LISTEN: Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner and Red River Valley SWAT Commander Lt. Tom Shaw on WDAY Radio’s “The Coffee Club”
FARGO-MOORHEAD – The Red River Valley SWAT Team nears a record of the amount of times the team has been called in a year with 31.
That’s tied with 2024.
On WDAY Radio’s “The Coffee Club”, Commander Tom Shaw said he’d be shocked if the team didn’t get called in in the last two weeks of the year.
He explained the reason why calls have risen is because law enforcement agencies are better at finding and tracking suspects they’ve had interactions with before and because each agency has an intelligence officer.
Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner said an increase in SWAT response is also due to Fargo-Moorhead’s growing population, mental health issues, drug use and people carrying guns during the transportation of drugs or while selling them.
Red River Valley SWAT’s 55 members are made up of police departments from Fargo, West Fargo, Moorhead and North Dakota State University, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Sanford Ambulance and Sanford AirMed.
Shaw said it’s up to each agency whether the SWAT team responds.
“We’re looking at a suspect’s criminal history, we’re looking at what recent events are. At that point if some of those limits are met, then that agency will contact SWAT and then we will respond,” Shaw said.
Being on the SWAT team means officers and first responders are having extra responsibilities including training.
“Anytime there’s a call out, our personnel are dropping whatever they’re doing on their primary jobs to hustle over and get going for a SWAT operation,” Shaw explained.
