Monday, SWAT officers in Plano spent the day dropping out of a hovering helicopter and onto the roof of a building.
The officers have only practiced “fast-roping” one other time, in 2016, but SWAT Officer Mike Bogacki said it’s the future of policing in Plano.
“I was an Army Ranger and we did a lot of fast-rope training,” said Bogacki. “I’ve been trying to get some type of helicopter training into our SWAT training.”
Fast-roping is a military tactic used to drop troops quickly into areas where aircraft can’t land.
A helicopter hovers in the air while a thick rope is dropped to the ground. The person coming out of the helicopter only uses their hands and feet to slide down the rope. There’s no harness or safety net.
“You’re squeezing tight and you’re squeezing with your feet to control your decent all the way down,” said Bogacki.
On one of the practice runs Monday afternoon, a Sikorsky aerial crane helicopter flies over Toyota’s North American headquarters in Plano. A thick rope is dropped out of the door of the chopper while the pilot hovers above a meeting facility on the campus.
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Each SWAT officer slides down the rope to the roof of the building. The officers wear thick gloves and their SWAT gear.
The exercise simulates an active shooter take-down in which officers may decide to enter a building through a roof, if the ground floor is barricaded, or if officers need the element of surprise.
“We don’t always have the option of coming in through a front door, we have to come in a different way,” said Bogacki.
The training is meant to mimic the conditions on top of a high-rise building.
According to the City of Plano there are now 16 high-rise buildings, constructed, or are currently under construction, that are at least 10 stories tall.
“We’re pretty much grown out and the only way this town is going to grow is up,” said Officer David Tilley. “There’s a lot of that growth taking place, so we have to be prepared for that.”
The Toyota training site is one story tall. Bogacki said finding a true high-rise building to use for training is a challenge.
The police department does not own a helicopter. A private company, 5 State Helicopters, donated the use of a helicopter and a civilian pilot’s flight time.
The pilot, Tilley said, flies commercial HVAC systems to the tops of buildings.
Bogacki said he hopes the department will eventually have a plan and agreements in place with helicopter companies to be able to employ the tactic in a crisis.
“Some people say it’s dangerous. We say it’s exciting and pretty dynamic and we believe it’s essential for training,” said Bogacki. “Plano is no longer growing horizontally, it’s growing vertically and we need to meet that challenge for the new dimension.”
