CERTIFIED
Special Reaction Team completes annual testing

Story and photo by Mike Strasser Assistant Editor

Eight military police officers from the Directorate of Emergency Services’ Special Reaction Team completed annual certification June 29.

The area between Mahan and Grant halls was clearly marked with signs indicating a police test was in progress, though spectators couldn’t help but linger and watch as the Military Police Soldiers tactically made their way to Central Apartments, first to place a phone line inside for negotiation purposes, and then breaching the interior to respond to the hostage scenario.

The team was also responsible for neutralizing the threat and extracting the hostages by using room clearing techniques.

“In support of the SRT certification and to mimic a real life incident, the Directorate of Emergency Services’ Incident Command Post as well as the West Point Fire Department was activated to allow for command and control of the incident,” 1st Lt. Jerod Krueger, DES assistant operations officer and the officer-in-charge of the event, said.

The Military Police Investigation Section served as the hostage negotiators for the certification, and a team from the New York State Police Department’s Mobile Response Team was asked to provide insight to the SRT during and after the event.

“Overall the SRT Certification went very well,” Krueger said. “All major objectives were completed resulting in the certification of the West Point SRT. During the duration of the certification, the SRT was being evaluated on everything from notification of the incident by the SRTOIC to the process of alerting and getting the SRT ready to deploy to the site of the incident. When the SRT arrives at the scene of the incident, they are evaluated on making a plan based on new intelligence and executing that plan when given guidance by the Provost Marshal.”