CAPE NATIVE IS SERVING ON SWAT UNIT IN L.A.

A Cape Girardeau native who is a member of the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT team believes violence is lessening, but he's not sure it's over.

Bob Kain, 31, has been a member of the city's Special Weapons And Tactics team for a year and a half.

"I think the curfew has really put a stop to a lot of the violence," Kain said Friday afternoon in a telephone interview. "But it could flair up at any time."

The violence in Los Angeles Thursday was less than Wednesday. He hoped the trend would continue through the weekend.

There have been violent protests in Los Angeles and nationwide since a jury found four white Los Angeles policemen innocent in the widely televised beating of King last year.

Kain explained that during this crisis the SWAT team has served as rescuers of other police officers and firemen who became involved in skirmishes with protesters or looters.

He said, "When patrol police officers have problems or firemen have a problem, we will respond to locations with them and provide as much assistance and support as we can."

Firemen and police have been pinned down by gunfire and by crowds throwing rocks and bottles throughout the incident.

The SWAT team comes to get those officers out of the situation. The violence calls for military tactics, Kain said.

He said the SWAT team is dispatched from a command post in southern Los Angeles. A convey of four or five cars and rescue vehicles and a helicopter respond to help the police or firemen

"When we go, we go out as a group. For the most part we stay with our unit. We are given a mission to go wherever there is a hot spot," Kain said.

"I know it looks real bad, but it doesn't seem as bad to us because we can't be everywhere at once.

"For me, actually doing it, it doesn't seem as hectic as it looks on television. When I look at it on television it seems much worse.

"LA is a big bad city, but it's not usually this big and bad," he said. "We've been involved in little skirmishes with rioters in the past, but nothing to this degree.

"They've activated the entire city and have called in additional units from Los Angeles County and Orange County."

Kain said the National Guard has taken up posts at state and federal buildings and at some major stores that haven't been hit yet.

"Most of our people know very little about what they are doing," he said.

"As far as interaction with us and them, there has been none to this point."

The violence has been occurring throughout the city, he said.

"Unlike the Watts riots, which were mostly located in the south-central Los Angeles area, there have been spots hit in Hollywood, Wilshire, Rampart and East LA, all over the city," he said.

Fires also are burning throughout the city. Kain said the fires were particularly troubling to him.

"It's not just a small structure fire, like a house, but a large grocery store, like Schnucks in Cape Girardeau. When you see a building that size totally engulfed in flames to the extent that the roof has collapsed, that's a major fire. We have several of those."

Kain was born in Cape Girardeau and graduated from Central High School in 1978. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked for Coca-Cola Bottling in Jackson before moving to Southern California in 1985.

"I have always had some interest in police work," Kain said. "I talked to several agencies then ended up in Los Angeles. Being on the SWAT team was a goal I made for myself."

The SWAT team is an elite force.

"When we're not doing what we're doing now, we do crime suppression. If an area is having problems with robberies or assaults, we will go in," Kain said. "It's a high visibility position and it's kind of the ultimate uniform position on a department."

He added that members of the SWAT team must maintain higher physical standards and discipline than other police officers.

"You have to want to do it," he said.

He is the son of Charles and Joyce Kain of Cape Girardeau. He and his wife, Paula, have two children. "She kind of knows everything that's going on," Kain said of his wife. "She's not too upset about it, or at least she doesn't let on."