(ominous music) - [Voiceover] Philadelphia,
ironically nicknamed the City of Brotherly Love, is one of the most violent
cities in North America. For the police, that means facing dangerous situations everyday. - Get him.
- Hold on, don't move. Don't move, don't (bleeping) move. (shouting) - [Voiceover] And when
the action gets too hot, the SWAT team comes to the rescue. - Turn the vehicle off. - Open the back, in the back, Bill. - Turn the vehicle off. - [Voiceover] These super-cops
have to face shootouts, barricades, hostage situations,
and murderers on the loose. (knocking) - Police, warrant! - [Voiceover] They are law
enforcement's last hope in situations that sometimes look more like urban
warfare than police work. - Fear is definitely a factor, and everyone has fear. If for not fear, you wouldn't be human. - But I have to say I'm not
afraid, I'd be lying to you. I'm not afraid on every job,
but there's different jobs. If you're human, you're gonna think, something's gonna tell you
that this could be dangerous. (guns firing) (exciting music) - Turn the other way. Slide back to your right. John, I haven't checked in that one. - Keep your hands up high. - [Voiceover] Officers Bill
Hunter and John Reckner are members of Philadelphia's
Special Weapons and Tactics Unit. Between calls for barricade
and hostage situations, they patrol the streets of the city's toughest neighborhoods. - [Voiceover] Police, get out now. - [Voiceover] Go, go, go,
come on, back off, back off. - When you get into the busier districts, the cops are there because
they want to be there. You see all these 25th district
cars here every single time. And we're racing to beat them there because there's going to be an arrest, we're trying to get it, and they're trying to beat us here. (laughing) But that's a good sign. (upbeat music) - [Voiceover] Aboard the Philadelphia police department helicopter,
everything looks calm, but don't be fooled. The City of Brotherly
Love has a dark side. In Philly, there are twice the number of aggravated assaults and
rapes than the national average, and three times the number of murders. There were 348 homicides here in 2003. That's almost one dead body every day. With those kinds of stats, police officers don't
have to look very hard to find some serious action. - [Voiceover] Thames, first name Mary. Date of birth, eight, seven, 1958, black male. - [Voiceover] John and
Bill heard the call. - Alright, we just received information there was a shooting
at 1600 Thames street. We receieved information that the male who committed the shooting is driving a silver Chrystler, he's a black male. About six foot tall with black skully cap and a black hoodie. - [Voiceover] When the police dispatcher gets new information on certain incidents, it is instantly broadcast on
every police radio in the city. It's called flash information. - That's the term that we use to gather information on our assignment. Whether we're on patrol and
there's a robbery just occurred. The more we know, the more chance that we have of making an apprehension. - [Voiceover] The description of the man, his car, the gun used, all that sounds familiar to John. - What do you think? - [Voiceover] He thinks he
knows who the shooter might be. - Right here, right on Marsten terrace, as you turn in, it's an Oldsmobile. It's the second one, and
It's a gray Oldsmobile. There's no tag on it, so that's the car. That's the car. - [Voiceover] The gray Oldsmobile is there with a man inside. They have to be cautious. (radio chatter) If it is the gunman, he will be armed and both cops know that he probably won't
hesitate to use his gun again. - Don't (bleeping) move. Don't move, what's your name? - [Bill] Don't even move. - Wyatt? Malise?
- Let me see him, get over. Alright, cuff him over, let me see. - Let me see your hands. I will appear nice. If their attitude changes,
quickly, so will mine. - Alright, cuff him up. (bleeping)
- Lean up, what's your name? - [Voiceover] Suddenly,
the suspect makes a move. - I said not to give
me a problem, didn't I? - Alright, he's alright, Malike's okay. He's not big, you're okay, alright, you're okay, relax. I know, relax. People don't want to get locked up. They want to run, they
don't want to get locked up, they know they're doing something wrong and that's their job to run and I guess it's our job to catch them. I mean, it's not always a fight, you're just trying to place the cuffs on. If they don't want to go, it's hard. I mean, you could be 220 pound guy, and there could be a
120 pound guy running, you're chasing, you catch him, if he don't want to get cuffed, then it's going to be hard to cuff him. - I ain't doing nothing, officer. (grunting)
It's not my car. - He's wanted for an
armed robbery shooting, so just drove by, we had a
shooting a little while ago. Car matches the description. He's wanted anyway, so he's locked up, but we're going to have somebody come over to see if it's
a positive ID or not. Alright, so good hit. - [Voiceover] John calls for back up. (beeping)
- You can make this the-- - [Voiceover] At the same time, the suspect's family is
now gathering outside. Among them is the suspect's mother, and she has no intention of helping the two cops arrest her son. - He's got a warrant anyway, ma'am. - A warrant, for what? - Just relax, ma'am. We might, there's a warrant
for him, just relax. - For what? - Another warrant. You remember, I stopped him before, and I spoke to him about something, I said that there might be a warrant. Whenever you were out here. - Call for a car?
