ST. LOUIS – Safer police work in the St. Louis area is now a reality, thanks to heroes helping heroes.
FOX 2 had an exclusive look at the St. Charles County Regional SWAT on Wednesday, participating in a training mission that was incredibly realistic.
Approximately 70 SWAT members, fully geared, engaged in a drug warrant and barricaded subject scenario at a neighborhood house in St. Peters. Their presence was due to the efforts of Dusty Sanders, a retired St. Charles County Ambulance District member and former St. Charles Count Regional SWAT medic who now rehabilitates houses.
When their previous training location became unavailable five years ago, Sanders, who was rehabbing houses on the side, offered up his vacant properties as an alternative.
Since then, his houses have hosted over 100 training missions for local and state police, as well as U.S. Marshals.
Sanders commented, “All the little nooks and crannies, door behind a door, cabinets that you can hide people in… every house, every floorplan, every doorway is different. They don’t know what to expect on the other side of it. It makes training way more powerful for them.”
Sanders is also part of the St. Louis Hero Network, which supports the businesses of first responders and military families in the community.
“We specialize in tying the heroes in our community back to the businesses that are locally owned and operated by said heroes,” he explained.
One such partnership exists with FasterHouse, a company that purchases and renovates St. Louis area houses and offers them for training purposes. Everyone involved shares the common goal of resolving situations peacefully and swiftly.
“We’re just one piece of it. We just have the real estate,” added Lucas Walls of FasterHouse. “We buy a lot of houses. A lot of them are vacant, so we can use it for our training, which is super cool.”
The neighbors watching from across the street certainly agreed.
