Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT unit to get female trainee

Jennifer Grasso, 36, is one of 13 LAPD officers selected for spots in the department's 12-week training school, which is scheduled to begin on Monday, according to an internal LAPD email obtained by The Times.

Grasso and the rest of the hopefuls were chosen amid controversy over a newly devised regimen that did away with many grueling endurance tests and exacting simulation exercises that had been used to pre-qualify candidates for Special Weapons and Tactics Team training in the past. The new selection criteria angered many current SWAT officers, who accused Police Chief William J. Bratton and his command staff of watering down the process in order to make it easier for a woman to join the demanding unit, which specializes in resolving standoffs with barricaded suspects and other high-risk operations.

But it appears Grasso has avoided the uncomfortable prospect of coming into SWAT school under a cloud of suspicion. Several SWAT officers, who spoke on the condition that their names not be used because they are not authorized to discuss the matter, said they continue to harbor doubts about the new tests, but are impressed with Grasso and would welcome her onto the team.

"Physically, she's a dynamo and tactically she's very solid," said one SWAT veteran. "She'd be a good selection."

Grasso declined to be interviewed, but her supervisor, Sgt. Andrea Balter, said Grasso ranks as one of the most impressive officers in C Platoon, another specialized unit in the department's Metro Division that is often deployed to quell violent crime. Few in the unit make more arrests than Grasso, who, with her partner, is known particularly for gun seizures, Balter said.

"I can't sing her praises nearly enough," said Balter. "She is completely committed to the community -- the city -- and to putting bad guys in jail."

Grasso won the hard-earned praise of current SWAT officers in large part because of her strong performance during tryouts last year. She was nearing acceptance to SWAT school when she badly injured her knee during one of the final tests on a Marine obstacle course at Camp Pendleton. If she had not proved her mettle then, several SWAT officers said, they would be more skeptical of Grasso's abilities.