- Yeah, I got a car coming. Just relax. - For what? - We'll explain it to you, just relax. You're not going in that car, yo, shut that door. (yelling)
No, you're not locking it, because the car's going with us. Where's the keys? - I don't have them. - This woman has the keys. - I need the keys, ma'am. I need the keys. Alright, ma'am, I need
the keys to the car. Don't make things worse. Your son's not in
trouble for the shooting, he drove him to the hospital. - Well then why you got him? - Okay, relax. - [Voiceover] The suspect finally admits that he was at the scene of the crime. - This is just what happ-- - I know what just happened. - Yeah, he got shot. Somebody got shot, man, and I had to rush him to the... - Okay, you rushed him to the hospital. - Hell yeah.
- Then relax, chill out. He admitted to us that
he dropped the person off at the hospital after he was shot. Shots were exchanged from this car and outside, at a location. We just arrived here, so we're not sure. We're going to wait for the, supposedly there's a
video tape at a store, so he's locked up anyway for a shooting and a robbery. From a previous warrant. - [Voiceover] Other police officers are rushing to the scene. The suspect, handcuffed, is placed in another car. - It's going to be a PA
tag, a Frank, Victor, Pat. - [Voiceover] John and
Bill search the vechicle looking for evidence. - Dude's got a .45, but we got to find it. - [Voiceover] They know that
there is a gun somewhere. - He fled the scene, too. - Really? - From the other shooting, from the Tanning shooting. - Alright, well, this is the car. (tense music) - [Voiceover] Bill can't
find the.45 caliber revolver, but the search is just beginning. - I want to get towed and then print it, for prints. I'm going to put it on a propery receipt. And probably part of a crime scene. - It's a good hit. - [Voiceover] The suspect has a history. He was previously arrested
for attempted murder, but was released. - Sometimes, I would say, you lock them up for an attempted murder, that person that they shot
has to show up at court. And what happens sometimes is, they will get to them
before they go to court, and threaten them and
they will intimidate them, and they will not show up. When they don't show up and the charges are thrown out. - So now he's back on the street. (tense music)
(talking) - [Voiceover] Later on, John gets a call from one of the detectives who was searching the suspect's car. - In the trunk they recovered
a bullet proof vest, some ski mask. We have information that there's
another vehicle involved. The detectives are going
to look into that vehicle, and hopefully they can
recover some more evidence, maybe find another gun. We had some information that there was a .45 caliber
handgun that was used, and I also had some
information from an informant that he was carrying
a .45 caliber handgun. - [Voiceover] With a bullet proof vest and a ski mask found in his car, getting him off the streets
may have saved someone's life. (talking)
(somber music) - Let's grab a seat, dress as best you could. - [Voiceover] Back at police headquarters, Lieutenant Mangini is working hard to set up a complex SWAT operation. They have a warrant to arrest
a man wanted for murder. He is presumed to be armed and dangerous. What's more, he'll be
coming out of a big concert, and there will be a lot of people around. - His intention is to head
down to the Wakovia center for a concert, and naturally, we do not want him to get inside there, so we need to intercept him before he makes his way to that location. - [Voiceover] The operation
is extremely risky and will demand absolute precision. An armed man with nothing to lose standing in the middle of
thousands of innocent people could spell disaster. - We're going on the premise that he could and should be armed and dangerous. Just another day in paradise.
(chuckling) - [Voiceover] Hah, really? - [Mangini] Alright, we're good? - Bill and John will be
part of the strike unit. - This is a different job, this isn't a house, this is another job that it's
going to take a little work, we're going to sit down for a while. We're actually going to come in early and we're going to think about what we're going to do,
because it's not a house, we're going to be actually waiting for somebody to show up, and
he's going to be in a car. So, it's going to be totally different than what we're used to. - I'm excited about it, and I hope things go well. - [Voiceover] The hour has come. The show will be starting soon. Close to 20 members of the
unit are part of the operation. This is a high visibility,
high risk maneuver. Captain Cross is briefing the guys. - This is the guy we're looking for, you're all going to get
copies of this guy, okay? He changes his hair a lot, you can see those, those crewcut. We've got three different
pictures of him, alright? He's one known to homicide. He hangs, his boys are the young guns, who are performing at the center tonight. Show starts at seven o'clock. We're going to have two guys
right here in plain clothes. Everybody has to identify themselves when they come in off 11th street and go down that ramp. So we're going to have two guys along with some Spectrum security, taking a look, looking in there
and IDing these guys, okay? If this guy is in one of these limos, we're going to have a truck down here. We're going to take him down
right on this ramp here. Okay, when they spot him, we're going to call in the troops, we're going to take this guy down. We don't want to do it
inside the building, there's too many people
inside the building. These are bad dudes coming in here, so don't everybody concentrate, but when we get these guy, take him down. Four or five, get him, grab him, the rest should be
turning towards the crowd, making sure nobody's jumping our backs or anybody's pulling any (bleeping) while we're turned around, alright? Just so in case we need the
uniforms or some extra muscle we'll have them in this area. So besides us, we'll at least have 10 uniforms to help us out, in case the (bleeping) hits the fan. - [Voiceover] Bill and
John, like all the officers get their assignment for the operation. That includes what kind of weapon they get to carry with them. - Hunter, Reckner. - Here. - You'll have an MP5 and one carbon, okay? You're going to post
yourself on 11th street. - [Voiceover] Bill and John won't need to put on high protection body armor, but they will wear a bulletproof vest capable of stopping a projectile going 3,000 feet per second. - Alright, let's do it. (laughing)
(all talking) - [Voiceover] Their weapons, the MP5, and the longer range M4 have been the workhorses for the army and law enforcement agencies everywhere for a long time. They are semiautomatic assault rifles that can shoot over 10
bullets every second. (blasting) - Fear is definitely a factor, and everyone has fear. If for not fear, you wouldn't be human. - But I have say I'm not
afraid, I'd be lying to you. I mean, I'm not afraid on every job, but there's different jobs. If you're human, you're going to think, you know, something's going to tell you this could be dangerous, but I do it. - [Voiceover] Everyone is
at their strategic location. They now have to wait for
the suspect to show up. It's time for some last minute studying. - I've never met him before. But I've been studying the photo now and the different photos that I have, and I have picked out a couple features that I'm going to look for. So, if I do see him I'm sure that I would be
able to recognize him. - You look at the face,
you look at a feature, that guy's nose.
