HEAT team brings added manpower to law enforcement agencies in NW Iowa, SW Minnesota

IOWA GREAT LAKES (KTIV) – Much of Northwest Iowa is made up of smaller, rural communities. Many of those came together to create a SWAT unit, in a partnership that’s lasted decades.

The High-Risk Entry and Arrest Team, or HEAT, is made up of law enforcement officers from 28 agencies, including 11 sheriff’s offices and 17 police departments. The team covers nearly 6,500 square miles across 12 counties in northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota, serving nearly 132,000 people. Averaging between 6 and 12 calls per year, the team is called in whenever necessary.

It’s a partnership that was created in the 90s to ensure no matter the incident, trained and skilled officers would be ready to serve at a moments notice.

“The chiefs and sheriffs of the region got together and knew that they couldn’t support a tactical team on their own,” said HEAT Commander Todd Schillinger, also an officer with the Arnolds Park Police Department. “So they pooled their resources, which was a great idea. And that just happened to happen in northwest Iowa, Southwest Minnesota. You get across that state lines, but all those things were taken care of back in the late 90s. The team went operational in 1999. And we’ve been going and growing since then.”

Schillinger helps coordinate coverage when a department needs the assistance on a call.

“They can range from high-risk arrest warrants to barricaded suspects, high-risk drug warrants, anything that the agencies aren’t either equipped or have the manpower or the training for, we act as that support unit,” he explained. “Without that, without that support team, I don’t know. You just couldn’t pull that many trained people in with specialty equipment with the smaller departments.”

Schillinger says having a close relationship with so many different agencies in the region has been a big benefit for not only the fellow officers, but their communities as well.

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