JACKSONVILLE, Texas — In 2018, former Jacksonville Police Chief Andrew Hawkes eliminated the city's SWAT unit team due to a lack of manpower. The move left the Cherokee County without a SWAT Team.
Currently, Cherokee County would have to reach out to other counties for assistance if a SWAT Team was needed.
In May, that scenario played out when authorities reached out to the Smith County SWAT Team to handle a barricaded suspect. Since then, the city of Jacksonville has been working to re-establish a SWAT Team in the area.
"The incident that really just kind of made this take foothold was a shooting that occurred here in the city on Quevado Street. And then the situation turned into a barricaded suspect," said Lieutenant Chase Berryhill of the Criminal Investigations Division.
Berryhill reached out to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office to see if they would be interested in creating a regional S.W.A.T. team, who supported the idea. Afterward, Bullard, Alto and Rusk also joined the effort.
"They're all the cities here in our county that would have enough manpower to be able to provide team members to the team ,and that there are also places where critical incidences that happened in the past," Lt. Berryhill explained.
Lt. Berryhill says the team is still being put together. Those on the team will be involved on a part-time basis.
Lt. Berryhill hopes for the team to be ready by December.