- You can't change. - Yeah, you can't change
your lips, your nose. Your ears, just different things you could pick out. - [Voiceover] The crew
is in place and waits. For three hours. - We're sitting here, we're just waiting. I mean, it's all you can do. A lot of times you wait longer than that. We'll wait on a barricade, near sometimes, seven, eight, ten hours. (radio chatter) - [Voiceover] And finally. - There it goes. It's coming our way, Bill. It's coming our way. - It's us. - [Voiceover] The suspect's
van has been spotted, and it's going right by where
John and Bill are posted. Everything is going according to plan. (tense music) (tense music) The van is immediately
surrounded by the SWAT team. Bill runs up to the van. - Turn the vehicle off. - Open the back, in the back, Bill. - Turn the vehicle off. Come on the stairwell, my man. Come on the stairwell. - [Voiceover] He knows that
if the suspect is in it, he may be armed and dangerous. - We're going to the airport. - It's off, it's off, yeah. - [Voiceover] The operation
went down perfectly, except for one small detail. The suspect is not in the van, and obviously nobody in the
van knows what is going on. - Stand by. Well, obviously the guy wasn't, the guy we're looking for is not there. He may even have got word
that we were out here. There was five people in
the van when it went in, only four when it left. But the guy, supposedly the
guy we were looking for, in the red, was the guy--
(honking) Was inside the van, but it wasn't him. They all had ID, and it wasn't him. We don't think he's here. He knows by now, if we stop
while they're on their phones. We didn't let them use their phones, but now they're probably using them, so they're probably off telling him. They're probably talking to him right now, believing them. We'll get them another day. He's hiding, he's going to be hiding for the rest of his life. And these guys are going to keep traveling around with him, he's going to get caught. It's just a matter of time. But today was his lucky day, I guess. (somber music) - [Voiceover] The suspect wasn't where he was supposed to be, and that is very frustrating for the cops. Not only did they waste several hours, but more importantly, a suspected murderer
is still on the loose. John and Bill will put
away their assault weapons and go back to patrolling
the streets of Philadelphia. Here, the action is nonstop. Within minutes they have
to respond to a call for a robbery and a shooting. (radio chatter)
(sirens wailing) - A robbery and a shooting at...pizza. We've got three black males, we've got one about six foot four, the second's about five
three, in a jean jacket. - [Voiceover] In Philadelphia
there is a robbery or a theft committed every nine minutes. (ringing)
(talking) - Anybody shot? - [Voiceover] So far nobody shot. - [Voiceover] The victims were held for more than 15 minutes by men who they never thought would rob them. (all talking)
- Color car? - Yeah, a dark car, dark. Tinted windows, tinted windows. They went that way. Whatever which way, they went that way. - Alright. - [Voiceover] To get inside the house, the robbers said they were cops. Wearing badges, guns, and
even bulletproof vests. - [Voiceover] Black shirt
off, a cop with black shirt. He's going to have a black
vest, bulletproof vest, with a badge hanging around his neck. - Well, that could be twofold. That could be one, make
people think they're cops, and two, maybe they're
ready for a shootout. - They said dark rims on that? - Yeah. (upbeat music) - [Voiceover] Some bystanders
may have seen them. - Ask these guys, they're older, see if they seen
anybody fly by in a Lumina. You never know. - Hey guys, how are you doing? What we're looking for
is a dark Chevy Lumina, you see any of them go by? - No.
- Kind of gray? - Not yet.
(talking) - Yeah, they just robbed somebody, by point of gun, down the street. - Aw, we didn't see them, bro. - Alright, thank you. - Enjoy your well.
(laughing) - [Voiceover] Bill sees a
car matching the description given by the victims. It's parked in front of
a take out restaurant. (radio chatter) - Hey, guy, come here. Step inside. - Whose car is this? - Whose car is right here? - Which car? - This car right here. - It doesn't feel like it was running. It's not warm. It's not warm, Bill. - What?
