The large convoy of police vehicles driving across Fort Jackson wasn't in response to any incident, but was part of a training event to ensure coordination between the various police and sheriff's departments across the state.
More than 100 deputy sheriffs, field agents, and police officers from across the Palmetto State gathered on Fort Jackson Monday and Tuesday for a tactical team summit hosted by the Richland County Sheriff's Department.
The partnerships between law enforcement agencies and Fort Jackson are necessary to "help build relationships"prior to an emergency, said the RCSD's Maj. Chris Cowan.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott partnered with the Columbia, South Carolina, Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to devise ways for regional tactical response teams to better understand how each agency handles different emergency situations.
The result was the first South Carolina Tactical Team Summit held on post which brought tactical response teams together from Aiken, Greenville, Charleston, Columbia, Summerville and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, to train with FBI trainers and Fort
Jackson personnel.
"This is quality low-cost training," Cowan said, "that can help us be prepared for any event that might happen."
While most tactical teams handle situations similarly each agency may use different terminology to describe their actions, said one of the FBI trainers.
We have to ask ourselves "in a significant crisis how will we get these special teams to work together?" said the agent, who asked only to be identified as "Jason." "We have to get on the same page."
For instance when clearing a room, the different law enforcement agencies may describe the actions upon entering a room differently.
He explained that during a crisis there could be a "hodgepodge of FBI and a hodgepodge of sheriffs" who would be on-site before the rest of their teams arrive. These moments can be crucial to resolving emergencies quickly.
While no post personnel trained with the law enforcement agencies at the summit, Fort Jackson was integral in the success of the event by providing "quality training areas" that could handle all law enforcement officers, Cowan said.
The tactical teams trained across Fort Jackson at the Military Operations in Urban Terrain site, the Urban Assault Course, and the Medical Simulation Treatment Facility. At the UAC, the different agencies would rotate through different scenarios taught by the FBI instructors.
Soldiers at the MSTF taught law enforcement personnel different life saving techniques before leading them through simulated casualty situations. The officers also learned different ways to fire to improve speed and accuracy at Range 6. The event was capped off by law enforcement
teams encountering different simulated situations at the MOUT site.
Staff Sgt. Tracy Northington, a provost sergeant with the post's Directorate of Emergency Services who was tasked to ensure the training progressed as scheduled said she was impressed by the law enforcement agencies.
Even though they were different "if they came to help Fort Jackson they would know what to do."
The RCSD is already planning on having another tactical team summit in the future.
"It is really important to ensure we are prepared to protect our community," said Cowan, who spent six months laying the summit's groundwork.
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