Special Response Team (SRT)

The Forest Park Police Special Response Team was established in the spring of 1997 to answer the growing need for a highly trained, effective counter drug unit.

Twelve members of the Forest Park Police Department were selected to attend an advanced training course, where the team received numerous hours of practical training, based on real-life scenarios incorporating intelligence gathering, detailed raid planning and methodical rehearsals. The team continues to train once a month, focusing on planning and preparedness, along with marksmanship skills.

As the team evolved, their responsibilites included planning for containment of barricaded subjects. The team’s training includes the immediate response to hostage situations in the workplace and/or schools, not unlike the horrible incident taht occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999, where thirteen lives were lost.

Although the members of the Forest Park Police Department are hopeful that this type of incident will never occur in our village, it is our intent to insure that the Forest Park Police Department S.R.T. is prepared to respond in a swift and effective manner, should the need ever arise.