SWAT Spotlight: Henderson Police Department

In our first three SWAT Spotlight articles we focused on mid-Atlantic tactical teams; two that had concerns related to the Chesapeake Bay and one only slightly more land-locked but still with serious maritime concerns related to a popular tourist location lake. When we did our interview for this fourth SWAT Spotlight focusing on the Henderson City Police Department, the maritime concerns were...almost non-existent.

Welcome to Henderson, Nevada. The second largest city in Nevada (second to Las Vegas but bigger than Reno), Henderson is about a half-hour’s drive from Las Vegas. Located in Clark County, Henderson Police Department SWAT works closely with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department SWAT team as well as other agencies that share or have primary jurisdiction in or near Henderson.

OFFICER Magazine March 2022 Digital Edition

The Henderson Police Department has an approximate sworn strength of 400 officers who enjoy the support of additional staff numbering about 225. The city’s 106.6-square-mile area is populated by about 350,000 residents. In the general geographical area are Las Vegas, Nellis Air Force Base and the Hoover Dam.

Editor’s Side Note: During the interview with HPD SWAT, I learned that there is no Clark County Sheriff’s Office. The Las Vegas Metro Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office were combined in the 1970s. LVMPD is actually led by the Clark County Sheriff—not a Chief of Police.

Since we’ve already mentioned it, let’s get the maritime considerations out of the way. Lake Meade, located near the Hoover Dam, is primarily patrolled and policed by LVMPD. The Henderson Police Department works in cooperation with them as circumstances demand. Lake Las Vegas is also nearby and is surrounded by homes, some of which belong to high-profile celebrities. Because neither body of water is within the primary jurisdiction or responsibility of HPD, they own no boats. Maritime patrol vehicles are provided by the United States Park Police and HPD works with them in a support role as well.

Taking a more specific look at the SWAT Team, it was founded in 1997. Current authorized strength for the team is 12 full-time officers and nine officers they refer to as collateral officers. That means the officers are fully qualified and have been to SWAT school, but their primary assignment is still elsewhere in the agency. While authorized strength is 12, current full-time strength is 10. The agency, like so many in our nation today, is short of manpower, so while they have nine fully qualified officers to select from, and they only need two, that’s two officers that would be taken from other assignments in the agency that might also be short of manpower.

The challenge in cases like this is the balance leadership has to find between providing the more commonly needed day to day police services and insuring that the SWAT team has everything it needs—including sufficient manpower—when called out. While the public might see the more common police services so there is a command focus on that, there is a much larger potential liability with the team being short. It’s an unfortunate reality that so many agencies are probably having to make these choices today, but we hope those agency leaders see the necessity of full manpower in the specialized team and understand the greater potential losses from not having that full manpower. To put it in perspective, two men out of a 12 man team is one-sixth or roughly 16%. How long could you run your team at 84% strength?

The Henderson Police Department runs its own SWAT school and every officer, once through selection for the team, has to attend. Those officers who successfully complete the school enter into the part-time positions—what they call collateral positions—and continue to train as scheduling permits. The “crawl, walk, run” learning model is used so that the part-time officers are gradually brought up to higher levels of proficiency. When they are considered fully up to speed, then they can be selected for openings on the full-time team. The basic school is three weeks long and often shared by officers from Las Vegas Metro Police Department, Henderson Police Department and Nellis Air Force Base Police.

The Henderson Police Department SWAT Team has one dedicated medic but when the team is deployed they usually get an attachment from the Las Vegas Metro Search & Rescue team which has a plethora of medics. Given the general area, one might think there was plenty of work to go around for the SWAT team, and they’d be right (more on that farther down). There is one very specific “high threat” concern in the immediate area though: a rocket fuel manufacturing facility. The chemical and explosive potential threats that can be created at such a facility are significant enough and all of the local teams have to be prepared to deal with emergencies in those specialized hazardous materials circumstances.

As with most SWAT teams, there is a process to apply for the team and then to get qualified for it if selected. Every applicant must first have three years as a sworn officer on the agency and be in good standing. The applicant submits his (or her) request to transfer to SWAT up their chain of command. Once the application for the team, or transfer request, has been accepted, the applicant has to complete a series of tests and other items to be selected. There is an oral board interview followed by a physical fitness test. Assuming the applicant passes both of those, they have to qualify with both their duty handgun and their patrol rifle with a minimum score of 90%. If they pass all of that, they can be selected to attend the SWAT School. The three week school is the selection process for the team itself to pick from the newly SWAT qualified officers as potential team mates.

Within Henderson Police Department, that section of command that contains SWAT is called Operational Support. Within Operational Support there is also the K-9 division and Traffic Enforcement (motor units, targeted traffic enforcement and accident reconstruction officers). All of the K-9 handlers go through basic SWAT school so they are familiar with how the SWAT team operates, but as a general rule there is one K-9 team that is primary for SWAT call outs.

The SWAT team itself is comprised of four sniper elements (one on the gun and one spotter), five breachers (both explosive and mechanical) and a four-man grenadier team. The team is equipped with two armored personnel carriers, one robotics truck and one transport/tactical van. Of the (usual) 12 full-time member team, two are assigned equipment trucks as their vehicles, both of them grenadiers. All of the extra ammunition, barricades, first-aid supplies, CBRNE supplies, etc. are all kept in those two trucks.

In 2021, the Henderson Police Department SWAT team handled 151 operations or “call outs.” When interviewed, the team representative estimated that 80-90% of those call outs were for high-risk warrant service. The remainder of the calls were mostly comprised of criminal barricade situations, hostage rescue (the least common type of call out) and executive protection.

Given the local area and the density of population that regularly swarms into Clark County, it’s a wonder that the Henderson Police Department SWAT Team isn’t larger and busier. The fact that they’re not busier is likely a testament to the working relationships they have with the other local agencies and how HPD SWAT plans/manages it’s work load. Obviously, due to the very nature of SWAT work, there’s no way to plan for everything, but with the basics already addressed, when the unexpected occurs the team can manage it without challenges that are overly daunting.