Episode 21: Behind the Badge (Emergency Response Teams)

Patrick: I would say discipline, professionalism, being able to maintain your calm in any kind of situation, kind of stick to the script, right? There's an action plan in place, obviously in some of our situations that we encounter, there's a lot of variables that may present themselves, but ultimately, it's a pre planned approach.

Kirstan: That was Patrick, a national trainer for emergency response teams, or ERTs at the Correctional Service of Canada. ERTs are made-up of correctional officers who volunteer for specialized emergency duties inside our federal prisons. From inmates barricading themselves to high-risk escorts and even hostage situations, when emergencies arise, the ERT can be called into action, whether through words or tactics CSC's emergency response teams share one mission, keeping everyone safe.

In this episode, we'll hear more about that as Patrick shares the realities of life on the front lines with the ERT, the commitment it takes to do the job, and what it's like to respond when every second counts. I'm your host Kirstan Gagnon, and welcome to another episode of Prisons Inside / Out.

Well, welcome to our podcast Prisons Inside / Out. What is an emergency response team exactly?

Patrick: So an emergency response team is a specialized security response team that is deployed when disturbances and riots present possibility of serious injury to staff and the use of negotiations have either been attempted and unsuccessful or it’s was determined as an inappropriate option.

Kirstan: So how important is it, I know we talk a lot about dynamic security at the Correctional Service of Canada and talking things through with inmates and trying to deescalate situations. So walk me through how that works.

Patrick: As far as dynamic security, communication is always going to be maintained throughout any kind of intervention when it comes to emergency response teams, our goal is primarily defensive. And throughout the entire intervention, there's going to be continuous opportunities for the inmate to cease and desist their actions so that we can move on to a safer environment, continue to bring the institution to regular order.

Kirstan: So who takes part in an emergency response team or the acronym is ERT. You have a team, but you also are a correctional officer in an institution, so what happens when there's an incident and you're also part of an ERT?

Patrick: So when there's an incident and you're also part of an ERT, normally it all depends what your location is, so you would be either within working shifts, right? You'd be inside, you might be pulled from your post and replaced by other CX in order to fulfill your duties as a emergency response team members or you're just in your daily life and you get a call to respond to the institution in order to assist in the intervention, right.

Kirstan: So would it be fair to say if there's an incident unfolding in the institution and the correctional staff on hands might need backup, they'll call the ERT?

Patrick: Not necessarily the way that backup is called, there'd be like additional resources, so CX that are on the floor that would respond, based on what happens following that isolation containing control, there may be an introduction of ERT following that initial response. So there may be the need for different tools that are specialized in the ERT application.

Kirstan: Might be need for additional like tools and you showed me that whole table that you had kind of set out some of those tools where you would have specialized equipment and ability to I guess assess the situation and determine what is needed.

Patrick: Again, depending on the incident that's at hand, we are going to be presenting an action plan to the institutional head or their delegate. Part of that action plan is going to include exactly what tools, use of force, options that we're planning on bringing with us case dependent on exactly what type of intervention we're doing. For example, if we have an inmate that is barricaded or a population that has caused damage to a living area, which renders it inoperable or unsafe for the subjects that are within that living unit, we may be responsible to breach that area. Relocate the inmates to a safer environment where they can be.

Kirstan: So you're always really thinking about safety at the back of your mind

Patrick: 100%

Kirstan: So Pat, we'd like to give our viewers a better idea picture of what an ERT team may look like and what tools they have at their disposal.

Patrick: Again, a lot of variables whenever we're talking about equipment and the way that we, so for example, like protective clothing will depend on what type of incident that we're responding to. Let's just go with the quickest example of something that is within the institution and let's call it a cell extraction so the removal of an inmate and from one area and then relocating them to another area for whatever reason that may be.

Normally if it's one inmate, you would have a five-man team. So you would have Team Leader, two arrest, which is basically the ones that would be responsible for arrest control techniques, physical handling if required. You would have a rear guard, you would have a shield, and then you could have a cameraman at the back of filming the entire process.

So what you would do is you would assign roles based on any kind of variables that may present themselves at this time. The team would be brief following the action plan presented to the institutional head. Team leader would come back with confirmed plan. All of that information would be provided to the team. So we know exactly what cell we're going to, where the inmate is going, where we'd be decontaminating if required.

Our team would then advance, we would go and complete a briefing with the healthcare services where we explain what our intention is to do during this process, any kind of medical considerations that may be present. And then we'd carry out advancing to the location of where the inmate is located. Once we get to the inmate or the location of the inmate, we would again kind of assign roles and responsibilities that specific if we need a certain breaching tools or the additional tools that we may require during the intervention. And then we would advance to the perspective.

Kirstan: Are there times where just we doing all these steps may take too much time for the incident you have to deal with and you have to work more quickly?

