A fine tour of duty

Sgt. Geoff Marti is hanging up his tactical vest, retiring from his role as a member of the Lincoln Police Department SWAT Team. He has served on the Team for 19 years, and for the past 11 years, he has been the Team Leader--essentially the person who makes the tactical decisions when the Team is deployed.

Officers who serve on the SWAT Team all have other full time assignments (Geoff is our Internal Affairs investigator right now), but when we need their special skills, the Team members drop what they're doing and respond to the most critical incidents we have--and the most dangerous. After 19 years of call outs, Sgt. Marti deserves a full night's sleep and relief from the ever present beeper.

He's done a great job for us as Team Leader. He's respected and trusted by the Team, and by me. When the 3:00 AM call comes from the late shift Duty Commander seeking my authorization to activate the SWAT Team, I do not hesitate. I know that the Team will do their usual good job in resolving a serious episode. Sgt. Marti has been largely responsible for my confidence, and he passes the torch to another member who has learned the craft of Team Leader by watching his example.

During the past five years alone, SWAT has been activated 39 times. There have been high risk search warrants, Nazi rallies, 15 people threatening suicide, and 16 armed and barricaded suspects during that time. These incidents have quietly come to a successful conclusion without serious injury to anyone, often completely beneath the news media radar. Solid tactics and training, patience, maturity, courage, and sound decision making has saved many lives.

Geoff isn't retiring from the department, he's just leaving the SWAT Team in the good hands of those he has led and trained. He'll still be around doing and supervising good police work in whatever position he holds. We go way back to the beginning of his career. I was his training sergeant, and Geoff was on my dowtown squad when he was a new officer. He is the grandson of Lincoln's most suave and debonair Mayor, Lloyd Marti. His brother Charlie is also a Lincoln police officer, and another brother, Don, is a former Lincoln Police Officer.

The Marti brothers all share a common trait--a slightly off beat sense of humor. If you've read this blog for any time at all, you probably realize that I, too, have a touch of that same trait. One day a few years ago I was showing Geoff my new digital camera. I left it laying on my desk, and later I found that Sgt. Marti had tried it out. I saved the results for the past several years, but it's just part of my twenty-five year collection of gems from Sgt. Marti.

If you checked out that photo of his grandfather, you'll notice the strong resemblance. Surely, Geoff, you realized that photo would someday come back to haunt you.

You've done a great job as Team Leader, and I thank you for your service. The bar has been set high, but you've prepared others for the challenge. Congratulations.