The Emergency Response Team (ERT) was designed to handle large scale incidents requiring a response by multiple members of the agency. The team’s primary mission is to handle crowd control or civil unrest situations, but is called upon to provide a number of support services to other units throughout the agency.
Deputy sheriff's from other units and one medic currently volunteer to serve on the Orange County Sheriff's Office Emergency Response Team. They are considered to be the agency's "go to" deputies when any emergency situation arises.
They are trained to deal with riots, provide long-term and specialized support during a natural disaster and provide manpower and support during search and recovery operations.
They play an active role in evidence searches and are instrumental role in keeping the peace during major area sporting events. Because they are trained to quickly mobilize and do it all they are, in a sense, the swiss army knife, of the sheriff's office.
During 2015, ERT conducted 14 field operations while conducting over 11,000 hours of training to include 2,632 hours of training agency personnel in mobile field force operations. The ERT has an extensive inventory of equipment to include an armored vehicle, personnel protective gear and equipment, and several L-Rad systems.
ERT conducted several searches for missing persons and evidence for the Criminal Investigations Division. The team assisted with weekend crowd control during the Annual Florida Classic Football Game and conducted quarterly directed patrols in the high crime areas of Orange County. ERT members provided Move to Contact training sessions for new hires in the Field Training and Evaluation Program (FTEP).
The team also trained with several other Emergency Response Teams from agencies throughout the Central Florida Region.