NEWS

December 22, 2010
Tactical response unit has grown

A group of law enforcement officers in Lee County is training together as a multi-force tactical response unit. The unit got its start in Fort Madison and extended the opportunity to participate to the Keokuk Police Department.

The nine-man unit is comprised of four Keokuk officers, four officers from Fort Madison and one sheriff’s deputy. “Fort Madison started this with a grant,” said Keokuk Police Chief Tom Crew. Similar to a SWAT team (a special weapons and tactics team), the tactical response unit is designed to spearhead officer entry into high risk situations at residences or buildings where a possibility of guns and other dangers exist.

The officers, all of whom are volunteers, train with a variety of special equipment using plans that help them “get in and out real fast, and get the arrest made safely and without any problems,” Crew said. Some of the unit’s equipment includes ballistic shields, rams, flashbangs (stun grenades), and other disorienting devices as well as tactical firearms – semi-automatics with sighting capabilities set up for urban use.

For the most part, equipment and uniforms are purchased with grant funds, Crew said. Unit members train together periodically in Keokuk and Fort Madison and out in the county. The group is scheduled to train soon with officers in the city of Washington. The concept of a tactical response team started in the Fort Madison Police Department’s patrol division with Dave Doyle.

Doyle talked about it with fellow officer Bruce Niggemeyer. Niggemeyer, who is now chief of the department, went with Doyle to then Chief Randy Vanwye with the plan. “And he liked it,” Niggemeyer said. That was in October 2006. “When we first organized, we didn’t have a grant so we were always begging and borrowing,” Niggemeyer said.

“The Iowa State Penitentiary had a tactical unit and we were allowed to use some of their helmets and other equipment. We did training with them, but some of our training (has to be) different.” Niggemeyer said much of the prison high risk unit’s protocol is centered around movement from cell to cell in prison confines, whereas the police unit involves entry into residences and related structures.

Niggemeyer applied for a grant from the Southeast Iowa Regional Riverboat Commission, gave a presentation and in 2007 received funding. Since then, the unit has grown into the well-armed and well-trained specialized volunteer unit it is today. Unit members keep their equipment, which includes tactical vests that cover a larger body area and withstand a higher velocity and larger caliber bullet, with them and are at “mission ready status,” Niggemeyer said.

Training is on officers’ own time and occurs one to two times per month for four to six hours each time. Niggemeyer said the training is intense and exceeds the law enforcement academy’s minimum training requirements. Quite a bit of training time is spent on the weapons range.

So far, the most common use of the tactical response unit has been in conjunction with the Lee County Narcotics Task Force. “With most task force search warrants, drugs and guns have gone hand in hand,” Crew said. “Just recently a sawed-off shot gun – sawed off way under the legal limit – was found when the task force executed a search warrant.”

Crew said when a shotgun’s barrel is shortened, the pattern of the buckshot changes from the size of a quarter to maybe a foot wide. Crew said the legalities associated with the multi-department unit are addressed through the use of mutual aid agreements among the agencies.

“This is a tremendous benefit for the city,” Crew said. “Over all, it makes us a safer, more effective department.” Niggemeyer also believes the expanded unit has a greater capability of response. “And this gives us a bigger pool of guys committed to do this on their own time,” he said.

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