Sniper Concealed
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Since 1990, the Rapid City Police Department and the Pennington County Sheriffs Office combined resources to form the Special Response Team (SRT). The team has been the largest tactical team in South Dakota. This elite team includes:
- The Commander, Deputy Commander and Tactical Commandeer
- The Entry / Perimeter Group
- Sniper / Observer Group
- Negotiations Group
- Tactical Paramedics
- Dispatch Element
The team can be called to the most trying and hazardous situations law enforcement officers and citizens can encounter. The SRT is the only major tactical team in Western South Dakota and has responded to numerous situations in many other cities and counties to assist.
The many types of calls the SRT will respond to include:
- Barricaded and armed suspects
- Hostage incident where suspect may be armed
- Sniper incidents
- Serving of Arrest and Search Warrants on felony suspects when intelligence indicates suspects may be armed or extremely dangerous
- Working with the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team for warrant service
- Serving of Arrest/Search warrants on misdemeanor suspects when there is information to believe the suspect may be armed or that the service of the warrant presents a substantial risk to those serving the warrant
- Technical and VIP Security
- At the request of other Law Enforcement Agencies experiencing any of the above situations
Each group is assigned specific responsibilities in dealing with different situations. The Entry and Sniper elements train at least 8 hours per month and are prepared at any time to handle nearly any situation.
The SRT’s ultimate objective is to successfully resolve the incident it is faced with. It is the team’s philosophy to resolve the incident utilizing all tools at our disposal and only use the amount of force which is necessary to ensure the safety of the public.
In the past several years, the SRT has assisted in about 30 different calls that include execution of high-risk drug search warrants, barricaded and suicidal subjects, the arrest of known members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Gang, and Dignitary Protection for John Walsh, Ehud Barak (Former Prime Minister of Israel), Benazir Bhutto (Former Prime Minister of Pakistan), as well as many different Congressional Dignitaries.
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