From March 3-6, 2015, five members of the Dallas Police Department SWAT Unit participated in a five day tactical breacher training event in Las Vegas, Nevada, which culminated in the “Breacher’s Challenge” Tactical Breacher Competition.  The Breacher’s ChallengeTM is the first and only competition of its kind to concentrate solely on the skills of tactical breaching.  Designed by and for tactical breachers, this competition tests the breaching skills of individuals and their teams as they apply the 5 most common methods of breaching: Manual, Mechanical, Ballistic, Thermal, and Explosive.

This intense team competition is designed to task every aspect of a breacher’s skills, endurance, and decision-making.  Breaching teams were judged on their ability to perform proper target analysis, appropriate use of various tools, and the implementation of breaching methods in a tactically sound manner.

The “Breacher’s Challenge” consisted of over 152 total competitors, was sponsored by Global Assets Integrated, and hosted by SWAT members from Las Vegas, Nevada PD, Los Angeles, California PD, Portland, Oregon PD and Salt Lake City, Utah PD.

The Dallas SWAT Team members were successful and won the following awards:

• Master Champion Breacher (Combined Competition Overall Winners)
(Sr. Cpl. Jeremy Borchardt and Sr. Cpl Brandon Berie)
• 1st Place in Explosive Breacher Competition
(Sr. Cpl. Jeremy Borchardt and Sr. Cpl Brandon Berie)
• 1st Place in Mechanical Breacher Competition
(Sr. Cpl. Gerardo Huante and Sr. Cpl Mark Michaels)
• 2nd Place in Manual and Ballistic Breacher Competition
(Sr. Cpl. Jeremy Borchardt and Sr. Cpl Brandon Berie)

The competition team consisted of the following Dallas SWAT members:

Sr. Cpl .Jude Braun, Sr. Cpl Gerardo Huante, Sr. Cpl. Jeremy Borchardt, Sr. Cpl. Brandon Berie and Sr. Cpl. Mark Michaels.