First on the Scene: DS's Emergency Response Team

In response to the challenges raised post 9/11, DS re-allocated a portion of its uniformed guard resource to form the Emergency Response Team (ERT). The team is part of the Office of Domestic Operations, Uniformed Protective Officers Division.

The team is comprised of experts in the areas of defense, weapons, and chemical-biological agents. The team members are former military or law enforcement officers and have received many hours of specialized training. They have also taken basic special agents training, uniformed protective officers training, occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) training, explosive ordnance training, basic emergency medical training, and mobile security deployment training. Cross training is an important element of the team’s success. The team trains continuously, and conducts exercises at least twice weekly. Future plans include having several team members certified as emergency medical technicians.

While the team is diverse enough and trained to handle many different responsibilities, its primary duty is chemical-biological response.

In instances of white powder, the Emergency Response Team, upon arriving at the scene, will conduct an interview with the person who found the powder. They will then "contain" or secure the area, cutting off appropriate air vents. Their job is to protect the evidence and determine quickly if the threat is credible. If necessary, the team will don protective Tyvek uniforms to enter the area.

Their advice to Department employees who discover white powder is to call the uniformed protective officers office immediately, leave the white powder alone, and keep others out of the area. They also recommend that you move as far away from the powder as possible without contaminating other offices.

Upon determining that the threat is credible, ERT will contact the appropriate authorities, either D.C. Hazardous Material Unit or the Joint Terrorism Task Force Hazardous Material Unit. Working closely with the Hazmat units, ERT will determine when an office can reopen, if additional security measures should be taken, or if the Medical Unit needs to be contacted.

These highly trained security professionals provide the Department with a quick, secure response to emergency situations and augment the DS mission to protect the conduct of U.S. foreign policy.