- [John] It's not warm. - Any weapons on you? - [Voiceover] The guys don't
even have time to finish their search when the
fake cops strike again. - They just said that
they're police officers, they broke into the house. They locked them in the house and they robbed them. That's the second one today. So, we're going to go see
if we can find the car. Three black males, one was heavy set. - [Voiceover] But the trio of robbers know that the cops are
breathing down their necks, so they choose to stay quiet
for the rest of the night. (exciting music) 12 hours later, Bill
and John return to duty. - Back to work. - [Voiceover] As soon as the
guys set foot in the building they're assigned to a barricade. Once again, it is a home invasion. Maybe they will catch the
suspects from last night. (chattering) This time, they put on
the heavy protection. A bulletproof helmet and a heavy vest. Right now the situation is not clear. Two men were arrested, but one robber is missing. A baby may have been shot. - When we go to a barricade or a warrant, helpful information would be be the person that we're looking for, how many other people are in the house, do they have dogs in the house, what kind of weapons are
registered to the house. The more we know, the
better we can do our job. - Alright, I'll try to run down. - Okay, so we got to go in. (tense music) - We got the long gun first. - [Voiceover] Lieutenant
Mangini gives the lowdown. - Nobody heard gunshots. One guy came out saying-- - I asked these kids over here, did you hear any shooting? They said no. - No, one guy came out and said, pointed to his head, that they shot my child in the head. But nobody heard anything much. - Right. - But that don't mean anything. - Right, these people know
what gunshots sound like, too. - [Voiceover] With three
armed suspects reported here, John quickly makes the connection with last night's trio
of police imposters. - Three males pose as police officers. They've been hitting
drug houses with money. - They don't hit these
houses for no reason. - Right, exactly. I don't see a car, the car's supposed to be,
it looks like a cop car. - [Voiceover] Bill gets
in a strategic position. - We got anybody that comes out. If there's a shot to be
taken, it'll be yours. - [Voiceover] If the robber
decides to come out running, Bill may have to shoot. - That's pretty clear. If they come out at me. (talking) - Ma'am, you have to go in, ma'am. You have to go in, ma'am, there's somebody in there. (talking) - On the porch, yeah, yeah. They're on the porch. They're a problem. - [Voiceover] And then
some new information makes things even more complex. - There's somebody in the house next door that's not answering their phone, so they think they went
in the house next door. We don't know yet. - So, we're actually
watching both properties until we can ascertain
if there's anything, if we get a response from
the original target location. - [Voiceover] Bill,
John, and the lieutenant decide to go to the house next door and make sure that the
people there are safe. The snipers are ready to act
if this turns into a shootout. - Police, police. It's the police. - Who is it? - Police, ma'am. - [Voiceover] It's been an hour since the SWAT unit was deployed. - Hell's going on?
- Two guys are caught. They got caught walking out, so there should be one more in there. Supposedly somebody's kid was supposed to be shot in the head, but
nobody's talking about it. - [Voiceover] Detectives and a negotiator arrive with new information. - Any injuries to anybody? - No. - Nobody's shot or nobody's hurt? - No, no gunshots were
fired inside, either. At first we heard rumor of that. - It was just chatter, or something? - Yeah, that's unfounded. So the next move is this. - [Voiceover] Using a handheld PA system, the negotiator is trying to make contact with the third suspect who is presumed to still be hiding in the house. (police chatter) It's been two hours now, and there's still no sign of the robber. - There were three males
that entered the house and so far two of them
have been apprehended. We're not sure where the third person is, whether he got out, or whether
he's still in the property. So, negotiations are going on to determine whether or not he's inside the property. At some time, if there's no response, we'll make a determination for us to enter the property and see if he's there. I think they're going, why would they wait around? - Think they had a chance to get out? if two of them got caught. - Two of them got caught, yeah. - He's hiding in that house. - [Voiceover] The decision is
finally made to make a move. An officer goes to get the breacher. - The breacher's responsibility is to get the doors open for you. What we use is a ram. Our ram probably weighs about 40 pounds, and has a two handled bar on there. And, when it's used correctly,
on a hinge or a lock, it will take it right through the wood. - [Voiceover] They are now seconds away from making the entry. Once inside, anything can happen. - Your guard's always up, when you're going to enter a house, you don't know what to expect. You're really, the threat level's there. You'll go in and you'll look around, and you're actually also
looking for the doer, or the bad guy, you're looking. - I get nervous about it. I always had that touch of, you know, that dizzy feeling in my
stomach now and again, before you go into a house. But, it keeps you sharp. You don't want to be not nervous about it. The more nervous you are, sometimes, it peaks your senses. You're more prepared for what happens. - [Voiceover] At moments like these, the members of the SWAT team rely on their training and techniques
to make a safe entry. - There's a technique
used by the entry team which all bases will be
covered by the first man, the second man, and the third man. And this technique will cover
all the angles of the room, and any kind of threat
that they can encounter as they make their entry. (ominous drum music) The suspects possibly had body armor. Our first man in used a carbine, which is a shorter version of an M16, which is body piercing armor. It's possible that the shotgun or the MP5 might not pierce body armor. - One in the chamber. - If they were looking for prints. - Okay, well, thanks. - We were there for a
few hours of waiting. It's a waiting game, you wait, wait, and wait, and then in five seconds, it's over. - We made our entry, the
third one was not there. However, there was a chrome plated automatic revolver right in the doorway. I've had about four scenes
where home invasions occurred with three males, including a chrome
plated automatic weapon. Normally I'd believe it's
probably the same offenders. - [Voiceover] And life goes on. - Hey, good job, thanks. Hey, have a great Christmas, alright? - Watch yourself. - [Voiceover] It is four
AM and the morning crew of this SWAT unit is about
to serve two warrants. - Scott, Rebel,
(all saying sir) Teddy, Crawford.
