SPECIAL
OCCURRENCE RESPONSE TEAM
The
Whittier Police Department Special Occurrence
Response Team (S.O.R.T.) is a highly trained
tactical unit responsible for handling major
incidents such as riots, demonstrations and other
disturbances. Los
Angeles County is divided into several different
areas. The Whittier S.O.R.T Team is part of
Area-E and conducts training with other Area-E S.O.R.T Teams as part of a mutual aid system in
case of a large scale emergency.
The
S.O.R.T team is comprised of officers assigned to
the City of Whittier and Santa Fe Springs.
Whenever the SORT Team is activated, officers from
both cities are used to handle the situation.
The S.O.R.T Team utilizes a Chevy Suburban, a
mobile command center and
additional police cars for transportation of
personnel and specialized equipment to the scene
of incident.
The S.O.R.T. Team is sometimes used to assist with
control over areas that have major emergencies.
In October 2008 and 2009, the SORT Team responded
to the areas of wild fires and provided additional
assistance in evacuation notification and security
of homes which had been evacuated.
In
addition to the S.O.R.T. Team’s responsibilities for
crowd control, they are responsible for assisting
the Entry Team on search warrants. Their
main function in these situations is to maintain
the perimeter. Should anyone flee from the
location, the S.O.R.T.
Team would be responsible for
apprehending them at the perimeter.
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