Emergency Response Team History - 1990 - Present

           ERT LOGO                                          1990 ERT Unit

                                                  2011 ERT Unit

                                   New Rapid Deployment Vehicle 2012

The Team’s History 1990-Present

The Newington Police Department’s Emergency Respond Team (ERT) was founded in 1990 after a hostage incident and shooting in Town.  The team was approved by Chief Thomas Ganley who named Lt. William “Bill” Cotter as the first Team Commander.  Lt. Cotter began the team’s selection process that tested each applicant’s suitability mentally and physically.  Lt. Cotter established contact with the New Haven Connecticut F.B.I. SWAT team whom agreed to provide the basic training for the unit.  From that basic training course the team began to train on a regular basis to improve their skill levels.

Since 1990 the team has had a series of exceptional Team Commanders:

Lt. William Cotter 1990 to March 11, 1994

Lt. Nicholas Miano March 11, 1994 to April 10, 2001

Lt. Stephen Clark April 04, 2001 to January 2006

Lt. William Darby January 27, 2006 to May 14, 2010

Lt. John Johnson May 14, 2010 to present

In addition to the team commanders the team has been lead by the following Team Leaders

Sgt. Frederick Casioppo           1990-Septembeer 1990

Sgt. Nicholas Miano                 September 1990 to March 1994

Sgt. Steven Clark                     December 1994 to December 1996

Sgt. John Johnson                     December 1996 to December 2006

Sgt. Brendan Moon                  December 2006 to October 2011

Sgt. William Jameson                November 2011 to present  

From 1990 till March of 1994 Chief Thomas Ganley and the ERT team members worked diligently to build and equip the team.  The department was able to add a surplus Ambulance to the fleet to serve as the ERT main transport vehicle and mobile command post.  Additional equipment such as uniforms, hardware, and other items were secured through the Federal Surplus Program (1033) and through many fund raising events conducted by team members. 

In 1991 Officers John Johnson and Robert Womer were trained as the team’s first snipers by the FBI.  In early 1993 Officer Michael Tkac took over as the departmental sniper after Officer Johnson was promoted to sergeant.  Over the following years the following officers served as departmental snipers:

Off. John Johnson               1991 to 1993

Off. Robert Womer              1991 to 1998

Sgt. Michael Tkac               1993 to 2006

MPO Raymond Reynolds    1998 to 2000

Off. James Johnson            July 1998 to present

Off. Ryan Deane                 November 2008 to present

The current team are active members of the American Sniper Association and have competed in the Crosshairs Incorporated New England Police Sniper competition in Harvard MA., the Connecticut SWAT Challenge, and compete yearly at the Snipercraft Sniper week, a national police sniper competition held in St. Petersburg FL.  The current team members have been trained in basic, advanced, urban sniper, other sniper disciplines and train monthly with ERT unit.  The team has received training from the FBI, Snipercraft Inc., Sigarms Inc., and Crosshairs Inc.

Chief Richard Klett was appointed Chief of Police in July of 1994 and continued to support the ERT mission with manpower and equipment.  During this time period Data Mail (a private company in Town) made a donation of $10,000 to the ERT for outfitting the ERT’s vehicle.  In 2002 the Town purchased a new equipment trailer to house the team’s equipment.  Chief Klett began planning with the Fire and EMS services to create a mobile command post that would be used at ERT incidents.  The vehicle, a 2001 Winnebago, was purchased in 2001 as is know as CP-8.  Chief Klett retired in December 2001.
 
Chief Richard Mulhall was appointed Chief of Police in April of 2002 and carried on the tradition of full support of the ERT mission.  In 2003 Chief Mulhall worked with the Capital Region Chiefs of Police to secure Homeland funding for the eight regional SWAT/ERT units.  The Chiefs of Police Association efforts have resulted in the coordination of the eight teams within the Capital Region.  With that coordination each teams’ equipment has been upgraded including new ballistic helmets with state of the art communications gear, standard radio systems and frequencies  that allow all teams to communicate with each other, tactical vests, medical kits, ballistic shields, pole cameras, eye ball cameras, night vision equipment, tactical ballistic blankets, long range acoustical devices (LRADX), and other equipment.  On January 27, 2006 Chief Mulhall named Lt. William Darby to be the 4th team commander of the unit.  Lt. Darby retired from the deparmtent on May 28, 2010 and Chief Mulhall named Lt. John Johnson as the 5th Team Commander of the unit. 

Currently the Newington ERT unit is equipped with state of the art equipment and weapons.  The officers are equipped with handguns, MP-5 machine guns, AR15 type rifles, state of the art sniper equipment, chemical resources, Tasers and other emergency equipment. 

