SWAT teams do training exercise in Valentine

Residents of the Valentine and Coleman Highlands neighborhoods and folks at Penn Valley Community College have been reporting the sounds of explosions today around the area of 33 and Jefferson.

It turns out that the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) is in Kansas City for a convention, and its members were doing exercises in several sites across the city.

The explosions occurred as the officers were training on the use of diversionary devices that they say keep them from having to use deadly force.

According to NTOA training director Rob Cartner, training is important because the primary mission of these SWAT teams is to save lives. The officers involved in the training are from across the United States and from several other countries.

Neighbors have previously complained about Kansas City SWAT teams using buildings in the area for training.

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