Week 6 Continued... S.E.R.T./Tactical Considerations - JCSO Citizen's Academy

S.E.R.T.:

S.E.R.T. is another acronym for SWAT.  S.E.R.T. stands for Sheriff's Emergency Response Team.  Here is some of the equipment used by S.E.R.T.:

Lethal and less lethal options.

Very expensive stuff!  Hence why not all deputies are trained and only those selected to SERT use the equipment.  It can be used by other departments and agencies if needed though.

This is one of the robots used by the SERT team.  It has voice, video and stair climbing capabilities.

More pics:

Forced entry in to closed door.

One of the less lethal weapons. 

Some of the participants couldn't resist trying on the equipment! :)

Participants got to "drive" the robot.

Can't imagine having to carry that shield!  Forgot to ask how much it weighs...

Sgt. Moore speaking about the small remote control robot. 
Lt. Hill in the background.

Gear the S.E.R.T. unit wear when going in to crisis situations.

That is a big gun!  Okay so it doesn't shoot bullets but still... 

S.E.R.T.  was started in 2003.  It is a "Life Saving Unit".  The goal of the unit is to end the situation peacefully whenever possible.  Situations rarely end in violence like the movies and TV portray.  Negotiators play a big role in helping to resolve situations peacefully.

Role of S.E.R.T. is to respond in the following situations:

• hostage
• barricade
• high risk search or arrest warrant
• dignitary protection
• high risk incidents in the detention facility
• disturbance or crowd control
• JCSO assisted in Lawrence Monday night after the championship basketball game
• a total of 250 officers from Lawrence and neighboring agencies including JCSO were tasked with controlling a crowd of nearly 30,000. 
• 20 arrests were made (mostly for disorderly conduct)
• scene was quiet compared to the madness in Kentucky
• S.E.R.T. can also assist with Emergency Management
• JCSO sent deputies to Harveyville, KS after the recent tornado to assist with securing a perimeter to prevent looting

S.E.R.T. consists of (2) 10 person teams (deputies on the team are called operators).  One team is on call 24/7 to respond as needed.  The S.E.R.T. team also consists of a commander, an assistant commander, a team leader, 2 squad leaders, 4 snipers, 1 sniper coordinator, 6 negotiators and 6 logistics staff.  Deputies must go through an application/interview process to be placed on the S.E.R.T. team.  Deputies must be physically and mentally fit to be on this team.  Sgt. Moore and Lt. Hill emphasized that deputies on the S.E.R.T. team must have a level of "maturity" to be a successful member of the team.  S.E.R.T. deputies receive additional training on top of their 40 hours of training required of all deputies.  Training may include SWAT specific training in-house or through specialized agencies.  Typically they will go through 16 hours of additional training monthly.  Currently there are no women on the S.E.R.T. team.  There have been women on it previously though and women are not excluded from the team just because of the physical components.  If they can complete the requirements, they can be on the team just as any male deputy can.


Field Tactics/Tactical Considerations:

Deputies will often work in pairs of 2 to serve warrants.  Can go out in uniform/marked cars or undercover depending on situation.  In some cases, letters are sent out prior to execution of warrant to give individual opportunity to surrender (these are generally low risk warrants such as misdemeanor). 

Forced entry may be made if probable cause, fresh pursuit or reasonable suspicion.  Safety for individual in question, public and for deputies is given priority over everything else!  Deputies would prefer to end a situation peacefully by communication rather than use force but must be prepared for anything and everything. 



Next week is introduction to the Civil Division and Court Security.  I am also scheduled for my first ride along soon and will add an entry for that. 

Week 6 - Warrants & S.E.R.T./Tactical Considerations - JCSO Citizen's Academy

Week 6 was led by Captain Pennington, Lieutenant Hill and Sergeant Moore.  Warrants and S.E.R.T./Tactical Considerations were covered.  I will break it up in to 2 entries starting with warrants.

