SWAT team golf tournament to honor former co-commander, raise funds for more training

One would never imagine the war on terrorism taking place on a golf course, but in a way that's what's being proposed with the Brian "BK" Keck Memorial Golf Tournament next month, which will also honor one of the Hot Springs Police Department's finest in the process.

The four-man scramble, scheduled for Sept. 8 at Hot Springs Country Club, is the first fundraiser for the recently formed Hot Springs SWAT Officers Association, with all the proceeds going to pay for additional training for the SWAT team members, specifically in areas like counterterrorism.

The tournament was named in memory of Keck, who rose to the position of co-commander on the SWAT team before having to take medical retirement in January 2012. "He had been battling cancer for a couple of years at that point," said his stepson, Jarret Cantrell, who followed in Keck's footsteps and is now assistant team leader of the HSPD SWAT team. Keck died in 2015.

"He raised me since I was like 3 years old," Cantrell said. "He was a huge influence on me, absolutely. It meant a lot to me when I got hired at the police department. I did it on a whim. He told me the department was hiring and I had never really given it much thought. I was working for another company at the time, but I came up here and put in an application on the next to the last day."

Having just turned 23 at the time, Cantrell said he wasn't really set on a career, but "it turned out to be a pretty good move on my part."

When he was hired, the department issued Cantrell his stepfather's badge, No. 149, which "meant a lot to me," he said.

The Hot Springs SWAT Officers Association, formed in January, is a nonprofit organization with the goal of funding supplemental training as needed. "The police department is extremely good to us and pays for all the training we are mandated to get every year," Cantrell said.

"But with the changing environment around town and the constant threat of bad stuff happening and this being such a huge tourist place, we want to get way more trained," he said.

"The SWAT team itself is tasked with manning and providing security for events like Derby Day at Oaklawn and we are down there in joint hazard assessment teams during the St. Patrick's parade. So you have these huge venues with thousands and thousands of people and we're trained enough to hopefully respond in the appropriate way, but there's training out there specifically for counter terrorism that we would love to go to."

Cantrell said because the training needed is "really expensive" they started the association to provide "stopgap coverage" so the HSPD will pay for "maybe one or two guys to go and we might be able to send three or four more guys."

Cantrell said Keck was on the SWAT team for the majority of his career. "He loved the police department, but the SWAT team was like his heart and soul when he was here. It's what he loved to do. He rose up through the ranks and eventually became the sniper and was extremely esteemed as a sniper. I still hear stories about him today about how great a shot he was."

Like Keck, Cantrell has spent the majority of his career on the SWAT team, joining a year after he was hired, and now serves as assistant team leader. "I've got my team leader and commander ahead of me. They are both great guys. I would follow them through the gates of hell if I needed to." Like his stepfather, Cantrell has also earned the title of team sniper.

He said Keck was "very proud of me" and while he later offered pointers and tips, "he didn't tell me too much at first because he wanted me to figure it out on my own. I'm glad he did because I didn't want any preconceived notions. But once I got my feet wet, I knew what to ask him as far as tactics and that sort of thing. He always gave me great advice which still holds true today."

Cantrell said the tournament is "a great way to keep his memory alive," noting they have received a positive response from people who knew Keck, "who went to high school with him or went to church with him. The police department has been extremely supportive of us too. I can't say enough about all they've done."

He said the SWAT team members "believe in the association so much and want to get the funding we need so bad" that they donate a portion of every paycheck through direct deposit to the cause.

While the tournament has only had four or five teams sign up as of Thursday, he said they are hoping for a good turnout and have slotted space for 36 teams. "We're a bunch of SWAT dudes. We can tear down a rifle in half a minute but getting on Facebook and trying to promote an event. It's like discovering time travel for us," he said.

The cost is $400 per team, with Hot Springs Country Club providing a lunch. There will be an awards ceremony afterward and a silent auction as well. There will also be a raffle for a custom AR-15 rifle donated by Sons of Liberty Gun Works in San Antonio. "It's really nice and that's a good company," Cantrell said.

They will also have a contest to see who can get a ball closest to the 149-yard mark, in recognition of the badge number they shared. "It's just one more way to honor him," he said.

Registration for the event will be from 8-9 a.m. Sept. 8 with a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m. For information, contact Cantrell at 501-609-5558, or Officer Jjesus Anaya, the association treasurer, at 501-620-5558.

Local on 08/18/2019

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