SWAT Advisors

On June 28, 1992, Chief Daryl F. Gates retired after forty-three years of police service. He served in every rank in the department and performed a majority of specialist assignments. Gate's fourteen years as chief was only exceeded by legendary Chief William H. Parker's record sixteen-year term.

In the wake of the Watts riots, Gates organized a team of tactical officers that would later become the Metro division's D-Platoon, or SWAT. Later, as the Los Angeles Police Department's forty-ninth chief of police, he sponsored efforts that established the LAPD SWAT as one of the premiere hostage rescue teams in the world.

In 1983, Gates started the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Today over 12,000 police officers teach DARE courses in all fifty States, New Zealand, and Australia.

After his retirement in 1992, the Chief has hosted a talk radio program, actively toured the lecture circuit, founded his own investigative company, and signed on lead advisor for Sierra On-line's Police Quest and SWAT games. He sees the games as opportunities to communicate the challenges of law enforcement. "I think in the SWAT games we're teaching people that we don't live on violence, that the police don't respond to violence with violence unless it's absolutely essential and absolutely within the law," says Gates.

Ken is a highly decorated police officer with twenty-eight years experience with the Los Angeles Police Department. Twenty-three of those years spent with the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT). He's currently serving as an Element Leader with LAPD SWAT, Metropolitan Division.

Throughout the production of SWAT 3, Thatcher remained in constant contact with designer Tammy Dargan and the rest of the SWAT team, reviewing the dialogue, tactics and equipment for authenticity.

To create SWAT 3's realistic character movements, Officer Thatcher performed over 500 unique SWAT actions before specialized motion capture equipment at House of Moves in Venice, California. Computers measured the location of dozens of sensors mounted on his body as he performed tactical maneuvers through doorways, up staircases, and even rapelling down from the rafters. The data collected from the session guided the animation of the SWAT officers in the game.

Career Highlights: Medal of Valor & Police Star Recipient; Provided security details to presidents and heads of state visiting Los Angeles; Served hundreds of high-risk warrants; Participated in two years of specialized tactical training in preparation for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games; International Lecturer & member of the SWAT Training Team.