Gallup and Navajo Nation police move toward a tactical-support agreement

The Gallup Police Department and the Navajo Nation Police are working on a memorandum of understanding for tactical support, the Gallup department announced this week.

The agreement would establish mutual support between the Navajo Nation Police SWAT team and the Gallup Police Department's Emergency Response Team for high-risk operations and events.

As part of the collaboration, the departments recently completed a 40-hour SWAT sniper course held over three days, with 13 to 14 hours of instruction each day. Gallup Police Captain Steven Collins taught the course; three Navajo Nation Police officers and five members of the Gallup department's tactical teams took part.

The curriculum covered case law, ranging and environmental-correction calculations, concealment techniques, unknown-distance shooting and scenario-based exercises. The department said a police sniper's primary mission is to observe and relay intelligence to police leadership during incidents, with precise fire delivered only if necessary to support rescue operations.

Gallup Police Chief Erin Toadlena-Pablo visited Kayenta, Arizona, on Thursday to join the Navajo Nation in what the department called a new phase in addressing the public safety needs of the Diné, and to build support for the agreement.