Education
BOISE SWAT COPS Train BSU Coaches
August 19, 2014 
Boise PDs MRAP has been used once on a bomb call since they got it from the Army.
Timing is everything, especially in sports like football.
The release of a YOUTUBE video is probably not good timing for the Boise State Bronco football coaching staff in light of recent civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and national debate over the “militarization of police” throughout the the USA.
A GUARDIAN reader called our attention to the You Tube posting Tuesday, asking for comment. The opening scene shows what appear to be coaches clinging to an armored vehicle with lights flashing and siren screaming. Next scene is the usual SWAT door bashing, screaming, and flash-bang explosions.
A SWAT copper and coach Bryan Harsin make on camera comments. Harsin said the exercise was, “A lot more harder than I thought it would be.” He equated the life threatening one-on-one combat to aspects of football.
The video is technically well produced at a training facility with overhead views and includes images of coaches brandishing assault weapons wearing military-style combat helmets and body armor with “suspects” shooting blanks at them. Obviously all the participants are shooting with blank ammunition.
We have no idea when the entertaining “team building exercise” was produced. United Dairymen of Idaho sponsors the “Bronco All Access” website, but a spokesperson told the GUARDIAN Wednesday the group has no control over content and did not sponsor the specific SWAT segment content.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Aug 19, 2014, 3:47 pm
Totally inappropriate.. for cops and coaches.
Aug 19, 2014, 4:10 pm
Has BPD even USED that tank in a real world situation? A whole bunch of testosterone………….and a whole bunch of overtime. I am also concerned with the “militarized” direction our police department is taking. Keeping the peace and ‘movement to contact to close with and destroy an enemy” are two completely different missions. I don’t understand this fixation with shaved heads, combat fatigues, “SEAL tactics” and for lack of a better term a “confrontational vs peacekeeping” mentality. I find it very hard to believe that BPD actually needs or has even actually used the vehicle shown in this video. I am certain that our armed forces could use some of that attitude in the middle east or elsewhere as MEMBERS of the military. I find it almost laughable that a city with the very VERY small crime rate as Boise’s even needs a SWAT team let alone a TANK. What do average police officer’s on the street do? Are they not trained to take appropriate action in high stress situations? And why can’t BPD SWAT officers use police cars? Just like the ombudsman, this is an incredible waste of my tax dollars………….and why in the world are FOOTBALL coaches even involved in this business? I guess it is mutual testosterone admiration society. RIDICULOUS!
Aug 19, 2014, 4:16 pm
one never knows when our dairy farm might come under attack… this is not the most surprising thing I have ever hear of dairy farmers being involved in….
Aug 19, 2014, 4:54 pm
Bad play. Bad execution. Bad timing. I would call it a “Loss”.
Although by the headline, I was expecting this to be their response to the new guns on campus rule. That would be just as bad.
I suppose if the coaches had actually done time in the military they would already know about this life-saving team work coaching stuff. Apparently, not sweeping your muzzle wasn’t part of the crash course.
“its a lot more harder”
C’mon Coach! At least they could’ve edited it.
Aug 19, 2014, 5:03 pm
Guardian, it would appear the Dairymen sponsor the video series of “Bronco All Access” , not the training as your last line misleads to.
And the MRAP in the above photo is not the same unit shown in the video. So one might ask, if you they already have the armored car in the video, what’s the MRAP for?
EDITOR NOTE–I guess we need someone to clarify the sponsorship. As to the vehicles, the MRAP is the new BPD military vehicle. I don’t know about the black rig in the video and make no representations about it.
Aug 19, 2014, 5:25 pm
Embarrassed for both institutions after watching this…and just for the record….it really has nothing to do with the hats on backwards…I am not proud of my police…and they know why. 12.25.2011….Christmas!
