White Plains Police Special Response Team Earns State Certification

Editors's Note: The following announcement is from the White Plains Public Safety Department.

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The White Plains Police Department Special Response Team has met the standard and has been certified a NY State Division of Criminal Justice Services SWAT Team. This standard was established in 2009, but revamped in 2010 in an effort to standardize Capabilities and Operations of "SWAT" Teams in New York State.

White Plains is now one of only two Certified Teams in NY State, both being certified in 2013. This certification means that our SRT has been recognized as being in accordance with NY DCJS identified best practices in Tactical Team Administration and Operations. These standards addressed (3) major areas; Team Equipment, Team Training, and Department Policy/Procedure.

Our Special Operations Division has been working on this certification since the fourth quarter of 2012. It began with the individual SWAT Operator Equivalency Certification for 22 of our Team members in November of last year, which included approximately 96 hours of training for each of those members. Those members achieved equivalency earlier this summer. It also included sending (4) of our newest Members to a 4 week / 160 hour Basic SWAT School in March of this year. All (26) members received standardized training in areas such as Tactical Operator movement, Deployment procedures, Barricaded Situations, Breaching, and Officer Rescue. The Department will be sending the final (4) Team Members to the Basic SWAT School this fall.

Team Members have also been issued the required equipment to meet the standard. The SRT Policy/Procedure was also updated to reflect the changes in The Department's capabilities and deployment strategies.

The SWAT Team Certification process included (4) main areas of standards;

• Administrative Standards - Team Structure, Team Supervision, Operator Selection,
• Training Standards - Operator Initial Training, Operator Annual Training, Specialty Training, Command and Supervision Training, and Training Records, 
• Equipment Standards - Individual Operator Equipment, and Team Equipment,
• Team Capabilities and Operations - Team Capabilities Direct, Team Capabilities Accessible, Deployment Procedures, Tactical Planning / Operations / and Debriefing.

This certification is good for (2) years. At that time we will be required to re-submit for certification at 5 year intervals.