PRIORITY ONE: A Special Response Team (SRT) for Kerr County

Kerr County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team (SRT) will maintain a team of highly-trained officers who are prepared and equipped to resolve critical incidents which go beyond the scope of normal police operations. Commonly known as a SWAT team, the SRT’s primary objective is to save lives by resolving critical incidents with decisiveness and precision.  Utilizing a variety of specialized tools, weapons, and team-based tactics SRT will be prepared to respond to any threat facing Kerr County. Team members are selected from the ranks of the department and serve on SRT as a collateral duty in addition to their regular assignments.

Currently the KCSO does not have a Tactical Team and is in the base stages of outfitting, training and developing a team to meet the special needs of ongoing narcotics investigations. These special needs are not limited to special threats that may arise from Drug Crimes, Human Trafficking and Financial crimes related to the drug trade and Criminal Organizations. KCSO has been contacted on several occasions with concerns of Border Security and how is crime going to be affected in Kerr County.

In response to these requests Sheriff Leitha has been developing a multiple prong approach to include the development of the SRT to help keep Kerr County residents safe in response to deterioration of border security. A specialized tactical unit would help with the combating of border related crimes that are brought to Kerr County.

Currently the Kerrville Police Department has a tactical team (Special Operations Unit), but  to the increase in narcotics investigations done by KCSO, Kerrville SOU is not always available to assist, due to manpower and policy related issues. KCSO SRT will also train and work with KPD SOU in the event of a large scale operation or critical incident (ie.Rio 10 Theater). This cross training with units creates a cohesive massed unit to respond and address the incident.  The development of this team is new to KCSO and does not meet previous budgetary line items for this fiscal year.

The Kerr County Sheriff's Foundation will direct 100% of funds for this project to helping Sheriff Leitha and the KCSO leadership meet equipment and training goals for the SRT. As a growing and changing county, the Kerr County Sheriff's Foundation believes this is a vital public need, and worthy of the full support of our community. The KSCF is an IRS 501c(3) Nonprofit Organization. 

If you would like to learn more about this KCSF project, we'd love to connect with you and answer and questions you might have. We are also accepting tax-deductible donations at this time to make this project a success.