2nd Swat Challenge eyed to upgrade cops’ capability

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Oscar Albayalde hopes that the 2nd National Swat (Special Weapon and Tactics) Challenge will help the law enforcers upgrade their capability in countering threats of insurgency and terrorism in the country.

“Through this challenge, we are hoping that when we face the real McCoy, our police personnel are prepared and ready to defend the sovereignty of our nation,” Albayalde said during his opening remarks yesterday for the event at Team Davao Shooting Range, Diversion Road, Maa, Davao City.

The Swat Challenge which will run from November 6 to 10 will be participated by around 60 teams coming from different units of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). It will be facilitated by the Philippine Shooters and Match Officer Confederation (PSMOC) who will govern the shooting competition.

Albayalde said the tactical game is part of the PNP’s master training action plan for 2018 geared to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency as well as the tactical proficiency of the different Swat units.

“This second offering of the National Swat Challenge was developed as a continuous program to test and upgrade the skills and operational capabilities of all Swat team participants in handling practical and realistic simulation to respond to our situations,” Albayalde said.

While the police are gaining ground in their counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism campaigns, he likewise admitted that the increase in criminals’ utilization of sophisticated weapons is inevitable.

“Thus, we are still aggressively conducting proactive measures to deliberately end the insurgency and other threats to national security. Along with our beefed up intelligence and operation activities, we are also putting premium on our human resource which is the enhancement of skills and capabilities of our personnel,” he added.

This year’s Swat Challenge, he bared, has advance and improved challenges that will test the strength, stamina, skills, and teamwork of each participating team. The challenges were divided into four stages. The first one is the marksmanship which aims to test proficiency in the use of firearms in various situations.