Washington Post. A few weeks ago a ship was halted about a mile from our county with a ‘no sail’ order as the crew was all drunk. The Maryland Pilots who were guiding the ship out of Baltimore called for backup and lo and behold, it came from the Special Operations units of the Calvert County Sheriff’s office. Apparently the local SWAT team here is one of two in the country specially-trained for Maritime interdiction. Never knew we had this level of a SWAT team around here. Guess it makes sense with a nuclear power plant and LPG gas / storage facility on the water.
After the Maryland captains left the ship, the Coast Guard called on Calvert’s Special Operations Team, which is trained to work with the Coast Guard in such situations. The team several years ago became the second such outfit in the country trained by Navy Seals in “Special Waterborne Operations,” according to the Sheriff’s Office. The team also handles security matters linked to the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant and the Dominion Cove Point liquefied natural gas facility, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Also on March 10, sheriff’s officers boarded their patrol vessel Spec Ops II and met Coast Guard personnel in the Patuxent River, the Sheriff’s Office said. About 9:30 p.m., 11 sheriff’s officers pulled up alongside the Ocean Victory, climbed up a long ladder and went aboard. Their posture was somewhere between full-on SWAT raid and casual entrance, said Thomas, the team’s commander.]]>