(all saying sir) - [Voiceover] The
information about the suspect would send shivers down
the spines of most people. For the SWAT members it just tells them what they will be up against. - It's a search warrant and arrest warrant for the
22 year old black male. This house belongs to (bleeping). Girlfriend's parents. Alright, he's accused
of shooting his father, he shot his father. I just off the phone with the detective, the father don't look good. - Most of the people we're dealing with, there are warrants, they're wanted, it's a high risk warrant. They're wanted for a serious crime, whether it's been narcotics, or a robbery or homicide. You just always have to be ready. - As we go in, your position in line determines your assignment. Each person has a different assignment. And when you make your entry, your main focus is your assignment. - Just listen up, the line up's going to
stay front containment, user 113, DePetro, an MP5, Riley will have a handgun. Marrow, a shotgun. Scott, handgun, and
bring a prybar with you. - Different weapons are used for different goals of our entry. The first man in will
usually carry a long arm. Whether it be a shotgun, M16, or an MP5 weapon. The second man in will
usually carry his handgun. It makes him more mobile. When you carry a long gun, being the first man in,
it makes you less mobile. - Second floor, Rebel with a shotgun, Pesetti a handgun, lieutenant will have a flashbang. - Flashbang is a diversion
technique that we use to catch someone off guard,
catch them by surprise, to give us the edge. - Okay, this, it's uh, two story brick row. It's a mark property, it's got storm door. A wooden glass inside door. Richie, make sure you cover
yourself up there, alright? This detective says he's got a real good feeling this gun's in this house. Alright, everybody
understand their assignments? Everybody understand their assignments? Yes? (tense music) - [Voiceover] The guys
all get to a location close to where they will strike. It is called the staging area. They put on their equipment. They wear the heavy duty bulletproof vest, a bulletproof helmet, and an advanced communications system. The sergeant meets with the detective in charge of the case to
get more information. - I got three great witnesses plus that, I got--I'm sorry. Plus his father identified
him in the hospital, he nodded, he got a trach in his throat. He coded, at least three times. He coded on the way to the hospital. This guy is just not meant to be alive. (ominous music) - It's set up back there,
keep a watch that way. - [Voiceover] Everyone gets into position. Some will be part of the entry team. Others will be the rear
and front containment. - Let's make sure nobody
runs out the back, or out the front, or tries to hurt the entry team as we're going up. - [Voiceover] The entry team sneaks close to the house without making a sound. The element of surprise
may be their biggest ally. They want to catch him off guard, and hopefully away from his weapon. (banging) - Police, warrant! - [Voiceover] The entry team
leader bangs on the front door, hoping to surprise the suspect. - Police, warrant! - On a warrant, we will
knock and announce, and there's a specific time required for them to open the door. (yelling)
And if the door isn't opened in that required time, then a breacher will force the door open. - [Voiceover] After a few seconds someone finally opens the door. A few more seconds and the SWAT unit would have broken it down. It is now safe for the
detectives to get inside. The SWAT unit has done its
job and secured the place. - He's not in it, but the
girl in the striped shirt is Jennifer, that's the girlfriend. - [Voiceover] The SWAT unit serves almost 300 high risk warrants every year. To last in this job you have to walk a thin
line between going all out and not taking every job too personally. - You know, we're there, and you've seen, you were in the car, we're all hyped up. And it's so fast, when
it's over, it's over. We were all disappointed, we wanted to catch him, we wanted to catch the bad guy. That's why we're there. - If you harp on things too much, it eats you up inside. - No luck, no luck. Next time. - [Voiceover] But lady luck
smiles at the last moment. - I didn't do it. - [Voiceover] The suspect
is caught down the street while trying to sneak past the policemen. (talking) - How old are you? - No, no.
