By Shannon Lukens.
There was a heavy police presence on the 4th of July, during the parade in downtown Steamboat Springs and at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area that night. Steamboat Springs Police Chief says the large events can be vulnerable.
“We prioritized providing state-of-the-art security to our community. We’ve sent people to trainings across the country. We are employing tactics and practices that are recognized as best practice. So when you go to an event and you see a larger footprint of officers than you’re used to, it’s because we want to make sure we’re keeping the community safe. We, we have SWAT team members there that are conducting surveillance. They help direct anybody on the ground if there’s a fight or if there’s a disturbance or, or more often the case is a medical incident.”
Chief Beckett also says that Steamboat Springs Police and the Routt County Sheriff’s departments have been each gifted Lenco Tactical Armored Security Vehicles. They’re called Bearcats. You may have seen them in the parade. They were given to local law enforcement from the Mesa Police Department in Arizona, where Chief Beckett used to work. They were purchased by the Arizona department using grant money so they had to be donated, in turn.
Full Soundbite from Steamboat Springs Police Chief Mark Beckett
“The important thing to understand, and one thing we’ve really been focusing on since I started my time with Steamboat Springs is the seriousness of these large events and how vulnerable they are. And we see across the world and across the country, , when we have these mass casualty incidents or these large incidents, or frankly even some small incidents can cause a big disruption.
We prioritized providing state-of-the-art security to our community. We’ve sent people to trainings across the country. We are employing tactics and practices that are recognized as best practice. So when you go to an event and you see a larger footprint of officers than you’re used to, it’s because we want to make sure we’re keeping the community safe. We, we have SWAT team members there that are conducting surveillance.
They help direct anybody on the ground if there’s a fight or if there’s a disturbance or, or more often the case is a medical incident. They’ll direct our officers on the ground to where that person may be or where we can help them. But you’re going to continue to see that footprint. We take the security and the safety of our community very seriously. It’s very time-intensive, very resource-intensive, and it’s a priority for the police department and it’s a priority for the city.
At the parade, you saw there are two newer armored cars, or armored vehicles. Those were actually donated from the agency I worked for in Arizona, the Mesa Police Department. Those things collectively are worth probably close to half a million dollars. They were donated to us. The Routt County Sheriff’s Department got one and the Steamboat Springs Police Department got one.
And so you’ll see those there. And yes, you definitely saw our SWAT team members there. I think some people see the green and they think it’s snipers and something super sneaky. It’s not. They’re surveillance teams and they’re our most highly trained department members. So if we do have something happen, those are the guys you want going there. And then you’ll see a lot of officers there, too.
You’ll see me, you’ll see Commander Brown, you’ll see Commander Griffin. We’re at darn near every one of these big events.