Patrick: There definitely are situations where we are expected to respond a little bit more quickly when there's let's say medical concerns or significant need for life saving measures and whatever type of scenario. Again, the variables here are endless, but there will be a little bit of a fast-track approach whenever we need to get ready and get out the door as soon as we can compared to something that may need a little bit more of planned response where time might be our friend. We might let time kind of elapse, maybe deescalates on its own there, there. There might be a little bit of a different variable there, but there are the situations where again, lots of variables on this end, but where there's the need for not spontaneous but quicker intervention by your team members.

Kirstan: And you're all trained and life saving measures, so you would you would also be able to resuscitate somebody, for example.

Patrick: Yes, we received first aid training on an annual basis or not on an annual basis, sorry, on the triannual basis. And we go through certain scenarios in our training that that enable us to be able to perform life saving measures. And that if we face it with that, that situation, right. For example, some of our training revolves around unconscious subject management, what we do when we encounter those kinds of details.

Kirstan: So in terms of being part of an emergency response team, do you have specialized training then to, to know which interventions to use and which tools?

Patrick: So when it comes to our specialized, the training we do. So it would all start at the selection process or even before that. A lot of what you would carry out through a, as far as skill set and emergency response team is a lot of what you would learn in a correctional training program initially and then your continuous development training past that. Once you're identified as an ERT member through selection process, interviews, physical fitness testing and all that good stuff, you would then receive specialized training, which would start with in class training, about 80 hours that covers multiple topics that are specific to ERT application. And then you would get a three-week period where you get the chance to work with specialized skills, specialized tools, go through the process of running scenarios that you may be encountering through ERT interventions.

Kirstan: So I tested one of the shields. It was very heavy. So you'd also say physical fitness is important, right?

Patrick: 100% there is that expectation to be physically fit and to maintain that level of physical fitness. For that reason, part of our selection process is physical testing where you'd be evaluated on your performance and your physical abilities.

Kirstan: And we talked about communication being just so important in this line of work. Is that always the starting point for any intervention?

Patrick: I would say it's the starting point even before our intervention as far as the ERT goes, if there is the possibility to safely do so, there are crisis negotiators that initialized contact with the inmates that are at in, in subject following the either unsuccessful negotiations or if they're deemed as inappropriate option ERT is always going to maintain those verbals, provide verbal direction, verbal orders as to what we're expecting the inmates to do before the introduction of any kind of use of force.

Kirstan: And what about communication within your own teammates? You get trained on that as well?

Patrick: Yes, part of our training goes into communication where we have all specified specific roles prior to our intervention itself. There would be significant action planning going on in our team room where everyone is assigned a task. There is the expectation that you know exactly what you're going to be doing a variables of those responsibilities depending on what kind of situation we're faced with.

Kirstan: And so during an incident, you would have really good timing, really good communication. What else goes into it?

Patrick: I would say discipline, professionalism, being able to maintain your calm in any kind of situation, kind of stick to the script, right? There's an action plan in place, obviously, that in some of our situations that we encounter, there's a lot of variables that may present themselves, but ultimately it's a pre planned approach and the very systematic approach. So for everyone to stick to their roles and be able to remain in check if you will, for simplified version of the term, you stick to the script and you stick to your responsibilities. Whenever you're doing your intervention.

Kirstan: You certainly seem calm and able to focus on what you have to do. In terms of ERTs, would you say that there's one this is a maximum security institution. Would we find ERT's all over or would there be access to an ERT?

Patrick: Every institution should have a emergency response team or a security response capability except for some standalone minimum institutions that have a kind of a specific response option when it comes to ERT applications.

Kirstan: OK. And how does it work in a woman's institution? Is it any different?

Patrick: So female emergency response teams are slightly different in the sense that all members are expected to be female and gender. They do have a portion of their training, both in initial training and annual development that is specifically catered to work with female vendors.

There's also some of our force options that we would use in the male max or male medium that are not available in female institutions. So those portions of training are removed from their curriculum.

Kirstan: So it's just a little bit different depending on the I guess they would deal with different types of populations.

Patrick: That's right. Yeah, different, but as capable.

Kirstan: Absolutely. Having all that equipment, would you say that that makes a statement and it's in itself like in terms of inmates seeing the team arrive and that already just deescalating a situation.

Patrick: The presence of the ERT is kind of the first, I don't want to call that line of defence, but our presence there is number one on our whole approach, right? The fact that we are equipped, we have specialized tools again are our main focus is to carry out our duties safely. And if we can remove the inmate without any kind of use of force, that's ultimately the goal. So the, the sheer appearance of the team, the way that we carry ourselves, we look professional, we have specialized equipment that enables us to, to pretty much achieve anything that we're looking to achieve whenever it comes time for interventions should have a, an effect, a significant effect, effect on how the inmates see us, right?

Kirstan: And just to demystify what some people might be thinking, that an ERT team comes in with heavy weapons and uses them right away. That's not what you're about, right?

Patrick: No, our role is primarily defensive. Again, our goal is to maintain safety for inmates, public and staff alike.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, all of our force options are presented in the action plan and, and up for approval. Again, we have to have proper justification as to why we're bringing the tools that we're bringing with us. Meanwhile, those tools and being possibly not be used whatsoever and the use of force may not be an option or it may always be an option, but not, not a resource at the time of the intervention. It may not be needed whatsoever, right?

