Sgt. Raymond Fanelli will be celebrating 25 years as a member of the South SWAT team this year.
The South SWAT team is composed of officers from Falls Township, Bristol Township, Bristol Borough and Bensalem Township.
Sandwiched between Trenton and Philadelphia, Fanelli notes, via the township press release, that the lower portion of Bucks County accounts for 66 percent of crime countywide.
Member of South SWAT Team
Fanelli remembers the night a barricaded man was firing a shotgun out the window, striking a vehicle with SWAT team members positioned on the opposite side. The incident, which occurred on either Christmas eve or Christmas day, stands out as an example of a situation that could have had a tragic ending. To decelerate the incident, a police sniper shot the individual, who has since fully recovered from his injuries. .
“People don’t understand the sacrifice that officers are willing to make for them,” Fanelli said, in a township press release, recalling that he worried at the time that he would have to tell a spouse or parent that their loved one had been killed in the incident. “It could have gone much worse than it did.”
Fanelli, in his 25 years, has been, among other positions, a sniper and breacher. The breacher is the person responsible for tossing the flashbang into a structure.
SWAT teams are put into action for hostage rescue situations, especially those involving a weapon or a serious threat of harm, as well as riot situations. Another lesser-known occasion for SWAT teams to assemble includes large-scale events such as Pennsbury High School’s prom. Fanelli and his team were on standby upstairs in the event that their services were needed.
Before SWAT
Fanelli is the son of a K9 officer with the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Department. Fanelli worked as a military police officer from 1992 until 1997. He transitioned to the Military Police Corps’ SWAT team in May 1994
Fanelli said, the military SWAT team and his current SWAT team are an evolution in which he has “seen the tactics change.”
“It went from running and gunning to more of a ‘hey, is it really worth it?’ Let’s wait this out. We’re willing to really be patient,” Fanelli said to the official. “This is like adult chess. Let’s try and figure out what the best solution is going to be for everyone.”
While still in the military Fanelli applied for a position at the Falls Township Police Department. Several years after he joined the force, his brother, Anthony, was hired as a Falls police officer, officials said.
The real reward for his service is the “sense of pride” Fanelli gets from undertaking police work and conducting SWAT missions, said the release.
“I’m very proud and honored to work with the officers I work with,” he said to the township. “Falls Township has taken care of me. I also hope I’ve taken care of Falls Township to the best of my ability.”
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