YORK COUNTY, Pa. — The York County Quick Response Team has been providing specialized training to a select group of law enforcement officers in York County since 2002.
The goal is to utilize these officers in the resolution of high-risk and volatile situations.
“Our mission is to support the police on high profile, important incidents where they don’t have the resources or the knowledge to resolve, we come in and help out with that," said Matthew Emig from the York County Quick Response Team.
The team has roughly 25 tactical operators and about 20 negotiators.
“When we get called in on a part-time basis to deal with these high profile incidents, we could deal with any number of different things, somebody in crisis, a barricaded subject, a person with a high-risk warrant, something along those lines that we would be called to resolve," said Emig.
The tactical members train twice a month and negotiators once a month.
“A lot of our training is based on tactics where our guys go and learn specific tactics to be able to move through buildings, do rural tracking. We also do a lot of training for equipment and breaching and things along those lines," said Emig.
The officers in this unit are dedicated to protecting York County citizens and assisting local law enforcement agencies during critical incidents.
“When the police call us, it means that there’s a big problem and we’re the guys that are trained to deal with it in the best way for everybody, including the police, including the citizens that we're called to help that day," said Emig.
A lot of the response team’s funding comes from the York County commissioners through the District Attorney’s office.
“A lot of [the] money we use for protective equipment for our guys. Vests, uniforms, things that we use to keep our guys safe when they’re out in the field doing this type of job," said Emig.
They also raise funds through their annual quick response team golf challenge. This year the event is taking place on Sept. 16 at the Grandview Golf course.
“Without the money that comes from this event, our guys would lack certain equipment that we need to operate in the field effectively, without this event and the money that comes from it, we might have to go without," said Emig.
The team is hoping that the community will come out to the annual golf tournament and support them so they can continue their mission.
