The Somerset County Emergency
Response Teams were established in 1985. The concept was
developed to regionalize manpower, expertise and equipment to respond to
an emergency within the county that required a specialized law
enforcement response. The teams total 65 police officers from
the Prosecutor’s Office, Sheriff’s Department and municipal
departments within our County. They are divided into four sub
units: the S.W.A.T. Team; Crisis Negotiation Team; the Emergency Medical
Team from Somerset Medical Center and the newly formed Dive-Rescue Unit. When
a call for assistance is received, the S.C.E.R.T. Teams can be mobilized
and on scene within 45 minutes, any time of day or night, seven days a
week. During the past sixteen (16) years, the S.C.E.R.T.
Teams have responded to more than 100 incidents.
The S.W.A.T.
Team presently consists of 29 police officers. These individuals
are skilled and trained in the areas of special weapons; self defense;
assault tactics; use of chemical agents; riot/crowd control; dignitary
protection; first aid and heavy rescue techniques. Many of
these highly motivated people have attended an 80-hour course in
S.W.A.T. procedures and tactics sponsored by the Department of Defense
at Picatinny Arsenal, the Advanced Hostage Rescue course sponsored by
the International Association of Chiefs of Police, a week long seminar
in heavy rescue techniques sponsored by the New Jersey State Police, and
numerous other training courses throughout the United States. The
S.W.A.T. Team is divided into four squads (each with their own chain of
command and unit specialty; i.e., snipers/scouts/assault) as well as a
three-person command group. In the instance of a hostage or
barricade situation, the unit will be activated in a similar manner as
the Crisis Negotiation Team, instituting the gradual response of one or
more squads depending on the nature of the problem or the specialty
required. The team’s purpose at any hostage/barricade
situation is to provide a visible presence of force; set up a perimeter
and secure the area; secure the command post; provide security for the
negotiating team; effect and arrest when appropriate; and lastly, if all
else fails and a life has been taken or is in imminent danger, forcibly
enter the target area and physically restrain the target individual(s).
The
Crisis Negotiation Team presently consists of 18 police officers. These
individuals are skilled in the art of negotiating, bargaining, and
mediating. Their training includes, but is not limited to,
crisis intervention and hostage negotiations. Most of those
in our unit have attended many seminars in this regard and have proven
themselves to be experts in verbally bringing crisis situations to a
peaceful and safe conclusion. The Crisis Negotiation Team
is divided into three five-officer squads as well as a three-person
command group. Each five-officer squad consists of a primary
negotiator, secondary negotiator, and three intelligence/communications
experts. The command group consists of a commander, an aid,
and a local department liaison. One squad and a command group
will be formed and respond to any hostage or barricade incident
occurring in Somerset County. The other two squads will be
notified and will remain on-call until the matter is concluded. If
the situation develops into a lengthy ordeal, the on-call squads may be
used on a rotating basis to relieve the original responding squad until
conclusion.
The
Dive-Rescue component is comprised of 13 police officers who are trained
in various aspects of water rescue to include underwater search and
rescue, crime scene processing, as well as flood water and surface
swift-water rescue operations. Since its inception in mid
2000, the team members have conducted twelve training drills, have
attended a three day swift-water rescue course as well as an ice
dive-rescue course.
In addition
to police officers, also attached to the S.C.E.R.T. Teams is a
six-person team from the Somerset Medical Center’s Mobile Intensive
Care Unit. These certified paramedics and nurses, along with
a doctor, train monthly with the S.C.E.R.T Teams and respond to
call-outs, for purposes of providing immediate medical attention in the
event of an injury.
Unlike most
hostage recovery units who deal exclusively with hostage or barricade
situations, the Somerset County S.C.E.R.T. Teams have been trained to
deal with all types of police emergencies. In addition to the
so-called hostage barricade, we have also responded and provided
dignitary protection; emergency rescue operations; assistance during
natural disasters; i.e., floods/hurricanes, etc., all with precision and
professionalism.
The
teams train at least one (eight hour) day or night per month. The
training varies, however, usually consists of both classroom and field
operations. While in the field, the teams participate in
physical training and then jointly conduct simulated hostage or
barricade situations. These drills are conducted regardless
of weather conditions and are made as real as possible with the use of
police officers acting as both hostages and hostage takers. Also
used during these drills are chemical agents, lights, generators, throw
phones, ballistic shields and other specialized equipment that would be
used during an actual situation. More recently, several
drills have involved school-related scenarios and some have occurred at
school facilities.
The
Somerset County Emergency Response Teams also conduct numerous community
relations – based demonstrations, school faculty education programs as
well as violent active incident training programs for first responding
patrol officers.
