The primary purpose of the San Juan Police Law Enforcement Emergency Regional Response Team is to provide a systematic approach to saving lives in accordance with the priorities of life and the specific standards set forth herein, in concert with the totality of circumstances presented.
While life safety is a priority of the San Juan Police Law Enforcement Regional Response Team , the specific circumstances will dictate the level of force necessary to adequately protect the public and the officers involved. Resolution of some incidents may require the specific application of various levels of force, up to and including, deadly force.
Municipal, County, State and Federal Law Enforcement agencies currently activate and utilize the San Juan Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics Unit. Our primary objective is to offer this Regional Tactical Response Unit to surrounding city municipalities who may not have the necessary expertise and manpower to deal with serious criminal situations.
The San Juan Regional Tactical Response Unit’s main purpose is to provide tactical support to existing SWAT units or to those Law Enforcement agencies that request assistance during critical situations.
The San Juan Police Law Enforcement Regional Response Team will be activated based on established MOU’s and at the request of another Law Enforcement entity. The (LEERRT) will be available to all entities willing to participate in the regional response concept. Therefore, this unit can be utilized by federal agencies such as FBI, Department of Public Safety, U. S. Customs & Border Protection, U. S. Marshalls and Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, as well as municipal cities requiring the equipment and expertise of this unit.
All Tactical Operational Protocols will fall under the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) established by the on-scene commander of each agency.
Currently, there is no formal Regional Tactical Response Unit available to respond to assist other tactical units in Cameron, Willacy and Hidalgo County. The response time for assistance from other law enforcement agencies is at least six to eight hours, to allow teams to assemble and equip them with the necessary tools.
TheSan Juan Police Law Enforcement Regional Response Team is targeting to bring this time down to at least two hours with the necessary equipment available to immediately respond for any request of assistance. This will allow the regional response unit to deter the situation and bring about a positive outcome of the critical incident
Benefits to Regionalized Tactical Responses
Tactical teams across the valley need to regionalized all tactics, concepts and operations. We strongly believe that if we unite together and continue to train together we will have more successful operations. The sucess of operations is evaluated not on the amount of force used but based on the least of force used and the priority of life. We have recieved alot of support for our efforts from all tactical officers across the valley. Our challenge is to get the administrators from each agency to support this concept.
