S.R.T. / SWAT

The Robinson Police Department is committed to providing citizens and visitors the highest level of protection available today. As such, the Robinson Police Department has teamed up with Woodway PD and Hewitt PD to form a fully functional Special Response Team (SRT).

This team responds to calls in Robinson, Hewitt and Woodway that are beyond the scope of normal patrol officers and detectives. Some of the situations where SRT may be called out are high risk warrant service, hostage situations, stand-offs or heavily armed suspects.

The SWAT Team is broken down into three separate areas of responsibility. They are the Entry Team, Snipers and Hostage Negotiators. For more information on each, please see the descriptions below.

 Entry Team - The Tri-City SRT uses one or more Entry Teams in the event it becomes necessary to make a forced entry into a building or confront a suspect(s). These Entry Teams go through extensive training in special tactics and use of weapons during initial training and continue that training during specially designed training exercises throughout the year. As with any other officer they will attempt to resolve a confrontation without harming anyone, including the suspect. All Entry Team members have attended and graduated from an accredited SWAT School prior to being assigned to the team.

Snipers - The Tri-City SRT also deploys several Snipers along with Entry Teams. The Snipers will provide protection for Entry Team members approaching a location and may also be called upon to use their marksman -ship skills to stop a suspect from injuring an innocent person. The people selected as Snipers are among the best marksman available and continually train to hone their skills. Snipers are also one of the best providers of intelligence, as they have a "birds-eye" view of a scene. All Snipers graduated from an accredited Sniper School prior to being assigned to the team as a Sniper.

Hostage Negotiator - The Tri-City SRT is committed to resolving all incidents without injury to any person, which includes innocent civilians, suspects or officers. As such, Hostage Negotiators are used to communicate with a suspect via telephone, loud speaker or other means. The negotiators will discuss the problems of the suspects with them and help them make a decision based on thought and not emotion. This can be vital as emotions in SRT incidents generally run high. All negotiators have graduated an accredited negotiator school prior to being assigned to the team as a Hostage Negotiator.