CAMP RIPLEY - The training scene was set in "Urban City."
An adult female named Casey - a schizophrenic who attempted to kill herself months earlier - had taken her boyfriend's baby and was holding it hostage at his home. She had a knife and she hated the mother of her boyfriend's baby. She had lost her job, she was upset and delusional.
The lives of the woman and the infant were at stake.
The mock 911 call came in at 6:11 p.m. Tuesday to the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office to be dispatched to the residence in "Urban City," a city made up for the training exercise that took place on the Camp Ripley military grounds.
What would happen next, none of the county's special teams - the bomb squad, the tactical response team, the negotiations team nor even the top administrators hosting the training - knew, just like in a real life situation.
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Lt. Scott Goddard said, "We never know how the training scenarios will play out. We tell our suspect role player on what the situation will be about, but it is open to them to play it out however they want. This is important because you never know how a situation in real life will play out. This allows everyone to think on their feet.
"Our teams know what their responsibilities are and what they need to do."
Sheriff Todd Dahl said the sheriff's office tactical team, which is voluntary, must attend realistic, stress induced training twice a month to maintain their highly trained position on the team. All the teams, along with the sheriff's office equipment, such as its robots with built-in cameras and their BearCat armored truck, do at least two larger scale trainings a year, such as the one held Tuesday.
Dahl said law enforcement officers never know how long a hostage situation or other real life incident will play out. He said it could be a few hours or for three or more days and they must to be prepared for the worse case scenario.
"Everyone responds to stress differently and we are highly trained so we know what we can and can't do in a stressful, potentially dangerous situation," said Dahl. "Training is vital in law enforcement."
Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dennis Lasher said, "With the potential liability in the field of law enforcement in each and every call that is handled, regardless of the magnitude of the call, training and experience backs up the actions and decisions made by officers. Subsequently rigorous training and continued education, in all aspects of an officer's duties not only protects the officer from liability, but the county and taxpayers who may very well be affected.
"An officer will react in a real life situation, exactly as they have been trained. If the officer has not been trained, has attended poor training, or does not engage in training provided, the officer will not rise to the occasion and perform under stress and handle a call adequately.
"Critical perishable skills such as the use of force, firearms, emergency vehicle operations and tactical life threatening situations need to be trained on frequently and as close to at life speed as possible. We can't risk officer and public safety by not keeping our officers well trained and ready for these instances."
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The tactical response team is a multi-jurisdictional team comprised of members from the sheriff's office and police departments in Brainerd, Baxter, Breezy Point and Nisswa. The team also has tactical medics from North Memorial Ambulance.
The tactical response team has the numbers behind it in the number of years of experience of its members. The senior administration team that consists of Dahl, Lasher, Goddard and Dave Fischer has more than 50-60 years of combined experience with the team. The current 17 members of the team add more than a 100 years of experience.
The tactical team is specially equipped to handle a variety of high risk situations to include felony arrest warrants, narcotics related warrants, barricaded suspects, hostage situations, active shooter responses and woodland patrols and searches.
The bomb squad, which is a joint effort between the sheriff's office and the Brainerd Police Department, is currently one of four bomb squads in the state. There are currently five members on the bomb squad who are all hazardous device certified through the FBI.
There are eight members, three who are relatively new to the sheriff's negotiations team with 32 years of experience. The bomb squad has five members, with total team years of experience of 23.
The team members gathered and the "Command Center" was set up near "Urban City" for the training. There was a center for the negotiation team, where Russ Wicklund, assistant Baxter police chief, was given the role as the primary negotiator to talk Casey into surrendering herself and giving up the baby.
Teams were set up as the ones who would patrol the perimeter of the staging area waiting for commands on what they would do next in the hostage/suicidal situation, such as retrieving the baby from the home or making an arrest. Multiple teams are set up as all members must be on high alert during a call, so they must take breaks through position rotations.
Wicklund talked with Casey multiple times throughout the incident. She hung up a few times, but police were able to connect with her again. Casey, who was growing tired, eventually agreed to surrender the baby. She put the baby in a stroller outside the front door of the house with a neon colored street sign. Authorities sent their team out around 7:30 p.m. in the armored vehicle to retrieve the baby, which was a success. Officers observed a knife at Casey's side when she was in the doorway.
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Casey still was in the house and unwilling to come out. She changed her mind and agreed to come outside. She stepped out of the house and ran into the weeds, where she was apprehended by officers, just outside the outer perimeter that they were watching.
Lasher said the training drill went well and helped them see where they need to make changes to things that didn't work. Phone communications were not the best, so that is one aspect the sheriff's office will correct.
Lasher said training helps set the stage for learning where everyone needs to be and what their specific duties are.
"The more training we do the better we become," Lasher said.
