The Abilene Police Department's Sniper Team deploys on a mission in two-man elements. This two-man element consists of two highly qualified snipers. One acts as a Sniper and the other acts as the Observer/Cover Officer. Typically, the sniper teams are among the first elements of the SWAT team to deploy to an incident. Their mission is to deploy to an advantageous position where they can have clear fields of view and fire on the predictable target areas of the crisis site. Sniper team members are selected and trained with the greatest attention to detail due to the complex, difficult, and sensitive nature of the assignment. It is not enough that the sniper be capable of precision shooting from extended distances with the assigned weaponry, but the sniper must also have a good working knowledge of all aspects of the SWAT mission, be highly skilled in fieldcraft, observation, intelligence gathering and reporting.

The sniper must possess great patience, be capable of spending long hours in a position of relative isolation while maintaining a constant state of alertness and be ready to take the appropriate and most effective action. In the history of the Abilene Police Department's SWAT team, the snipers have yet to be put in a situation that has required them to fire their precision weapons. Sniper's spend many training hours preparing mentally and physically for any challenge that they might face.