CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Special Weapon and Tactics (SWAT) unit of the provincial police office (PPO) has intensified its recruitment for additional members from different municipal police stations in the province through trainings.

 Police Inspector Ohmar Bognot, head of Pampanga SWAT said their unit has only two teams with 10 personnel each and most of them have been serving the unit 10 years and they work 24 hours a day.

 “Twenty lang kami at two teams lang ang SWAT natin na nagseserbisyo sa lahat ng munisipyo ng probinsiya. Nag-iischooling pa iyong tatlo. Ang then pagmay nag-ooff ng two day bawat team kahit on call sila pag may operation, kung titingnan kulang pa rin tayo ng tao,” Bognot explained.

 Bognot disclosed that the last SWAT training  was in 2006 which was conducted in the province.

 “Medyo nagkakaedad na iyong mga miyembro ng unit natin. We need to train and recruit young members. Tayo kasi ang isinasabak sa mga crucial operations. Kumbaga buwis buhay talaga kaya kailangan ang rigid training,”he said.

 Pampanga SWAT plans to get at least 5 police from every municipal and city stations to be trained on close quarters combat (CQB), firing, handling specialized weapons and firearms, and using specialized equipment such as heavy body armor, ballistic shields and others.

 For the training of the provincial SWAT, Bognot said they will propose a riding crash course for the creation of a motorcycle riding team under the unit to counter motorcycle riding suspects.

 “Kapag naitrain natin ang mga pulis na ito, sila na ang mga miyembro ng SWAT na nakadestino sa mismong station nila. Meron na rin tayong ipantatapat sa mga motorcycle riding suspects,” said Bognot.

 SWAT is the PNP unit that specialized tactics in high-risk operations. They performed the hostage rescue operations, high risks arrests and entered armored or barricaded buildings.