HISTORY OF
WESTSHORE ENFORCEMENT BUREAU SWAT

After many years of cooperative investigations and other police functions the Chiefs of Police from Bay Village, Fairview Park, Lakewood, North Olmsted, Rocky River, and Westlake prepared, after much research, and presented to the Mayors of the respective cities a plan for coordination of police functions called the Westshore Enforcement Bureau. (W.E.B.) On September 23, 1970 a meeting of the Mayors from these cities was held and a unanimous agreement was reached that they should proceed with the W.E. B. concept and the plan was presented to the City Councils and approved. Each city contributed funds and the Westshore Enforcement Bureau became a reality.

The Westshore Council of Government (C.O.G.) was created which was composed of the Mayors of these six communities and provided the member communities with a solid legal and statutory foundation under the requirement of "Multi-Jurisdictional." A Board of Directors was appointed to oversee and control the efforts of W.E.B. The Board consists of the Mayor from each member community with the Chairmanship rotating on January 1, of each year. The respective city where the Mayor is the Director (Chairman) of C.O.G. the Chief of Police from the same city would be the Director (Chairman) of W.E.B.

Strong roots were firmly in place many years prior to the establishment of W.E.B. The W.E.B. concept was made possible by the cooperation of the Mayors, Councils, Chiefs of Police, and other city employees of Bay Village, Fairview Park, Lakewood, North Olmsted, Rocky River, and Westlake. Many of the persons involved in planning for the future possessed the foresight that was of concern to all cities.

Original WEB S.W.A.T. patch design

In the last 1960's, due to street rioting, the W.E.B. Chiefs foresaw the need to form a crowd control unit within the Western suburbs. Arrangements were made with the Ohio State Highway Patrol to conduct the training for all the Police Officers from Lakewood, Bay Village, Rocky River, Fairview Park, North Olmsted, and Westlake. This training consisted of techniques used to control crowds and suppress riots. From the original trainees sixty men were assigned to a Riot & Crowd Control Unit. In the spring of 1977 these sixty med were retrained and an additional thirty men were trained to bring the unit to a strength of ninety men. It was at this time that a disaster plan was formulated and the unit was renamed as the W.E.B. Crowd and Disaster Control Unit. In November of 1977 a mock airliner crash was staged at the Westgate Shopping Center and the unit was called upon to provide security.

During the 1970's the taking of hostages became a problem throughout the Nation and a need for a specialized unit to handle these situations was recognized. In May of 1975 volunteers from the original Crowd Control Unit were formed into the W.E.B. Task Force. These volunteers received specialized training in hostage and barricaded criminal situations both local and at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. This unit has been used many times to handle both hostage and barricade situations and has successfully obtained the release of hostages and the apprehension of barricaded suspects without using deadly force.

The W.E.B. Task Force has evolved through the 1980's and 1990's into the new millennium under the committed leadership of the Unit Commanders and the unwavering support of the W.E.B. Chiefs of Police.

WEB S.W.A.T. Team Photo 1997

Today's Westshore Enforcement Bureau S.W.A.T. Team is a unit of specially trained, highly motivated police officers capable of responding to any incident where special weapons and tactics are needed.

WEB S.W.A.T. Team Photo 2005

Current WEB S.W.A.T. patch design

Current WEB S.W.A.T. team logo

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