Swat teams called to Coastline College site...for training

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa residents adjacent to Coastline Community College’s newly acquired parcels at 15^th Street and Monrovia Avenue may have heard several loud blasts today. They weren’t sonic booms, but instead the result of charges set off by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad as part of a specialized training exercise that also involved SWAT officers from Tustin, Irvine and Newport Beach.

The training was held in vacant buildings that reside on a site where Coastline plans to build a campus. That campus will open in fall 2012, but today, the existing buildings provided a real-life set for the officers to practice several techniques.

Newport Beach SWAT Officer, Robert Foss, said that it’s unusual for them to have the opportunity to practice in real buildings in their own neighborhood. “We’re really appreciative of what Coastline is letting us do here today,” Foss said.

Kent McBride, from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad, noted that “usually, when we do training, we do it at a breach house where you end up kicking in the same door three times.” A breach house is comparable to a set constructed just for training exercises.

“Here today, this is real. This allows us to encounter all of the challenges that come with different types of construction,” McBride continued.

 The Coast Community College District’s Land Development Committee, under the leadership of Coast District Trustee Walt Howald, came up with the idea of offering up the buildings. The move not only helps to build goodwill between the college, the Coast District, and the City of Newport Beach, but also provides SWAT and Bomb Squad officers with a unique training opportunity.

 “We really felt like it was a win-win for everyone involved, and we were happy to do it,” said Dr. Marilyn Brock, Coastline’s Interim President.