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Special Weapons & Tactics teams welcomed 31 new graduates to their ranks on Tuesday during a ceremony in Helena.

The officers completed their training at the Montana Law Enforcement Academy, and it was the largest number of SWAT graduates to complete one course.

The newest members will go to their respective jurisdictions with the skills they learned over the past six days of training.

Eight new SWAT team members from Lewis & Clark County and Helena were pinned by their leaders, honoring them for their completion and future work.

Montana Law Enforcement Program Manager Rick Layng noted, "In that six days they did 70 hours of training. That included physical fitness, building tactics, vehicle takedowns, we had classroom on less lethal history of SWAT situation development, did some firearms training."

SWAT team leader Tim Coleman said, "In this day and age with the people that we deal with sometimes and the weapons in keeping our community safe, there is a need for us to do things a little bit safer and sometimes just regular patrol doesn't have the tools to be able to deal with those opportunities."

SWAT team training takes place once a year at the Montana Law Enforcement Academy.

The graduates will be stationed at nine law enforcement offices across Montana and three in Idaho.