The Collier
County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team was recently honored for excellence at a
weeklong international competition in Central Florida.
The Florida
SWAT Association (FSA) presented the CCSO SWAT Team with the FSA Presidential
Award of Excellence during the 31st annual SWAT Roundup International
Competition in Orlando Nov. 10-15.
Each year
the FSA chooses one team from Florida that exemplifies excellence, team unity
and esprit de corps.
This marks
the second time the CCSO SWAT team has received the Presidential Award of
Excellence. The last time was in 2008. No other SWAT team has received the
award more than once.
The SWAT
Roundup International combines education and training seminars, head-to-head
competition and a trade show into one major event. It began as a means to
provide a forum for the exchange of ideas among agencies, but has evolved into
an international showcase for special operations teams from across the United States
and around the world. Great efforts are made to ensure the primary focus
remains committed to team and individual training.
The eight-member
CCSO SWAT team led by Sgt. Michael Stillwell placed ninth overall out of 57
total teams, including 16 international teams from countries as far away as
Kuwait, Bosnia, Romania and Brazil.
CCSO placed
among the top 10 in three of the five mandatory competitive events during the
week, which included hostage rescue, officer rescue and an obstacle course.
CCSO also took
first-place honors in the Lenco BearCat challenge, an optional specialty team
event. This event required five members from each team to work as a unit to
engage multiple shooting targets while driving the Lenco BearCat armored
vehicle to complete the mission. The CCSO team was judged to be the fastest and
most accurate shooter.
Congratulations
to the CCSO SWAT team!