- My mom, oh, man. Yo, call my mom. - Your wish came true, man. You didn't want to go to work, now you don't got to go to work. You don't have to go to work. - I was trying to tell
y'all, I've been down there. - Actually, when you're serving warrants, like the warrant was served for homicide, that's a serious warrant. That's a bad guy, he killed somebody. - [Voiceover] The SWAT unit
goes back to the station. Awaiting them over there
is another briefing for another warrant. - He's a 21 year old black male, he's wanted for murder. They had a... On the fifth of March they had a, it was a driveby killing, is what it was. Carload of people, bought some drugs, they didn't like what they got, they went back and they
did up the corner with a, it was an AK-47. - [Voiceover] Every little
detail about the house and the surroundings
are given to everyone. They don't want any surprises. - They've got a white security door. It's got an enclosed porch. You keep that in mind, okay? Who's the first one in? - I think the first person in
would be the most dangerous, because if somebody's
waiting in there with a gun, you're the first person he sees. - Picture it like a funnel. And you're coming through it, and if you were to stop
in the middle of it everything gets banged
up, clogged up behind you. We all have an assignment. When the first floor people come in, the second floor people
are right behind them. But it's like I said, everybody has a different assignment, and your job is to stick
to that assignment. As long as you stick to your assignment, all goals are achieved. - [Voiceover] After
meeting at the staging area the unit is on its way
to the suspects' house. - We are going to give him
a good morning welcome. (upbeat music) (knocking) - Police. - [Voiceover] The door
is quickly answered, and this time the suspect
is nowhere to be found. Every operation of the SWAT unit has to be flawlessly executed. Every little detail
can mean the difference between life and death, so for the SWAT unit,
as with anybody else, practice makes perfect. - Being in SWAT, we have
outstanding equipment, and a lot more training than
a regular patrol officer does, so I think sometimes the guys in SWAT are a lot more prepared
than a regular patrol cop. - Let's go, if we learn in charge. Alright, on the western,
ten rounds, scatter may. (whistling) (booming) (laughing) (talking) - Grouped there, grouped there, and a headshot. - Man to go, want to start moving. Man on the window, you're
going to fly, alright? Everybody understand? Okay. (talking) Go. (whistling)
(banging) - You do it right here, you're going to do it
right when you're out, when you're in a house,
you're going to aim right, you're going to hit center mass where you're supposed to hit. That's why we do these drills. - The analogy that I use, we want to be like a pool shooter. (cracking) Who can shoot pool every night on a consistent space and maintains a certain of proficiency. If he doesn't go out and shoot
pool for a couple months, the first time he walks
back in, it will lower down. The ability to come up here will help us maintain a higher proficiency
of handling the weapons. I think with the stress, a lot of times, you will do things without thinking, and sometimes just your skill kicks in, and you might even do a little better. (upbeat music) - [Voiceover] You need
much more than a sharp eye and a taste for danger to make the cut as a SWAT member. All the protection and
equipment they are wearing can weigh as much as 70 pounds. - And we first put that stuff on, we're out there just observing jobs. Different warrants. I tell you, it was heavy,
but you get used to it. It's like anything else,
your body gets used to it. And we work out, that
helps us keep in shape. (tense music) - [Voiceover] Back on the streets after their training session, Bill and John are assigned
to assist some officers who have made an arrest. - And they responded to the sergeant. Saw the male running down the street, he was trying to rack the gun. It jammed on him. He dropped it, they apprehended
the male down the street. When he picked up the
gun it was still jammed. They call us for weapons
like this, I mean. It's a military type weapon, and if you don't have the
know-how to unload it, make it sit, render it safe, then it's better just to call a SWAT unit, we'll come render it safe and they'll take it down to ballistics. (chuckling)
- Yeah, it's jammed, you can see. - It's a double feed. - [Voiceover] As soon as they
secure the jammed weapon, another call comes in. (sirens wailing)
- [Voiceover] This time it's for a robbery with a
possible hostage situation. - Person with a gun.
(tense music) - Holding people hostage. - Alright, this could be a barricade. - And we're not that far.
(sirens wailing) We're actually in a pretty
good position for this one. - Sam one, Sam, we're
pulling up Base street. What's the flash? - It's a black male going by the name of Frank Junior, wearing a
gray and black jacket, about five foot eight tall. (talking) - 38. - What's going on? - He's got a gun. - Ain't nobody got no gun on me. - Yes he does, sir. - Frank, is that you? - Yes, it's me, big guy. How you doing? - Great, how you been? - Is my uncle getting drunk, doing dope (bleeping) again. - Who's in the house now? - It's my uncle Billy in there. - Alright, he's in there by himself? - Yes. (yelling) - Hey Uncle Billy. Where you at? Everything alright? - [Voiceover] The man who
called in is obviously drunk, but that doesn't mean that
he is not telling the truth. - Okay, who called? - I called. - Okay, did you see a gun? - I seen it. - Where at? - He took it upstairs. He took it upstairs. - [Voiceover] Bill goes upstairs and finds that the caller was right, there is a gun. - Uncle Billy. - Well, we saw your gun, can you tell if it's the gun or not? - Is that what you saw? - Is that what you saw? - Sit down. - Is this the one you saw? - Is this the gun you saw? - I don't know, sir. - Does it look like it? - Kind of favorite, I don't know. Kind of favorite, I don't... - Alright, no problem,
you can put your leg in. - That's it.
