its needs in that area and had three officers of its own on that unit.

“To start our own just took equipment and training,” Pavia said. “Officers want to be on a SWAT team. We’re the biggest city in Ogle County and we need to be able to take care of things like that ourselves. That’s why we have our own drug team now and SWAT team and handle everything in house. We’ll work with the Ogle County ERT if they need it, and vice versa. But we wanted to have our own.”

RPD’s SWAT team trains eight hours each month, and each involved officer has done 40 hours of basic SWAT training school. There are two commanders of the team that lead the training that have advanced certification, Pavia said.

Training is done on a different topic each month. RPD currently has 10 officers on its SWAT team and Pavia said the plan is to continue to grow that number.

“It’s just a matter of the expense and equipment with things like ballistic vests and shields,” Pavia said. “It’s a big expense. I’d like to get to the point where every single officer on the department is ERT certified. Just because if you roll up on a scene that requires ERT experience, they’ll be ready. Then we could even split two teams up for on-call purposes.”

Pavia said the armored vehicle will also be available to neighboring communities for mutual aid if it its needed, and can also be used for community outreach, such as parades and the National Night Out event.

The emphasis behind RPD having its own armored vehicle and SWAT team was to make response times to potential situations as quick as possible, Pavia said.

“The last couple trainings our team has done have been with a call out so we can tell how long it takes,” Pavia said. “It’s something I hope we never have to use. But if we need it, I’ll be glad we have it.”