3/25/2023; UPDATED: 06/16/2023
McLean County Sheriff Matt Lane wants to add Special Weapons & Tactics (SWAT) capabilities to the County’s arsenal.
The Sheriff currently has no SWAT capabilities and often has to rely on Illinois State Police assistance. McLean County is the largest county by land-mass in Illinois. Lane said if a deputy needs assistance while out in the field, it could take nearly thirty minutes for back-up to arrive.
Sheriff Lane said this at a February meeting of the McLean County Libertarians. Independent journalist Steve Suess asked Lane what the increased need is for County SWAT capabilities, and what types of incidents would they be deployed for?
Lane admitted there was not an increased need for such a unit, but he just wanted to be prepared.
SWAT is typically used for bank robberies, active shooters, hostage situations involving more than one person, & drug busts. SWAT teams originated in the 1960s, but were rarely used except in extraordinary situations. This all changed in the 1980s when police departments across the nation found themselves flush with federal grant money and military supplies. Today, the most common use of SWAT teams in the United States is for narcotics warrants.1 The Miami Herald reported in 2002, “Police say they want [SWAT teams] in case of a hostage situation or a Columbine-type incident, but in practice the teams are used mainly to serve search warrants on suspected drug dealers. Some of these searches yield as little as a few grams of cocaine or marijuana.”2
Since the 1970s, SWAT deployments have increased nearly 1000%.3 From a few hundred in 1972, to three thousand in the early 1980s, to thirty thousand in 1996, to forty thousand by 2001.4 Today, about 50,000 SWAT raids are conducted throughout the nation which averages to 137 every day.5
Sheriff Lane initially said he would deploy SWAT teams only to active shooting incidents & hostage situations. Lane said many domestic violence cases end up in hostage situations.
Suess pressed Lane, “So, explicitly for violent crimes; you wouldn’t use it for like drug busts?”
Lane said, “No, no, no, no, no—well, for drug warrants, yes.” Lane gave the example of searching the house of a drug suspect that is suspected of having firearms. However, he denied SWAT would be deployed for simple drug busts. He said there is criteria that must be met before a SWAT deployment, and SWAT is not deployed lightly.
The Sheriff’s plan is not to add a whole SWAT unit to the McLean County Deputies but to enter into an agreement with the Bloomington Police Department to embed Sheriff’s deputies into BPD’s SWAT unit. This would give the Sheriff’s department greater access to this team, essentially sharing the resources. Agitation Rising followed up with the Sheriff’s office via email asking how many deputies would be required for this and what the costs would be. The Sheriff’s office did not respond.
However, Lane made it clear during the Libertarian meeting that Sheriff’s deputies were already trained in some areas of SWAT deployment, but not all. This would likely require additional training, which means additional tax-payer money.
Suess also asked the Sheriff about the purchasing of armored vehicles or other military-grade equipment, something the Sheriff’s department does not currently have.
Lane said, “My opinion is that I want my people to have at least what they’re facing when they face it, if not more. I don’t want Humvees patrolling up and down the road; that’s not what it’s about. I think there’s a place for it. It’s not a common thing. But, there’s a place for having the ability to respond to more serious situations. That could save your kids at school. That could escort people into the building where they need to be to save your kids at school. That’s where I picture something like that coming in. It’s not about driving it through a building to get a bad guy; it’s about making sure you can help people when they need your help.”
Lane admitted that police could just as easily use fire trucks for such hypothetical incidents that could take place in McLean County, but noted fire departments don’t take kindly to their vehicles getting riddled with bullets. Of course, all such vehicles are insured and can be fixed easily.
Both Bloomington & Normal Police Departments have SWAT teams, though NPD calls its team the Emergency Response Unit (ERU).
Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington has already sent the Sheriff’s department a proposal for what they are calling an EAGLE (SWAT) Mutual Aid agreement on February 14th, 2023. This is according to an e-mail obtained by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. However, the draft agreement itself was not included. The County cited FOIA law exemptions on releasing preliminary drafts of future legislation and/or agreements.
It was also not brought up for discussion at the March 7th, 2023 McLean County Justice Committee Meeting6 nor was Sheriff Lane present at the meeting.
On top of there not being a need for such an agreement, there is already a multi-jurisdictional covert operations unit in McLean County called Task Force Six. Created in 1983 to investigate drug & vice offenses (largely nonviolent, victimless crimes), its activities include SWAT deployments though it relies on the SWAT teams of the above agencies. E-mails obtained already show the McLean County Sheriff’s active involvement in the unit (though we can assume it doesn’t include all possible SWAT deployments).
Multiple county board members Agitation Rising has spoken to have stated they have seen no draft proposal or budgetary items. Such a proposal is likely dead on arrival (especially if it requires additional funding) because of budgetary constraints. The McLean County Board is currently split evenly 10-10 between Democrats & Republicans. In order to pass, at least one member of an opposite party would have to vote yes to create a majority. The County Jail is currently down 20 corrections officers, meaning anything beyond fixing that is going to be a tough sell.
CORRECTION: This article originally implied that Task Force 6 had its own separate SWAT team. This has been corrected.
- Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow. The New Press, 2010. 74.
- Scott Andron, “SWAT: Coming To A Town Near You?” Miami Herald, May 20, 2002.
- Balko, Radley. Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces. PublicAffairs, 2021.
- Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow. The New Press, 2010. 75.
- Radley Balko, “Once a town gets a SWAT team you want to use it,” Salon (July 13, 2013).
- See my unrelated public comment below:
A Tale of Two Justice Systems: Fitzgerald Samedy
Normal Police have a SWAT team?!
I wonder how many times they’ve been called onto the ISU campus or into student party situations?!
City of Normal absolutely must be flush with cash these days.
Normal SWAT team ?!
That it just too weird and completely unnecessary.