In late 2007 the Police Department merged its Tactical Response Unit (TRU) with the Kane County Sheriff's Office SWAT team. The TRU had been operating since 1994; it successfully handled such high-profile cases as the Halloween shooting of trick-or-treaters in 2003, as well as high-risk incidents such as barricaded subjects, hostages, and high-risk search warrants.

During a review of internal operations, the Department decided to merge with the SWAT team of the sheriff's office to provide a better service to the city. Merger discussions took place after recognizing the high cost of maintaining an individual team, and the fact that many suburban communities have merged to form successful emergency response teams. This merger enables the Department to have access to a larger, even better trained team at a lower cost due to the sharing of resources.

The TRU and SWAT have been training jointly for several years and have worked joint operations, so the merge is a natural fit. The new team provides a more comprehensive response to emergencies. While the sheriff's office provides the command structure for the team, the St. Charles Police Department retains local control of incidents in our town.

Cmdr. David Kintz dkintz@stcharlesil.gov (630) 443-3740