By KELCY DOLAN

Although the Warwick Police SWAT team came back from the Connecticut Regional SWAT Challenge with fourth place, SWAT Team Leader Lt. Mark Ullucci thinks they might as well have been number 1.

The SWAT Challenge is an annual event for law enforcement teams from around the Northeast to compete against one another, and the only teams to beat Warwick’s were all from Connecticut.

From Aug. 17 to 20, this year’s challenge hosted in West Hartford saw 30 teams, made up of police departments from Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and even as far as Indiana, as well as military teams representing the U.S. Army Rangers, the Army and Air National Guard.

Warwick’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team is the oldest in the state of Rhode Island, established in 1971, and is overseen by Inspector Chris Mathiesen. The team is made up of 25 team members.

This is the seventh year Warwick has competed and they sent a team of 10 from Warwick’s own SWAT Team: Sergeant Timothy Marshall, Sergeant Joel Thomas, Officer Dale Drowne, Officer Daniel Maggiacomo, Officer Quentin Tavares, Officer Nicholas Reay, Officer John Curley, Officer Geoffrey Waldman, Officer Daniel DiMaio and Officer Jacob Elderkin.

Along with 4th overall, the team also won First Spear Top Out of State Team, came first in the Under Armour Physical Fitness Course, a team PT obstacle challenge, with nearly 2 minutes to spare, was the winning Mile High Shooting Team Sniper, and Officer Nicholas Reay was also “Top Cop PT Winner,” an individual event.

The four-day challenge features both team and individual events that test a team’s skills in a wide array of challenges, from physical fitness, first aid, and shooting proficiency, among others, that attempt to be as “real world” as possible.

Ullucci said, “The overall goal of the challenge is to bring law enforcement from across the region who are doing the same things in their fields together and see how they compete against one another, what we can learn from each other and what we can take back to our own departments.”

Because there are so few of these competitions nationwide, the Warwick SWAT team was competing against the “best of the best.”

Ullucci explained that many of the teams that attended the Connecticut Regional SWAT Challenge have a “federal blank check,” with unlimited funds for training and ammunition where Warwick’s team was personally funded through hosting fundraisers and putting up their own money to train outside of their normal work hours to prepare for the event.

Sergeant Timothy Marshall, who acted as team commander for the event, said that what the team lacks in funding and training they make up for in dedication. The team often has training sessions that last between six and eight hours outside of their normal workday to prepare for the Swat Challenge.

“You see these teams come with over 25 guys and its just 10 of us,” Marshall said. “Our chemistry, experience and flexibility set us apart.”

Sergeant Joel Thomas said, “This competition requires you to think outside the box and I think that’s what our team is good at. We need to be that way every day on the job.”

Thomas and Officer Jacob Elderkin competed in the sniper event against teams that specialize in that category. Although they knew they had done well in the competition, they had never expected to win it overall.

Elderkin said being at an event where you could compete against peers working on the same level as you was exciting and to win the overall event was a pretty great feeling to boot.

“Having to hit a three-inch target, 300 yards away with an unsupported long gun, that’s hard,” Thomas said. “I’m proud what the whole team could accomplish together.”

Officer Nicholas Reay received 1st in the Top Cop event and “crushed the course,” according to fellow officers, and beat nearly 55 others by almost a minute.

Despite his individual achievement, he said it was more gratifying when the team as a whole won first in the physical training obstacle course.

For the 4-mile course the entire team had to wear a 50-pound sand bag and compete in 40 obstacle stations.

Officer Daniel Maggiacomo said the whole team itself is very close and said if the team wasn’t all in the mind set of doing whatever it took to prepare for the competition, they wouldn’t have been as successful as they were.

“We’ve been waiting for top out of state since we began competing,” he said.

Officer John Curley said, “We train all year, it’s good to get out there and test your skills. It’s a great accomplishment, not just for our team, but for the whole department.”

Ullucci said that the team has “phenomenal spirit” and would challenge any law enforcement in the state with his guys.

“They are being reserved and modest about how big of an accomplishment this is,” Ullucci said. “I think that just goes towards their and the department’s professionalism.”

More information on the SWAT Challenge can be found at www.ctswatchallenge.com.

To see a video of the Warwick SWAT Team’s time at the Connecticut Regional SWAT Challenge, visit Beacon Facebook page.