KENT

Monday’s Kent Town Board meeting, included a working session to deal with the questions related to Putnam County’s Emergency Response Team, especially what some board members thought was Kent’s unfair share of the cost as well as potential liability for injuries while working on the ERT. “In this economy, we have to look at everything,” Councilman Michael Tierney said.

“Carmel and Kent choose to have police forces, Southeast and other towns do not,” said Tierney, “but everyone benefits from the ERT, which we have to keep.”

The ERT consists of ten Carmel police officers, five Kent police officers, eight Putnam County Sheriff’s Office members, and two members of the county’s Emergency Services Bureau. It was formed in 2005 to train resources in Putnam County to deal with extremely difficult enforcement scenarios: hostage situations, barricaded individuals, liveshooting incidents, etc.

“Over the last few years this team has exceeded my expectations. Our team has reached a very high level of training,” said Sheriff Donald Smith.

Carmel Police Lt. Brian Karst recounted how the specialized training of members in the ERT had diffused potentially deadly situations, as when an armed man threatened to shoot an officer but was wielding a non-lethal weapon. “It was because of his training [the officer] did not use deadly force,” Karst said.

Sheriff Smith pointed out that because the ERT had been called into four situations in Kent, nearly half of its activity since 2005, that Kent was getting value back for the dollars it spends.

Most of the training costs of the team are covered by a Homeland Security grant, though starting in 2010 new limits have been placed on how the money may be used.

“Its easy to look at a team like this and say it represents a liability and some dangerous situations,” Smith admitted. “But not having a professional response team represents more of a safety threat to our officers and the people of Putnam County.”

“The town of Kent is bitter, I’m not going to pretend that its not,” said Penny Ann Osborn, referring to Kent’s tax burden.

Tierney said that his aim was not to abolish the ERT, or impair its ability by withdrawing Kent officers. Instead he wanted the cost to be shared equitably, perhaps at the County level. Currently, the five officers paid by Kent take days to train with the ERT.

Carmel Police Chief Michael Johnson said that even if Kent withdraws there will still be an ERT. “There will be a team, because we have to provide a team,” Johnson said. “But without the Kent officer involved, the team won’t be the same. Kent police will not be the same because the ERT members bring that specialized training back to their departments.”

Tierney and other board members agreed to work with members of the ERT to research and discover exactly what the costs to the Town of Kent are under the current arrangement. Johnson and other officers assured the board that funding was in place for the following fiscal year.

—Michael Brendan Dougherty