Administration

Our Equipment and Armory Staff work to ensure that all department owned property and equipment is maintained, serviced, and ready to work when we need them. They ensure that the department personnel have the tools that they need to complete their jobs and are constantly testing equipment for feasibility of use in an ever-evolving law enforcement field.

In 2007, the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office entered into a cooperative agreement with the St. Joseph Police Dept. to provide Tactical Operators to the existing Special Response Team. This agreement created a multi-jurisdictional team while adding manpower and additional resources.

The Special Response Team’s primary mission is to respond to incidents above the realm of normal patrol operations, such as armed barricaded subjects or hostage situations that require the specialized skills, equipment and training of the team. When it is determined there is a probability of armed resistance, the SRT executes search warrants on behalf of the St. Joseph Detective Division, Buchanan County Investigations, Buchanan County Drug Strike Force and the Career Criminals Unit.

All member of the SRT are volunteers. They are selected based on experience, high levels of motivation, excellent physical condition, proficiency with a firearm, dedication, and emotional stability. Each applicant must meet rigorous physical and tactical standards and maintain these standards to remain a member of the team.

SRT Operators train 16 hours a month and are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The training consists of physical conditioning, firearms, structure clearing, serving warrants, hostage rescue tactics, bus and vehicle assaults incidents, open field searches, downed officer rescues, high risk surveillances, dignitary protection and crowd control. Operators on the SRT are all trained in the above listed skill sets. Most all Operators have received additional specialized training in additional skill sets. These include intelligence, chemical munitions, less lethal force options, marksman / observer, specialized breaching, robotics deployments and many others.