The EDGE SWAT Team is a multi-jurisdictional team comprised of members from seven (7) communities, including: Beachwood, Bratenahl, Cleveland Heights, Euclid, Shaker Heights, South Euclid, and University Heights. Currently, the team consists of 33 SWAT Officers (4 sniper/ observers included), 10 Crisis Negotiators, 10 Tactical Medics, 5 SWAT Canines, and 6 Bomb Technicians. I would like to thank Euclid Police Officers Lt. Joel Barron and Sgt. Paul Wittreich for their dedication to the EDGE SWAT Team. Both retired from the EDGE SWAT team in 2022 after serving both the EDGE and Euclid SWAT teams faithfully for many years. I would also like to thank Officers Charles Darrah (University Heights PD) and Brett Buchs (Euclid PD), who resigned in 2022 after providing dedicated service to the EDGE SWAT Team since its inception in 2014.

The EDGE SWAT Team is led by Team Commander Captain Mike Janson from the Euclid Police Department, Assistant Team Commander Detective Dave Carpenter of the Euclid Police Department and Head Team Leader/Training Coordinator/Euclid Police Detective Josh Schultz. We have identified and trained several team members to fill Team Leader and Assistant Team Leader roles within the team and they are stepping up and contributing as expected. I would also like to thank the team’s previous Commander, Lieutenant Rick Friedl of the South Euclid Police Department, who retired in 2022. The EDGE SWAT Team would not be as successful as it is without the excellent leadership of Lieutenant Friedl and his vision for the team’s future.

In 2022, we added seven (7) new SWAT operators, two from South Euclid PD, two from Shaker Heights PD and three from Euclid PD. We also added two (2) new Medics from Beachwood FD and a canine from Cleveland Heights PD. The tactical explosive breaching program continues to evolve, and two of the breachers attended an Advanced Explosive Breaching Course. I would like to thank all 64 members of the EDGE SWAT Team for their ongoing devotion to enhancing their tactical skills and tactical experience. The residents, business owners, school officials and leaders of our seven cities should be proud of our SWAT Team and know that our team is competent to handle any critical incident.

In 2022, the EDGE SWAT Team had 66 deployments, seven (7) of which were responses to armed, barricaded suspects. The majority of SWAT deployments are to serve high-risk search and arrest warrants connected to drug trafficking (37) or offenses of violence (18). In 2022, four (4) warrants were served in relation to homicides. EDGE SWAT continues to have good working relationships with Cleveland SWAT, WEB SWAT, and several Federal Agencies. Numerous warrants were served on behalf or in conjunction with these units. The EDGE SWAT Team assisted the Cleveland Division of Police SWAT UNIT during the three-day NBA All-Star game in February of 2022 and the Cleveland Guardians American League Divisional Series in October of 2022.

The EDGE SWAT team is looking forward to 2023 to continue to grow and build upon the accomplishments of 2022. There is a saying in the SWAT community that “You are only as good as your last operation.” EDGE SWAT will continue to train hard and be prepared and mission ready, no matter what the circumstances are.