Newly Retired Md. SWAT Team Leader Talks Challenges of Job, Policing: 'It Ages You Quickly'

Robert Steinberg, a newly retired Baltimore County Police Department SWAT team leader, joined the unit in 2013 shortly before the death of his law enforcement mentor, Jason Schneider, who was killed while serving a warrant in Catonsville.

Steinberg spent years as a patrol officer before ultimately being deployed on SWAT missions more than 2,000 times. Now, he said, he’s ready to focus on family life with his wife of 17 years and their two young daughters.

He spoke candidly with The Baltimore Sun about his career in policing, including the changes he’s seen in public sentiment and the culture of law enforcement during that time. Steinberg praised his fellow officers as “some of the greatest men I’ve ever known,” but noted the job can take a toll on officers and their families.

The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.

What is SWAT?

SWAT stands for special weapons and tactics. SWAT was conceptualized in the United States as a counterterrorism-slash-hostage-rescue unit. They’re basically tasked with things that are either too high-risk for standard patrolmen or detectives to handle, or mass shootings, counterterrorism, hostage rescue, or anything that is highly violent or outside of the scope of regular patrolmen’s duties.

Most of our work is high-risk search warrants.

What makes SWAT deployable on a search warrant?

Usually, it involves criteria that make it a high-risk search warrant. [In a case earlier today], the subjects inside of the house were armed and also squatting inside the location. There was some significant fortifications put at the front door, which would have prevented detectives from making any sort of entry or apprehension. It’s kind of a difficult problem set to solve. We come with a lot of technology, resources, tools that we have. And basically, we become the problem-solvers.

You were in charge of a lot of gear acquisition. Can you tell me about that process and how it interacts with the criticism that the police are over-militarized?

I think something that the general public doesn’t really understand is that when major events happen, like major terror attacks or major hostage rescue issues or mass casualty events — The Boston bombing, (D.C.-area) sniper incidents — the military cannot come to aid in that. And standard police officers are not trained to the level needed to address some of those issues.

When we do a hostage rescue, my life is considered less important than the people I’m trying to save, so whatever I can do to try to stay alive long enough to save them, that’s what I’ll do. And some of the equipment we’re using is to try to keep me alive long enough and to make me precise enough in order to intervene and save people’s lives.

How often are there hostage rescues in Baltimore County?

We might get a few a year. It’s not as clear-cut as you might see in the movies. A lot of the time, it’s domestic issues. We determine whether somebody is allowed to leave, and whether their life is in danger if they try to leave.

How has the police force in general and the profession changed since you’ve been doing this?

Every single rule that I had when I took this job has changed. The general climate within this country has made policing very, very difficult in the last 10 years. To the point where you are sometimes trading your own safety for the rules that we are now supposed to follow. It’s not really my department. They’re just keeping up with the national sentiment. The national sentiment has certainly changed since I was a young cop, and it has not changed for the better.

The way we’re doing things now makes it safer about 90, 95% of the time. The problem is, in certain situations, it can be less safe because of… I don’t know how to say this. Sometimes, if we need to be aggressive, the support is not there from the national sentiment. If you have somebody that really is dedicated and wants to fight us, it can be more dangerous because it’s very difficult to keep up with some of the sentiment around the country and what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

How have you seen police retention and recruiting change over time?

When I was applying to this job, it was highly competitive, and there were hundreds and hundreds of applicants every year, which would get whittled down to just a few. These days, they’re having a very hard time trying to fill the slots for officers. Nobody wants to do the job. And to be honest with you, sometimes it’s kind of hard to blame them.

Would you do it all over again?

That’s a difficult question. I will say that I’ve seen and learned things that I don’t think normal people get to see, and I’m grateful for that. But it does come with consequences mentally, physically, consequences on your family. In the end, taking the job saved my life, and it’s given me a good life. I have a house, wife, kids, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

So why are you retiring now?

I’m 44, but the job itself, because of the physical demands, it really takes a toll on your body, and it ages you quickly.

How does that carry over mentally into regular life?

I’ve been shot at. I’ve watched two cops die in front of me. It carries over to your significant other a lot of the time. When I was very young on the team, I had about eight months here, we went in a house on a search warrant for guns, and a teammate of mine, who was a mentor of mine, was shot and killed in front of me, and that definitely took its toll.

My wife knew everything because it made the news. I never really told her what happened, but she assumed I’m sure many things. That takes a toll on her, too, because obviously if it’s happening to him, it can happen to me. I watched him stop breathing on a kitchen floor, and I watched his son grow up without a father. That kind of stuff stays with you.

Did you have any counseling after that from the department? 

They offered us counseling. I did not take it at the time.

Why?

As far as any clinical help, it was a slippery slope back then. It’s not as much now.

What do you mean by ‘slippery slope’?

If you talk to a clinician, and they determine that you are either too affected or too upset or whatever, they can take you off duty, they can retire you. Obviously, we don’t want anybody who’s crazy running around serving the public. But the problem is that it’s left up to the determination of the person you’re talking to.

I will say that our department is very good at providing a lot of those resources now, but that was not necessarily the case back then. That’s not something that our department didn’t do; it just wasn’t done.

What are your hours like?

Our team is on call, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. I might get four to five weeks off-call a year. A typical day, even if I’m off work, I’m on call. We work Monday through Friday, with weekends off. But all weekend, whether I’m at a kids’ sports event or a birthday party or I’m taking my wife out to dinner, I’m still on call and have to be available within about 30 minutes.

You haven’t been more than 30 minutes away from Baltimore County in almost 14 years?

If I’m on call, you will respond within 30 minutes, no matter what. Doesn’t matter what you’re doing. I’ve left my wife and kids at restaurants. I’ve left them at the mall. It takes a toll. Like I said, my family comes second.

Now that you’re going to retire, are they going to come first?

Absolutely. That’s a big reason why I’m retiring. It’s about time that I become a more present father and husband.

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