In 1996 the Smyrna Police Department formed a highly flexible mobile strike force to concentrate on police problems that may have otherwise gone unchecked, due to the limitations imposed on field personnel in supplying day to day services. This concept became the foundation for the department's S.W.A.T. team.

Each S.W.A.T. member is a highly trained specialist, and all S.W.A.T. personnel operate as a supplemental force drawn from virtually every unit within the department. They each have specific responsibilities that provide a concentrated effort in the reduction of specific crimes and unlawful acts in a given location within the community. Their constant training and flexibility to the function in this manner are the key elements in keeping abreast of a rapidly changing society and the complex problems it generates.