The more you know about SRT

By Staff
Melissa Cason, FCT Writer
I attended the mock disaster drill in Red Bay last week, and really learned about a number of different things.
But, of all the things I learned, the most surprising was all the things that Franklin County's Special Response Team does.
Our SRT is a group of highly trained law enforcement officials who are dedicated to the safety of everyone in the county.
SRT is kind of like a SWAT team and drug task force combined.
The team members are trained in SWAT tactics.
Since it's formation in March 2006, the team has been deployed numerous times from serving high risk search warrants to helping make drug busts in our county.
I learned most of these things while researching different stories over the past six months. But, what I didn't know is how different this group is from conventional SWAT teams or Drug Task Force.
While these other groups work only in certain situations, our SRT can be utilized for many different purposes, like helping to secure the scene of a serious accident or for crowd control during a disaster of any kind.
I guess we can think of our SRT as a little Army.
My older brother, Robert, is a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army, and he wears many hats in his job, from babysitter to an instructor.
We should think of our SRT like this.
They are group of highly trained individuals, and they wear many hats, from police officer or deputy, investigator, or paramedic and all are a member of an elite team designed to help protect our county.
Many people may feel that the formation of this team is not necessary for our little tranquil county, but to know that we do need this team in our county, you need not to look any further than the front page of our newspaper.
This county has become a resting place for drug distributors, and those who will do anything from stealing to assault to get their fix
While the Sheriff has done a great job of getting these criminals off the streets, our county and city investigators now have the security of knowing that there is a specialized team available to lend them a hand if needed.
I say that is money well spent, and a community well served.