Thomas Longa

Thomas Longa is a Senior Instructor at Tomahawk Strategic Solutions and has extensive experience serving as a longtime member of one of the most prolific police tactical teams in the United States. Thomas is a current member of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Emergency Services Unit (ESU).

Mr. Longa was appointed to the NYPD in 1997, and in 2001 was selected to become a member of the Emergency Service Unit. In 2006, Thomas was accepted as a member of the Apprehension Tactical Team (A-Team); the full-time SWAT component of the NYPD-ESU, where he served for 11 years and rose to the position of Senior Team Member. Mr. Longa’s responsibility on the A-Team included daily direct-action tactical operations and serving as a training cadre for the Emergency Services Unit. During his time in ESU, Mr. Longa has participated in an estimated 6,300 real-world operations, including, but not limited to, high-risk search/arrest warrants, barricaded subjects, apprehension of emotionally disturbed persons and street stakeouts/takedowns. Mr. Longa has been decorated multiple times for his participation as an assaulter in extremely high-risk and high-profile tactical operations—operations which resulted in the custody of heavily armed subjects.

In an ancillary capacity within his department, Mr. Longa has extensively served as a tactical instructor in and outside his agency. In 2014, Mr. Longa was selected as a member of the NYPD Police Commissioner’s Re-Engineering group—an internal think tank focused on implementing new training and procedures within the department. In 2015, he co-authored the tactical training doctrine for the Collaborative Response Team—the NYPDs lesson plan for tactical support personnel at Active Shooter incidents. Subsequently, Mr. Longa led the training cadre for the instruction of over 700 members of the NYPD Critical Response Command and Strategic Response Group. In addition to his vast experience-based knowledge as an assaulter, Mr. Longa is also a nationally recognized subject-matter expert in the implementation of manual and hydraulic breaching in SWAT operations. Thomas continues to serve with the Emergency Service Unit.