Elite Ohio State Highway Patrol Special Response Team Trained To Handle Dangerous Situations

The Ohio State Highway Patrol's Special Response Team is an elite unit of highly-trained troopers that handles situations like serving more than 800 arrest warrants a year to handling barricade situations and incidents involving hostages.
 
The team takes about 300 calls each year between OSHP assignments and mutual aid requests, CrimeTracker 10's Angela An reported.  They cover the entire state of Ohio and beyond.
 
CrimeTracker 10 recently went on an assignment with the SRT that started at 6 a.m.  It was a high-risk search warrant.  It was one of nearly 800 they execute every year, but members said that every mission is unlike the one before.
 
"We never know what's going to happen," said Staff Lt. Steve Rosta.  "Tomorrow we may be requested to help out with flooding on the Ohio River.  We don't know if tomorrow we'll be on a manhunt someplace."
 
Rosta has served as the SRT's tactical commander since 2000.  A former Green Beret, Rosta is also one of the original members who started the SRT in 1990.   He said that the team is trained to handle multiple missions, including hostage/barricade, high speed/stationary vehicle assaults, high risk warrant service, executive protection-advance team security, and mutual aid response to outside agencies.
 
Out of the nearly 1,500 troopers who serve in the Ohio State Highway Patrol, only 26 are selected for the Special Response Team, CrimeTracker 10's Angela An reported.  Each team is broken up into three eight-person squads:  Red Squad, White Squad and Blue Squad.  They are strategically based throughout the state to maximize response time.

The members must go through three intense days of physical and mental testing, including sleep deprivation, to be a part of the team.  Some assignments could last for multiple days.
 
"We have to get in to do to the work - whether it's to save somebody from a hostage situation or going to make sure someone is safe -- that's why we train in all those," Rosta said.
 
Some of the unit's most critical moments for their many dangerous tasks take less than 10 seconds, including approaching a helicopter undercover and lifting off seconds later.  They also train to drop 40 feet down the side of a building and fire multiple weapons back-to-back.
 
"We are the division's response to very bad critical incidents," Rosta said.   Specialized training includes advanced marksmanship for the snipers and handling explosives for structure breaches when needed. 
 
The SRT also has equipment that matches the military, including a ballistic engineered response vehicle that can stop rifle fire.  It is equipped to carry 10-12 unit members at a time or evacuate up to 30 civilians if needed.
 
Sgt. Scott Demmitt said that the BEAR's infrared cameras recently helped them spot a man who set his house on fire and tried to hide in the smoke.  There is also a 360-degree-style turret that gives SRT members an extra advantage from above.
 
"This allows the capability -- right up into the front yard -- where the nose is touching the porch and you can't get much closer than that," Demmitt said.
 
The BEAR was used in Athens in 2009 when the SRT helped the county hunt down dangerous fugitives, An reported.

SRT members said that they are proud to be one of only four full-time SWAT units in Ohio, besides those in Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo.  

"Not only do we get requested, but we also request help," Rosta said.  "We've really seen an upswing in our call for requests.  I don't know if that's just the economy or the fact that people now know that we have a viable unit to come and help out when they need that help."
 
The team knows that a safe mission is a successful mission, An reported.
 
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