SWAT Monocular Devices

The purpose of this grant application is to allow the City of Arvada’s SWAT team to purchase much needed night vision monocular devices to upgrade existing equipment. Currently, the City’s SWAT team is part of a regional team comprised of four agencies and 20 operators who utilize leased equipment from the military through their 1033 program. Most of the time, this leased equipment is between 20 and 25 years old, making it basically obsolete in the world of technology and equipment. Additionally, this equipment has been failing regularly over the last two years, requiring it to be sent back to be repaired, taking them out of operation. This request would fund the purchase of nine night vision monocular devices to be worn by SWAT operators who aid in the callouts of the entire Regional SWAT Team, making this equipment beneficial to all SWAT members due to the City’s partnership on the team. This would allow all the operators on the regional team to have access to the increased quality and reliability of this new equipment. This upgraded equipment will have a white phosphorous filter instead of the current green filter, which will put less strain on the operator's eyes and allow for more clear and crisp images. To date, three quarters of the Regional Team’s SWAT call outs occur at night and by upgrading existing equipment to something that is more appropriate for nighttime call outs, operators will be provided equipment that allows them to do their jobs better in some of the most high-stress call outs an officer will experience. This new equipment will benefit operators directly as they will be the ones utilizing the equipment, but additionally it will benefit the Regional SWAT Team because it will be available to their operators as well, but most importantly, the community at large will benefit the most by having a SWAT Team that has the most up to date equipment available to them during the most volatile situations law enforcement can encounter within their neighborhoods.