Special Units
The Department of Detention and Community Programs operates special units that respond to high-risk detention situations
Emergency Response Team
The Emergency Response Team drills in a Broward County jail facility. Continued training is essential to an effective response. When emergency or high-risk situations occur at any Broward Sheriff's Office jail facility, BSO's Emergency Response Team is called upon to restore calm. Designed to respond to inmate uprisings and other potentially difficult or life-threatening scenarios, team members are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
ERT deputies must attend special training seminars each year focusing on tactical handgun, shotgun and rifle proficiency, chemical agent deployment, riot control, cell extractions, high-risk prisoner transport, perimeter security, prisoner evacuation and escapee recovery. BSO's 50 member ERT team is comprised of deputies who serve agency-wide in various departments.
Security Threat Group Initiative
BSO's Security Threat Group (STG) Initiative identifies, monitors and tracks high security risk groups, gangs and gang members booked into Broward Sheriff's Office jails. The team gathers information and intelligence on these groups and individuals to ensure control within the detention facilities and to afford proper care and management of the incarcerated population.
Civilian and certified staff members, generally those assigned to detention facilities, volunteer to identify and monitor security threat groups as they progress through the jail system. An STG facility coordinator is assigned to each of the agency's jails and works in conjunction with a team of specialists who interview gang members, watch for contraband and graffiti and monitor the facility's population for signs of gang-related and illegal activities.
Through monthly meetings and updates, coordinators provide resources, support and assistance while collecting and analyzing data housed in a central database allowing fast access to STG-related information and incidents.