Correctional emergency response team
A correctional emergency response team is a team of specially trained prison officers tasked with responding to disturbances, riots, cell extractions, mass searches, and other situations in prisons that are likely to involve uncooperative or violent prisoners.
Duties
Possible duties of a CRT include transport of high risk inmates, extracting uncooperative prisoners from their cells, daily full cell searches and high profile security, barricaded persons, riots, mass arrest, high risk or high profile transport and hostages situations, as well as crowd control.A standard cell extraction team may consists of the following:
- CRT team leader "leads", and is the only person who may give verbal commands to both the inmate and to their own team. Requires spoken communication skills and anger de-escalation techniques.
- The equipment/video member "EQV" captures the entire response on video.
- CRT officer "1" is the lead member, first in to deal with the inmate. Usually a shield man.
- CRT officer "2" is the second team member in. Usually assigned to immobilize the right arm/hand.
- CRT officer "3" is the third team member in. Usually assigned to immobilize the left arm/hand.
- CRT officer "4" is the fourth team member in. Usually assigned to immobilize the right leg.
- CRT officer "5" is the fifth team member in. Usually assigned to immobilize the left leg.
- CRT officer "6" is the sixth team member in. Usually assigned to apply restraints.
Gear
A CRT officer may also be outfitted with a less-than-lethal shotgun, taser, OC spray, or lethal weapons such as firearms.
Countries
Australia
New South Wales
China
Hong Kong
With a size of around 152 part-time personnel, the special response unit of the Correctional Services Department was set under the organisation of the escort and support group.The Hong Kong CERT handles emergency and riots with Hong Kong's prison system. Members are equipped with less lethal weaponry such as pepper spray.
Firearms are used as a last resort.