City considers SWAT Team agreement

Avon Lake City Council is working on a new multi-jurisdictional agreement for the Lorain County SWAT team.

In a presentation Aug. 16, Avon Lake police Chief Vincent Molnar told Council that for the last 31 years, the Lorain County SWAT team was primarily financed by forfeitures and seizures by the Lorain County Drug Task Force.

With reductions in seizures over the past few years, participating departments are looking for ways to formalize their partnership and develop long-term funding sources, Molnar said.

In 2019 alone, the Lorain County SWAT spent $180,000 on equipment, he said.

In the proposed agreement, each community and/or political subdivision would contribute a set amount annually based on population in order to provide a more sustainable funding source, the chief said.

Each political subdivision with more than 10,500 people would contribute $2,500 every year to for the SWAT Team’s operations.

Communities with less than 10,000 people will pay $1,000 annually.

The Lorain County SWAT Team consists of officers from the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office, Lorain County Metro Parks, and police departments in Avon, Avon Lake, Grafton, LaGrange, Sheffield Lake, Sheffield Village, Amherst, North Ridgeville, Vermilion, Wellington and South Amherst.

Avon Lake currently has three members serving on the Lorain County SWAT Team, and Molnar said the officers bring back unique skills from their training that is invaluable to the community.

Most of the calls requiring Lorain County SWAT involve armed subjects barricaded inside a building, he said.

“They have technology to kind of make contact with them, perimeter around the house keeping neighbors safe and evacuating neighbors,” Molnar said.

Earlier in 2021, the Lorain County SWAT responded to a call from a suicidal individual, and team members were able to use their negotiation tactics to bring a resolution to the incident, he said.

The $2,500 contribution from participating departments should be looked at like an insurance policy, Molnar noted, with a single call having the potential to add up quickly.

The legislation is expected to go three full readings before Council takes a vote.

The first reading was Aug. 23.