Streamlight^® Sponsors Regional SWAT and Sniper Challenges

Streamlight^® recently sponsored two leading competitions for SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) and sniper professionals, the Gastonia Police Sniper Conference, held September 2-5 in Gastonia, NC, and the Connecticut SWAT Challenge, which took place August 25-27 in West Hartford. Both competitions featured a series of events designed to simulate real-world conditions that professional SWAT teams and sniper marksmen face.

The Gastonia event, one of only a few in the U.S. exclusively for sniper professionals, attracted more than 30 teams of military and federal agencies, as well as police snipers from states including North Carolina, Connecticut, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio and Georgia. Participants took part in 13 separate events that tested their skills when engaging in hostage-taking situations or combating drug trafficking or terrorism. The last day of the conference, which is viewed by hundreds of spectators, included public shooting events in which both adults and children participated.

The Connecticut event is considered the largest SWAT competition of its kind in New England and the third largest in the U.S. This year's challenge attracted teams from Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Connecticut, as well as National Guard, U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force teams. Participants competed in eight team and individual events, including climbing, belaying down walls, shooting with various weapons and other challenges testing their physical and mental fortitude, as well as their accuracy and speed as marksmen.

In addition to sponsoring the two competitions, Streamlight also contributed PolyTac^® flashlights to each event's prize drawings.

"Streamlight is proud to sponsor these events, because they provide important training for these dedicated professionals," said Streamlight Director of Sales, Law Enforcement, Tim Taylor. "It's one of many ways that Streamlight tries to 'give back' to the law enforcement and military communities, whose members put their lives on the line to protect all of us every day."