Aug 19, 2014, 7:38 pm
Lighten up fellas!!!BPD does all kind of community related demos with their equipment. K-9 demonstrations to community organizations; every year there is like three Citizen Police Academys put on for ordianry citizens to attend and see first hand what the police have for equipent and to do their job. They even get to shoot police weapons! Boise State has always been a big supporter of the department, as has the department hired many alumnus of the university! Anyways, loosen your shorts a little and let the coaches learn a little about life as a cop. Also, look around the US, numerous incidents of active shooters with large caliber and capacity weapons, and also explosives. Last year a guy arrested here making explosives, as well as another one busted by FBI for making weapons of destruction. So, don’t think lil ol Boise can’t have a major incident some day. I would rather our department be ready for that and respond accordingly, then not be ready and lose a large amount of our fair citizens.
Aug 20, 2014, 7:45 am
Boise doesn’t need an MRAP. The whole “show of force” thing breeds anger, paranoia and eventually hate for the police , makes no sense at all in almost any way.
Aug 20, 2014, 12:57 pm
Glamorizing the SWAT team and the growing para-militarization of our police force is nothing to cheer about. There is not necessarily malice in this BSU case, but it certainly is a PR gimmick to get the football crowd enamored with, and cheering for, the use of para-military style tactics and operations, by drawing parallels between the gridiron and military style actions. Historically speaking, this is very unwise. The news feeds are full of incidences of policing overreach, and many cases of frank criminal behavior that usually gets swept under the rug. Fortunately, not in Boise yet, but the trend ought to be disturbing. There is a long standing principle called Posse Comitatus going back to the civil war, which prohibits the use of the military in domestic policing matters. It’s there for a VERY good reason. Let’s maintain our freedoms by keeping the police confined to proper traditional policing actions – without the aggressive para-military overtones.
Aug 20, 2014, 12:59 pm
Sure they need an MRAP (or three), and M4 assault carbines, the latest Advanced Combat Helmets, hard plate vests, face masks and road warrior assault cars.
After all, those family pet dogs they are so fond of murdering are sure to be frightened away by all their new found Walter Mitty gear and OOOORAHHHH attitudes.
(SARCASM!)
Aug 20, 2014, 11:26 pm
Since corporal punishment has been outlawed we must allow for other measures to counter it, I guess. Kerist on a Krutch what excesses can we expect next? More harder is a fine example of an Ideeho educashun and what great leadership examples can we expect to follow this fine one? I never really thought I’d being to miss Bleymeyer so quickly.
Aug 22, 2014, 6:33 am
Im not for the military-style tactics for our police either, but what does the Ferguson situation have to do with this? Have we already convicted the police without all the facts?
Aug 22, 2014, 10:28 am
“A lot more harder than I thought it would be.” Really? This is the college-educated coach of Boise State’s “Student athletes” speaking?
Heaven help us.
Aug 23, 2014, 9:37 am
I really wonder when the general public is going to get feed up enough with the oversteps and blatant thuggery of the average cop in this country. We watch on cop in St Louis spout hate and brag about how many he’s killed and how many he will kill. We read in news papers (Washington Post)the statement from a LA cop about what you need to do not to be beat… ect when talking to cops. We can read statements like this “They must not want to infringe upon our right to voice our opposing opinion on how some “gentle” meatwhistle with a mental disorder and a felony record for aggravated battery, who attacks a cop deserves to die just like anyone else who attacks a cop” on a site called big city cops.
I know people will say it’s not like that here but, look it up, that quote is from an individual who lives in Caldwell. To think that our little community is exempt from cops like these is laughable.
I know I will be seen by the editor and others as bashing cops. I think that I am just using the public statements cops make against them just like any cop would do. There are enough “perks” given to cops as it is, they need to be held to the same standard as everyone else. Even though they think they are better and deserve cudo’s and pats on the back there actions show differently.
EDITOR NOTE–
As usual, we have to call it quits as the cop bashers missed the topic of using SWAT as a football promo tool. Thread closed.