Captain Joseph Lambert and Officer Tyson Dennis hard at work on range day.  

On October 15^th, all nine members of the Gonzales Police Department Special Operations Response Team traveled to the City of Jacksonville Beach.  Annually, Jacksonville Beach Police Department hosts a Basic SWAT school.  Commander Gene Paul Smith of Jacksonville Beach SWAT (shown in picture below) leads students through a myriad of tactical principals with the assistance of other members of his team, as well as members of surrounding area teams.  This year marked the 10^th anniversary of the school, and the fifth consecutive year that Gonzales Police Department has had members attending as either students or instructors.  Officer Tyson Dennis of GPD and Capt. Joseph Lambert NREMT-P of GFD (shown in picture above), both new members of the GPD SORT, attended as students, while the existing seven members of the team assisted as instructors.  The class includes 65 hours of instruction over only six days.  Though physically demanding, the class is meant to challenge the students to be able to make quick and accurate decisions given a unique set of circumstances while under stress.  Principals taught include weapons qualifications, defensive tactics, dynamic room clearing as well as slow and deliberate clearing, vehicle takedowns, tubular assaults, chemical munitions, ballistic shield training, diversionary devices and basic hostage rescue techniques.  Classroom lecture, paired with intense reality-based scenarios, using weapons that fire marking cartridges, provide a synergy, enabling the students to see the tactical principals work first hand.  Thirty-two officers and deputies graduated in the class of 2011, bringing the total number of operators graduated in the last 10 years to over 300.  The Gonzales Fire Department would like to extend a very hearty thank you to Fire Chief Tracey Normand, Corporal Gary Ferrari, who is the Team Leader of Gonzales Police SORT, Chief Sherman Jackson of the Gonzales Police Department, Chief Bruce Thomason of the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, Commander Gene Paul Smith of the Jacksonville Beach Police Department and the entire staff who assisted in the 2011 Jacksonville Beach Basic SWAT school.  This invaluable experience would not have been possible without your continued support and commitment to the improvement of public safety.

Commander Gene Paul Smith shows off his new decorative magazine tape, compliments of Gonzales Police Department.