Kirstan: To start with words and work your way through, right?

Patrick: That's right. Or start with words and maintain words and then carry out whatever else is required during the intervention, right? Because we're always going to maintain those verbals regardless of having to use force of option tools. You have to provide direction. You have to provide orders. You can't just introduce a bunch of pepper spray and not and expect them to know exactly what you want them to do, right? You have to provide those verbals at all times.

Kirstan: In terms of execution, I wanna just talk a bit about that. Can you give me some examples of some incidents or types of incidents that would require an emergency response team intervention?

Patrick: Yeah. So there is a long list into kind of narrow them all out. We’d be here for a significant amount of time. But for example, there is a medical escort of a high-risk subject. So subject in custody that either has a criminal affiliations that present a high risk whenever he's outside of the reserves of the institution or possibly the nature of his crime presents a risk to outside the reserve.

A collection of evidence following a major crime. For example, if there is a soiled clothing that has blood on it, or there is the use of a weapon in a major crime, there might be the use of ERT to gather that evidence.

Kirstan: And day-to-day, what would you say is like, you know, some of the main things that come up that you see most often?

Patrick: All depending on the institution. We're, we're talking about different institutions deal with their kind of situational factors, if you will, the, the things that are more prevalent to them. For us here at Atlantic Institution our main, I would say application is a lot of times the cell extractions. So the being able to safely remove an individual from a cell or a confined area and relocate them to another area for multiple reasons.

Kirstan: So if they don't want to voluntarily leave themselves, we might have to remove an inmate?

Patrick: 100%, so the situation varies quite significantly, maybe due to the fact that they're unsafe in that area and they're not willing to leave on their own. It may be that they present the risk to other population in that in that area maybe that they have they're yielding a weapon, they're making demands such as that, all kinds of different possibilities that can come up.

Kirstan: And do you ever get called when you're not on shift, when you're not working?

Patrick: Yes, we are technically on call 24/7. There is the expectation of being available, being reliable as a team member is a pretty big asset in our world. A lot of times our team leaders rely on a significant amount of members be able to present themselves and be available for any kind of intervention. So there is the possibility of members not being able to attend the holidays per se or special family events or be pulled away from them. So there is that.

Kirstan: And would you say that you must trust those that you work with because you have to have your back at the end of the day?

Patrick: There is a high level of trust in teams. They work together in high stress environments over and over again on repetitive nature. So I would say over the length of time, it's people that you trust that you do these interventions in a little bit of a higher danger scenario. So there is that #1 expectation that you can kind of rely on your, on your fellow team members and the fact that you're in that scenario over and over and over again builds that trust.

Kirstan: And, and what about that continuous learning that you talked about? What's the opportunity after something happens?

Patrick: After something happens, one of our main opportunities is debrief. We’ll go over exactly what was done, how it was done, the things that went very well, things get that could have been done better.

Maybe we want to make adjustments for the next time we encounter the same scenario and just kind of going through the motions as to what was exercised.

Kirstan: And we talked a little bit earlier, um, when you were showing me around about, you know, how some of your teammates and yourself may be exposed to some pretty difficult situations and how you cope with that and what supports are available. And I know you walk through how the training and the, the different scenarios that you may see in the course of your job prepare you for the types of scenarios you may have to deal with. But you also spoke to me about a few other things. You wanna maybe explore that a bit.

Patrick: Again, like you mentioned, the fact that we're, we have additional training, specialized training in dealing with those kinds of incidents normally give us a little bit of a better understanding how to deal with them. The fact that we debrief, we talk amongst ourselves and kind of go over the situation itself. If there's any type of need that that exceeds those two factors, we move into communicating with your fellow team members. If you need to hash it out with someone in particular, you should be able to trust them in in the fact that you need to talk to someone or we also have EAP and CISM available to our employees that we're able to kind of access kind of mental health services or whatever arise.

Kirstan: Great. And what do you love the most about this job.

Patrick: What do I love the most about my role in emergency response team? I would say it's the teamwork aspect of it all. Being able to work with and learn from like minded individuals. The topics that we cover and the training, the additional training that we receive has become kind of a passion of mine.

In addition to that, it's giving me an opportunity to travel the country, meet other emergency response teams, trainers and yeah.

Kirstan: So are you training people now?

Patrick: Yes, I'm a national trainer for emergency response team. So mainly our region of Atlantic. I provide training to basically new members or already existing members that need that continuous development training. And then I may be called upon to go to another region to provide that assistance as well.

Kirstan: Well, thank you for your service. And I'd like to give a shout out to all those other ERT teams across Canada for the work they do each and every day to keep Canadians safe.

Patrick: Thank you very much.

Kirstan: Thank you.

That's all for today's episode. If you like this interview, be sure to check out our other Behind the Badge episodes. Thanks again to Patrick for sharing his experience with us.

This has been a production of the Correctional Service of Canada and I've been your host, Kirstan Gagnon. Thanks so much for listening.