The 1975 TV show "S.W.A.T." presented the Los Angeles Police Department's Special Weapons Assault Team as a group of highly trained and heavily armed officers who make tightly coordinated assaults on armed and dangerous suspects in hazardous situations.

Ventura County includes some of the safest communities in the country, and the sheriff 's department's SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics-originally Special Weapons Assault Team) is critical in keeping the area secure, according to a seven-year SWAT member, Moorpark Police Department Senior Dep. Tom Wooff.

"It's important to have a SWAT team to respond to dangerous situations because we can prevent officers and suspects alike from getting hurt--injured or killed," Wooff said. "If you didn't have a SWAT team, then you're relying on some guys to do like they did in the old days and just cowboy up and go get the bad guy who's inside the house."

SWAT is a specialized police unit in many United States departments, trained to handle dangerous assignments. Operations include serving high-risk arrest warrants, rescuing hostages, preventing terrorist attacks and exchanging fire with heavily armed suspects.

Ventura County SWAT covers Moorpark, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Fillmore, Ojai and the county's unincorporated areas, Wooff said. The team of about 40 members is also called by law enforcement to handle situations in other jurisdictions.

SWAT teams have specialized equipment--heavy-duty body armor, entry tools, steel reinforced boots, cameras used to take photos over barriers and through holes drilled in walls, tear gas, bomb blankets (which block shrapnel from explosives) and night vision optical devices.

Teams are also equipped with specialized firearms, including submachine guns, high-powered rifles and stun grenades.

"We also have a lot of less-lethal weapons," Wooff said. "We have a weapon-it's like a paintball gun-that actually shoots pepper spray. We can trade off what we use it for. We can choose to shoot porcelain rounds out of that thing to break windows in cars, or a sliding glass door or windows in a house."

According to Wooff, Ventura County SWAT team members are used on a collateral basis; they all hold other positions.

"I'm a motor officer out here in Moorpark," Wooff said. "We have guys who are detectives throughout the county, people working in the jail-we do our normal assignments, and if something happens, we get a page- everyone's on the pager system- then the guys that can respond, will respond."

One of the scariest SWAT incidents Wooff recalled took place a couple of years ago in Fillmore. He and his team had to deal with a suspect armed with a shotgun on the second story of a building.

"He actually shot out the windshield of a police car," Wooff said.

"If the deputy hadn't gotten out of the car, (the shot) would've probably hit him because it went through the (driver's) head rest, if I can recall correctly. He had a good weapon and he had high ground-he was on the second story. It was pretty scary because there was a lot of potential for someone to get hurt," Wooff said. No one was injured.

Ventura County SWAT seems to be busiest during the summer, according to Wooff. "Sometimes we'll get two (jobs) in a month, and then sometimes we'll go three or four months without anything."

Work or no work, Ventura County SWAT trains twice a month to stay on top of tactics and performance.

"One of the training days always incorporates shooting and qualifying with all of our weapons," Wooff said. "That's to stay proficient. Shooting is one of those learned techniques that you can lose as time goes by, if you're not staying on top of it."

Ventura SWAT also trains on techniques used to enter suspects' houses or approach their vehicles, Wooff said.

"We do a lot of work on safely moving through buildings and houses," he said. Members practice how to enter an occupied room and in moments distinguish between armed suspects and helpless victims. The team then disarms or otherwise renders suspects helpless without causing harm to others.

"Everyone on the team does this job because they love it," Wooff

said. "It's a lot of fun and we have a good time. But then again, it's serious work."