Over the years the ERT has responded to many incidents and here are a few summary examples of team activations:

• Armed barricaded persons at local businesses, apartment complexes, and private homes.  The suspects were taken into custody and handguns, shotguns, rifles, and knifes were seized.
• Search Warrants – narcotics where narcotics were recovered along with handguns, rifles, shotguns were seized. 
• Armed suicidal person at local motel complexes.  The suspects was taken into custody and transported to hospital for emergency committal and handguns, shotguns were recovered.
• Area search for armed suspect – assist other department.  The suspect was found dead of self inflicted gun shot.
• Area search for armed suspect who murdered an East Hartford Police Officer.  Area searched with negative results.  The suspects were apprehended days later.
• Search and Arrest warrant assist to IRS.  The suspect was taken into custody and turn over to Federal Authorities.
• Murdered police officer at a domestic at a private home.  The suspect barricaded himself into the home and fired at responding officers with a high powered rifle.  Team sniper was able to wound the individual who latter took his own life.  The murder weapon and other weapons were seized.

2006 and 2007 SWAT Challenge

The Newington ERT has participated in the Connecticut SWAT Challenge in 2006 and 2007.  The State competition involves over 24 teams making it the 4th largest SWAT competition in the United States.  Local SWAT teams, State Police ERT units, Department of Corrections SOG's, United States Army and Air Force units and the Federal Bureau of Prisons all participated in this event.   In 2006 our team finished in 6th place and it 2007 the team finished 4th out of 26 teams. 
The Challenge consisted of seven events – physical fitness challenge a 6.2 mile PT challenge had 18 testing stations along the course which were all designed to test the physical and mental fortitude of the operators this is the most grueling physical fitness challenge of any SWAT/ERT unit in America. handgun testing, rifle testing, three gun testing, bus assault, and hostage rescue.
The team won the Stag Arms Rifle Challenge in 2006 and 2007.  This was one of the major events in the overall competition.

           Barricade Training                                   Entry Training

           School Bus Entry                                 Gas Training

         Defensive Tactics                                  Handgun Training

              Rifle Training                                    Strength Training

        Water/Terrain Training                           Evacuation Training

2011 Current Team Members

Lt. John Johnson – Team Commander

Sgt. William Jameson – Team Leader

Sgt. Jason Saccente – Assistant Team Leader

MPO James Johnson – Sniper/Observer

Officer William Jordan – Entry Team Operator

Officer Jeffrey Wagner – Entry Team Operator – K-9

Officer Henry Rodriguez – Entry Team Operator

Officer Eric Petlik – Entry Team Operator

Officer Ryan Deane - Sniper/Observer

Officer Derek Aivano – Entry Team Operator

Officer Timothy Buggee - Entry Team Operator

Officer Timothy Rinaldo - Entry Team Operator

Sgt. Jeanine Allin – Crisis Negotiator

Sgt. Kenneth O’Brien – Crisis Negotiator

Off. Daniel Kaufmann – Crisis Negotiator

Off. Jamie Cipolla - Crisis Negotiator

Former Members

Lt. William Cotter – Team Commander (1990)

Lt. Frederick Casioppo – Team Leader (1994)

Lt. Nicholas Miano – Team Commander and Team Leader (2001)

Lt. Steven Clark – Team Commander and Team Operator (2006)

Lt. William Darby – Team Commander (2010)

Sgt. Brendan Moon – Team Leader (2011)

Sgt. Claude Steiner – Operator

Sgt. Christopher Perry – Operator

Sgt. Geoffrey Anderson – Asst. Team Leader

Sgt. Michael Tkac – Sniper/Observer

Sgt. James LoStocco – Asst Team Leader

Sgt. John Zematis – Operator

Det. Laurence DeSimone – Asst. Team Leader (2011)

Det. Paul Camera – Asst. Team Leader (2011)

Det. Anthony Casasanta – Operator

Det. Daniel Reed – Operator

MPO Robert Womer – Operator

MPO James Horan - Operator

MPO Brian Gallagher - Operator

MPO Raymond Reynolds – Sniper/Observer

Officer James Doyle – Operator

Off. Paul Boutot – Operator

Off. Brendan Fitzgerald – Operator

Off. Ciara McDermott – Crisis Negotiator

Det. Ronald Manzione – Crisis Negotiator

MPO Brian Skehan - Crisis Negotiator

MPO John DiNardi – Crisis Negotiator

We thank all of the officers that have been involved with our Emergency Response Team.