SWAT teams show off skills

TIM KIMZEY

Buy photo Craig Bradley with the Spartanburg Public Safety Department competes at the 11th Annual Southeastern SWAT Competition held at the Emergency Services Academy in Duncan, Thursday.

Competition by 146 law enforcement officers -- including two military teams -- representing seven states -- was fierce Thursday.

But the degree of camaraderie they shared was exhibited as Deputy John Hudson with the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office assisted in the uphill traverse.

"I got you, brother," he said with encouragement, reaching for a participant from Lexington, who struggled to unhook his belt and find the ground with his feet again.

More proof of the bond was evident in the participants who cheered from the sidelines.

The 11th Annual Southeastern SWAT Conference at the Emergency Services Academy continues today with finals and awards to be given in a dinner meeting Saturday night.

The Spartanburg County Detention Center is hosting the competition.

ESPN2 is filming the event, which will be televised July 3 as the National SWAT Challenge presented by S.W.A.T., The Original Footwear Co.

Todd Dunaway, brand manager for the company, said the network would air the program another two times in July or August.

Spartanburg Public Safety Officer Ken Collins described the competition as a mental and physical challenge.

"You have to get your head in the game and have the physical ability to match. That's the way I look at it," he said, after competing in the three-gun challenge and pistol relay.

The excitement is a draw for 12-year-old David Cox of Lyman, who has attended for the last three years and is thinking about becoming a police officer.

"I think it's pretty cool," said Cox, accompanied by his father, Chuck Cox, a reserve deputy with the

Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office.

Chuck Cox said his son has good grades and deserves a day off from school to enjoy the competition. "It's something we enjoy together," he said.

The conference also features a vendor show offering everything from guns, knives, T-shirts and shoulder slings for weapons to body armor displays by Point Blank, a sponsor of the event.

Commander Bill Evans with a police agency in Cook County, Illinois, that sent team members the greatest distance said the competition was great and that he enjoyed the vendors.

He had stopped at the table set up by artist Dick Kramer of Leesburg, Va.

"Some of the guys have his work already, and I'm getting mine. It's great," he said, lining up to pay.

Kramer does pen drawings of police and military scenes.

"It sure beats landscapes. I've been doing this a lot longer than most of these guys have been taking down doors," Kramer said.

Janet Spencer can be reached at 562-7222 or janet.spencer@shj.com.