Springs Police Use New Equipment, Tactics To Protect Themselves

Police are using some new tactics and equipment to protect themselves in dangerous situations.

In the past, you wouldn't see a Colorado Springs police officer with a ballistic shield, helmet and rifle on your average police call, but that's changed.

"It might look like SWAT activity is going on when, really, it's just patrol officers using some new equipment that's been made available to us over the last couple years," said Sgt. Darrin Abbink. "We've had quite a bit of training going on with our patrol officers to provide them with better officer safety tactics."

Abbink said, besides keeping officers safer, CSPD's training efforts also make for better coordination should the SWAT team have to be called to a crime scene.

"What you'll see is a more coordinated response between our officers," said Abbink. "They're getting to practice it more at training and they're getting more advanced training than just the basic skills."