The most consequential portions of Tuesday’s Columbus City Council meeting were at the very beginning. First, the Columbus Kings were recognized as the 13 Year Old 2023 Dizzy Dean World Series Champions. The team was made up of students from both private and public schools in Lowndes County and competed at the tournament, which was held in Southaven.

After the team was recognized, director of Columbia Law Enforcement Training Academy Clint McMurry approached the council.

Columbus Police Department used to have a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, but it was dismantled years ago. Chief Joseph Daughtry has been working to re-implement the team, and a week of specialized training from Columbia Training Academy was a step in that direction. McMurry served as the master instructor for the CPD team.

“You should be very proud of this group. I teach all over the United States and especially the south. … This class is one of the best, if not the best, SWAT classes we’ve ever taught,” McMurry said.

Wait, what?

For years, we’ve heard about understaffing issues at CPD, about how CPD’s pay lags other departments, about how few officers are on the streets at any given time, about the lack of tenure in the department. We’re not used to hearing phrases like “one of the best.”

McMurry wasn’t through, though.

“It was never dull. They came together as a team quicker than most. We got more in this week than we do most. … The camaraderie and — I shouldn’t say this but — the intelligence of this group is amazing. Better than most SWAT teams. And they came together and it made myself and the other guest instructor … we talked about it after that week. How it was refreshing to teach this class.”

It’s easy to take McMurry’s comments at face value when you watch and listen to his delivery. He was sincere. I encourage you to watch the video playback of the meeting, which is available on the city’s Facebook page.

“Guys you should be proud because we’ve taught a lot of SWAT teams, and this is my favorite. It really is. Even when I got here tonight, the camaraderie that they had in the squad room … just the love and the respect and the kindness they have for each other … you’re lucky to have them. And that’s the reason I drove 3.5 hours back tonight to present these certificates.”

The camaraderie was apparent as each of the 13 “operators” was recognized with a certificate. One of them hugged both McMurry and Daughtry.

Daughtry spoke briefly after McMurry and summed up the purpose of the team: “When the citizens need help, they call police. But when the police need help, they call SWAT.”

I called Chief Daughtry Friday to talk to him about the new SWAT team. He said that while he has wanted to re-implement SWAT since his first day on the job, he really got motivated after attending a conference earlier this year.

A speaker at that conference said more than 170 mass shootings had already happened across the country this year. That sobering number provided the impetus.

Since being re-formed, CPD’s SWAT team has responded twice: once immediately after the recent shooting in the Baptist Memorial Hospital parking lot and again when making two arrests in connection to that shooting.

The team is made up of 12 “operators” plus a logistics officer. The SWAT team trains twice a month, and CPD has opened the training up to other law enforcement agencies. West Point’s small SWAT team plans to train with CPD, according to Daughtry.

It’s easy to point to an under-resourced police department every time we see a crime headline, so it was reassuring to hear someone bragging about our officers.

“I would put this SWAT team up against any SWAT team in the state, hands down, even ones that have been around for years,” McMurry said.

Columbus has a lot to be proud of. Let’s not forget that we should count the city’s men and women in blue among those.

Peter Imes is publisher of The Dispatch. You can email him at [email protected].