The new Fayetteville Police SWAT team was joined last week by SWAT team members from Peachtree City, each sworn for the other’s city by Judge W. Fletcher Sams at Fayette County Justice Center. The accompanying memorandum of understanding (MOU) gives the teams operational capability in both cities.

Both Fayetteville Chief Steve Heaton and Peachtree City Chief James Murray said the swearing in of both teams represents the culmination of a process that has been occurring for the past year.

The agreement was a good fit for the two nationally accredited agencies, they said. Fayetteville’s SWAT team has six members. The Peachtree City team has eight members and three negotiators.

“I thought it was a perfect pairing when Chief Heaton asked us if we could assist them in development of their SWAT team since we were an accredited agency,” Murray said. “We have worked together on other projects and we have the same philosophy on police work. We realize that, in the future, if we have a major operation somewhere it will take more than what we both have. We would need people for relief and (to contain) the outer perimeter.”

Heaton said Fayetteville had made three previous attempts at establishing a special response team. One of the problems, he said, was that the city was limited by budget and resources.

Establishing a mutual aid agreement between the two law enforcement agencies gives both agencies the additional resources that would be needed for an incident that requires more manpower than one team could appropriately manage, he said.

“So we decided to get creative and elected to team up with Peachtree City. Their department was a good match because it is so close. We knew that if we sponsored a team we would have to have additional resources anyway. Peachtree City is a wonderful resource for us and I believe we are for them,” Heaton said. “The beauty of it is that both agencies are accredited.”

Heaton said Fayetteville’s move to develop a SWAT team was one bolstered by compatibility in outlook and the similarity in policies that manage the team’s operations.

“Getting on to the SWAT team is not a simple task. They go through an intensive process that’s physically challenging. Peachtree City has been helpful in assisting us in developing our procedures,” Heaton said. “And because we’re both accredited there is not a lot of difference in our policies. They’re very similar. So when we decided to partner it was a good fit. We’ve been training with Peachtree City, they are comfortable with what they’ve been seeing and we’re comfortable with what they are doing. So we’re prepared to partner if we need to.”

Not lost in the MOU was the financial reality that comes with outfitting and maintaining a special response team. The MOU provides the mechanism for the two agencies to experience a cost-saving through a joint effort in training and in operational situations when those occasions occur, Murray said.

“This was a good strike for us. You spend a lot of money on SWAT,” Murray said. “To keep a team of five to eight people, and to expand to have more and more costs cities more money. When you can share resources and train together, it saves the taxpayers money. Hopefully in the future we may have other agencies that will join us in this effort.”

The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department maintains its own SWAT team.

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