Types of Warrants:

• Arrest (Probable Cause)
• Bench (usually something like Failure to Appear)
• Civil Contempt (majority of these are child support)
• these typically will be cash only bonds and whatever $ is gathered for the bond goes directly to the mom/kids towards the back child support owed
• Criminal (Felony versus Misdemeanor)
• District Court Probate Order
• these are few and far in between but usually involve picking someone up who is an outpatient with mental illness and deemed not fit to be outpatient status/may be a danger to self or others without proper treatment
• Juvenile
• follow same classifications as adult but apply to those under 18 years of age
• Juvenile Court Pick Up Order
• Child in Need of Care Emergency
• Material Witness
• Can be a witness or victim
• Usually ordered by judge because the individual has refused to voluntarily testify
• Municipal Warrant
• JCSO serves warrants for City of Spring Hill
• JCSO acts as police for DeSoto and Edgerton and therefore will serve municipal for these cities
• Traffic
• County Code Violations
• Out of State/Out of Country
• JCSO is often contacted by out of state or out of country law enforcement agencies to see if fugitive is still in JC

Requirements of a Warrant:

• Name of person to be arrested
• Description of charge
• Judge Signature (yes - judges really do get woke up in the middle of the night to sign warrants!  Depends on severity, etc but many times a warrant can't wait until morning so the judge will be contacted for signature so that the warrant can be executed right away.)
• Type of Bond
• Cash
• can only pay $ to get released (common in child support cases)
• Cash/surety
• may use bond company
• Personal Recognizance
• usually a misdemeanor with no criminal history and no flight risk
• No Bond
• in serious crimes like murder bond may not be an option or it can be set really high

JCSO has approximately 9000 active felony and misdemeanor warrants in the system.  Agencies will often share information to help locate those wanted for warrants.  JCSO receives approximately 32 new warrants a day.  10 on a low day, 70 on a high day.  In 2011, 7960 warrants were received by JCSO.  6354 of those were executed or recalled by the courts.  701 arrests were made from these warrants of which 311 were felony arrests.  293 were for misdemeanor charges and 97 were for civil or traffic charges. 

For Extradition or Fugitive Warrants out of state, JCSO may use a private transport service or may use their own deputies depending on risk level.  Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state.  Extradition can be waived (meaning the individual refuses to voluntarily return to the state or nation issuing the warrant).  If waived, a Governors Warrant must be issued.  This takes more time, manpower and $ to bring the individual back and is a bit archaic in it's process.  Many law enforcement agencies would like to see the Governor's Warrant be eliminated.  Many criminals try to hide from warrants by not creating a paper trail in their lives or moving out of state.  Diligent Effort and Statute of Limitations complicates the effort to locate and prosecute individuals on warrants. 

Arrest versus Search Warrants:

An arrest warrant must be based on a complaint that alleges probable cause that the person named has committed a specific offense, and it must be issued according to the formalities required by the rules of the court.  LEO's must only have a belief that the individual is inside to have authority to go in and arrest them.

A search warrant is a type of warrant that authorizes law enforcement officers to search a specified place for evidence. Without a search warrant, police officers may not search a place without its owner’s consent.  Anything in plain sight can be seized as part of a search warrant.  Probable cause is needed to look in drawers, closets, etc for things out of plain view.

Forced entry issues:  when it's a fresh pursuit or reasonable suspicion entry can be made by force as necessary to preserve evidence or arrest an individual.  A fresh pursuit may be halted if risk of danger is greater than benefit of arresting individual or preserving evidence.

JCSO lists warrants on their web page at: http://www.jocosheriff.org/index.aspx?page=98. However, these are not high risk warrants! For safety reasons only misdemeanor warrants for things such as Failure to Appear are listed. It is a searchable database so you must have some idea of who or what you are looking for.


(I know, I know... I'm a cop magnet so what you really want to know is have I had a warrant served on me?  Well I wonder how many people actually READ my blog???  Hint, hint... we have to pass a records and background check to attend the academy!  Oh and that counter thing on the side of the blog tells me people are at least clicking on my blog...)

Next entry will be about S.E.R.T./Tactical Considerations.