- Okay, okay, put your leg in. We'll take care of it all. (laughing)
- It's just a PlayStation gun. - What'd he say? - That's what he saw laying on the table. - I believe you. There are some funny situations that occur during our day. And I will come home and
always tell a funny story, because that really breaks up the monotony of what, if they have any
worries about what I do all day, I tell a funny story and maybe
they don't worry as much. - Here, anybody checked this? - [Voiceover] There has
been some development in the home invasion case. A victim recognized one of the
three fake cops on a mugshot. Detectives followed the
lead and found a car matching the description. Two men fled, the third one is hiding. (crashing) John and Bill are on the spot in minutes, hoping to catch the illusive criminals. - We live here. - Is it the car? - 30 seconds. 30 seconds, we just pulled away from it. Just crossed the (talking),
call came out, man. - Is it the car? - Shoot. - Show us the car. - At the top of that. - Car's down at the end of the block. - Sergeant let us walk all the way home. (talking) - So they got one person? They didn't get any of the guys? - No, they lost them all. They lost the one guy. - Well, I know who the one guy is. (chattering) - Did anybody check this? Look at that, right there. - [Voiceover] The police
helicopter arrives on the scene. its state of the art technology is a very much needed
addition to the operation. - There was possibly a
shooter in the back alleyway. Everybody emptied out of the alleyway. Air tech unit went above it, and used what they call
a thermal heat sensor. And a thermal heat
sensor would pick up any kind of heat from a person
hiding in the alleyway. Something that we couldn't see
in the middle of the night. - Okay, there's the building in question. Now you see the officers
standing there on the ground. Yup, that's the heat. Actually, you can see
the front of their cars. - Maybe we get lucky,
maybe the guy's over here. - [Voiceover] But the helicopter can't look inside the houses. - I can't, I can't see the thermal inside. - [Voiceover] This dangerous
job is left to the officers. - They said they didn't go in, right? - He didn't go in. - Watch the hole in the floor right there. - I am. - We find some of the
abandoned houses dangerous, because as we make our entries into them, a lot of them are booby trapped with missing floor boards,
or we had went into a, John and I had went into a house last week where we went in through the back window. Well, before we stepped In we looked down, and there was a big square cut out. So, if we weren't looking down, and preparing ourselves
for something like that, we could have fell straight
through to the basement. - Now, the floor there. The floor wouldn't support anybody, if somebody went in there. If he's hiding in this back alley, he's not going to be in that house, because he could've never made it inside. - Yeah, it's not fresh. - [Voiceover] John suddenly
finds an important clue. Fresh blood. - Hey, Bill. - Hey, guys, look tight. Is it tight here, dude? - You guys inside here
there's blood, Bill. (barking) - Cold blood or is it a dog? - Bill? Where's Bill? (talking)
- Yeah, it's not fresh, but. Well, let me see, it started over here, right? Here's the blood trail. Here, it started right here, look. - What? - It looks like he got shot
in the chair or something. There's blood on the chair,
you can see right here. It's going all the way out to here. Blood trail comes right out here. - It's all fresh? - So you come down here, trail. - [Voiceover] While Bill and
John follow the blood trail, two of their colleagues from the SWAT unit arrest the elusive robber. Tonight, Philadelphia
will be a safer place. Another day, another
warrant for the SWAT team. - He's wanted for attempted
murder with a gun. Line 'em ups. I want to be rear, front, entry, entry. Rear, you guys are going to lead the way. You're going to go up to Courallie street. - If you were to ask me what was my favorite position in stack, I'd have to be the number one guy. Because the rest of the team's all stepping off on your step. - If you like your job, then you always want to be the first one
to do something, right? You don't want to just say, oh, I want to be the last person. Nah, if you love doing what you're doing, you want to be the first person. That's just the way I am,
and everybody I work with is pretty much on the same page. - [Voiceover] At the staging area, the detective gives out
a picture of the suspect. - Oh, here's the guy we're looking for. This a younger photo. Here's your photo. - Nice, nice, that's the guy? - That's him.
- We'll get him. - Alright, okay. (tense music) - [Voiceover] There is no room
for improvisation or error. Any mistake could be their last one. - We're going to pull up. We're all going to hook up
together right at that corner. Front, soon as they give you the word, you guys go right on down. The walk is about 20 feet down. Ten houses, two on your right. We're all going to walk down, and we'll do what we got to do. - Police, let me see your hands. (talking) Police officers, let me see your hands. (chattering) - Get down on the floor, get down on the floor. Everybody has their own job to do and if we do it right, pretty much, we'll come out okay. - Barber shop anyway.
(all talking) - [Voiceover] This operation
went down perfectly. When they got to the door, the suspect was about to come out. They caught him. One minute later and they
would have missed him. - They said don't worry about it, we're taking everybody. We got everybody. Alright guys, back to base. - I never thought I'd be
one to go on the SWAT team. I had a chance to, I put
my transfer in, and I went. Now this is all new to me, I've only been here about nine months, and most of that was training. So now I'm on the street
and I'm having fun. - What's up, big guy? Hi, Michael. Hello, Steven. - [Voiceover] Fighting crime is one thing, but prevention is also essential, and Bill is doing his part. He has been a volunteer wrestling coach for 15 years in a school in one of the toughest parts of town. - I know I'm making a difference, because first of all,
a lot of times you see when you're out there on the streets, they don't always look upon
the police in a positive way. And these kids see a
totally different side of me when I'm dressed up in my sweat clothes running their practices, rolling around, taking them to matches every Saturday. So, they see a totally different side of a police officer than
someone on the street locking up everybody they know. But they also that I care about them all, and I would help them
out in any situation. - [Voiceover] And this approach works. - Right now, there is about 15 or 16 guys that I coached in this level right here that are on the police force right now. There's even one who's in the FBI, there's one in the secret service, and I'm really proud of
the ones that do well. (upbeat music)
Thanks. - [Voiceover] After this
quick stop at the school Bill is back on the streets. - We just got a call to the
guy at Germantown and Orleans which is right by Germantown and Guyana, wearing a black jacket and skull, he's got a.40 caliber on him. If I was to get in my car to stop someone or arrest somebody, my eyes are on them. Before I get out, my eyes
are on the surroundings. As I get out, I have to
focus on that individual, and as I approach him,
my actions will also lead me to circumstances
that surround this now. His actions will dictate what I do. If he's going to be complacent, okay, not that I'm going
to let my guard down, but I'll probably move
up as quickly as possible before that complacency changes. - There he is, right there. - Which one? - Black hat, or what? - The one that's not Zaire. - Which one, is it Zai? - Keep going, keep going, keep going. It's this dude right
here, pass him, pass him. (beeping)
(thumping) - Down on the ground, put
your hands right there. - Put his hand behind you. - Don't move that hand, my man. As you're talking to them, usually you know their demeanor and the threat level goes down, but you're always going
to have your guard up. But, it just goes down. Like, when I'm getting out of the car, if I'm going stop you and
I think you have a gun, yeah, I'm going to treat you differently, 'til I get a chance to see
if you in fact have that gun. - [Voiceover] Bill finds
what he was looking for. - John.
