Trainees hope to make the cut for SWAT

The window three stories above Sgt. Lance VanDongen looked unintimidating, but only from the ground.

“You’re not going to want to go through that window,” he warned the 29 SWAT candidates who are harnessed up for Tuesday’s urban climbing course at the Salt Lake City police training tower. “It’s a very unnatural thing to do.”

The rappelling exercise is part of a six-day training course this week for prospective SWAT officers from seven police and fire agencies and military personnel. Starting at 4 a.m. Sunday, the trainees have been running obstacle courses, swimming, shooting and climbing up and down buildings.

It sounds cool, but Hollywood bravado has no place on belay.

“I don’t want to see anyone jumping down in leaps,” Detective Reuban Torres warned the students.

On the other side of the tower, trainees scaled a suspended ladder less than a foot wide. It twisted between their feet as they climbed to the roof through strong gusts of wind.

Salt Lake City fire investigator Cristal VanDongen finished her ascent without a hitch and assured her skeptical classmates she had no special ladders training from the fire department.

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