- [John] Yo. You got it? Hey, man, see. - Turn around. It's a BB gun. - It's a BB gun, yeah. - This serves you no purpose whatsoever as far self defense goes. It could be used for intimidation in such a thing like a robbery. From a distance, someone could mistake something like this for,
it'd be a nine millimeter. This could cause you a lot of damage, get you killed, carrying
something like this on the street. - If you get 50 gunmen, a thousand kids in a school,
people are going to die. (tense music) - [Voiceover] This is a training exercise, but a hostage situation in a school is always a very real threat. The goal is to make a fast,
effective, and safe entry. (shouting) - Hey, go. (popping) I'm here. - [Voiceover] And make
no mistake about it, training pays. - Yeah, you went a
little bit too fast, but. - This is a stage process. Two guys call the other guys up. - Insert a magazine, charge 'em up, and holster 'em up. - [Voiceover] The exercise
has to be interrupted. A call just came in. It's a hostage situation. (beeping)
- Let's do this. (siren wailing)
- We received an assignment of a barricade, a male
inside of a house with a gun, and that's where we're headed to now. We just received information
of our staging area. We're going to go gear up and our sergeant lieutenant will
give us our assignments. - [Voiceover] While he
gears up, John gets some information from the first
officer on the scene. - We just had a training
day at the academy. (laughing) What do we got going on? (talking) - Somebody mentioned it on their way out. He comes in, he comes up to her, and he tells her that
he wants to be with her. She tells him, "get out, I
don't want to be with you," and he said, "okay, I'm
going to kill myself," and pulls out a gun. - So he does have a gun. - And then she ran. She said she saw something silver and the park was dark, and she ran. She has on no shoes or anything. - Oh, she's In the car now? - Yeah, she's in. - Okay. Yep, thanks. Hm? Ex boyfriend says, he's
threatening to kill himself. He's got a gun. - Have to go around the car? - Yeah. - [Voiceover] Each situation is unique and needs to be analyzed
before any action is taken. And a case involving a suicidal
person demands finesse, not brute force. - Any news? - He's in there. - Oh, he is in there? - Oh, good. - They got uh, the rear
containment seen some movement in the back, rear windows, and since it was just
him and his girlfriend that was living there, and she's out here. He is on the phone. Right now, on the phone with 911. - Okay. - [Voiceover] SWAT members
are sent to the front and the back of the house to look for any movement from the suspect. - Sergeant's going to check it out, and make sure everything, see how many people we need, we don't even know what the
house looks like at this point. - A warrant entry is
more of a dynamic entry. This could be a stealth entry, which would be a much slower process, of zeroing in where this
person is in the house, and hoping to get himself to
surrender without incident. - [Voiceover] Again,
before sending in the SWAT, other strategies are taken into account to try to resolve the
situation peacefully. - We're going to probably
get some negotiators to call on the telephone and talk. And, if he's in there, hopefully they can talk him out, to come out and surrender. - We could be here all night long. No one's at risk but himself, so they'll take as much time as they need. - You know, nearer to the holidays. They're easily the bad ones. - [Voiceover] Even though
they understand the depth of the human drama unfolding before them, for the officers, these
situations are like game day for a professional athlete. - Every job you get a little rush. I mean, that's part of the job. It's you know, adrenaline rush. You've seen the way, as
soon as I heard barricade, we're training, everybody's happy. That's why we're here, you know. Everybody's happy. - [Voiceover] Finally the
SWAT members won't have to put their skills to work. - Well, the negotiator was able
to negotiate the surrender. He didn't want to harm himself, he wanted to talk to his grandfather. And once the grandfather
was over there to negotiate, he surrendered. And they did recover the silver, semiautomatic handgun under the bathtub. So they did recover a gun, he did have gun, but it
worked out for the best, he surrendered. (talking) - [Voiceover] Dealing with
criminals day after day, the guys have to avoid becoming cynical. They have to always remember
that they are fighting crime to make these dangerous
neighborhoods safer for honest people. - So, I mean, we go all
this on its appearance, there are still a lot of good
people who live in this area. - Well, yeah, money, they
could be a little older. Some of the people we
talk to are relative. - Right. - Are older, they're
not young kids anymore, they were here their whole life. Just children moving around. They try to help us out
as much as they can. - And in return, we try to help them out. - I never really think about
putting my life on the line for somebody who doesn't appreciate it. There's always that
one person who you help who appreciates what you did for them. Whether it's a hostage
rescue that you're doing, or a barricade a person, or
just somebody on the street. You stop somebody from getting mugged, they'll remember that. A cop helped me out one day. (exciting music)
