Special Police Emergency Response Team (SPERT) - TEAM 800

Objective:


The objective is to provide the county of Cumberland and all local communities with a professional team of Volunteer personnel trained to handle traffic/crowd control and security at unusual disaster incidents within our area.  Provide mutual aid assistance to County, local government and state agencies when requested.
Assistance may include any duties authorized under the Commonwealth of PA laws governing Special Fire Police (Title 35)

Operation

A group of officers will command team members and establish team member certification requirements and SOGs. When dispatched by Cumberland County Communications Center, a team commander will:
  • Coordinate with the local incident command
  • Determine the scope and needs of the incident
  • Be responsible for requesting necessary resources.       

Commanders


Four team commanders are nominated; one overall commander and one commander from each zone, when such nominees are available.  Nominations are made at the Cumberland County Special Fire Police Association Captains work session.  Nominees must be a Captain or Lieutenant with Cumberland County Special Fire Police. They must also meet the training requirements of the teams SOGs prior to conformation. The term of office is a period of three (3) years.  A nominee may be a current commander in good standing.  The nominees are approved by the membership of the county association at the October meeting.

Coverage


The team would operate under three zones  Zone One (East), Zone Two (Central), and Zone Three (West) as currently defined by the County EOC.
  • Zone 1 - New Cumberland, Lemoyne, Wormleysburg, West Fairview, East Pennsboro Twp, Camp Hill, Lower Allen Twp, Shiremanstown, Hampden Twp., Silver Spring Twp., Monroe Twp., Mechanicsburg., Upper Allen Twp.
  • Zone 2 - Middlesex Twp., South Middleton Twp., Carlisle, North Middleton Twp., Mt Holly Springs, Dickinson Twp., Lower Frankford Twp., West Pennsboro Twp., Upper Frankford Twp., Penn Twp., Cooke Twp.
  • Zone 3- Lower Mifflin Twp., Upper Mifflin Twp., North Newton Twp., South Newton Twp., Newville, Hopewell Twp., South Hampton Twp., Shippensburg, Shippensburg Twp., Newburg

Guidelines


Any local command (in or out of county) may request the services of the SPERT team. 
  • Local command must make a request for the team to be dispatched.  This notification should be made to the Cumberland County Communications Center by radio or telephone
  • The notification shall include name, title, telephone numbers and the channel assignment for the incident
  • The Communications Center will contact a zone commander
  • The commander will respond to the incident to determine the needs of the local incident commander
  • After these needs are identified, it will be the responsibility of the zone commander to request resources and coordinate deployment
  • The zone commander will not be in charge of any part of the incident unless requested by the local command 

Resource List


The SPERT Team creates a resource list of equipment needed for traffic and crowd control. The list would be of available resources for use in scene and traffic control that can be pressed into use for extended periods of time. This would include but not be limited to known local area sources of barricades, directional signs, etc in all areas of the county. It would also contain the availability of other consumables such as additional fuses, batteries, and food stuff for extended operations. The list would be carried by each team commander as well as being on file with the EOC. The resource list shall include:
  • Traffic Units and equipment (Cumberland County)
  • Traffic Units (Mutual aid from surrounding counties)
  • Fire Apparatus (lighting)
  • EMS vehicles
  • Police and Law Enforcement agencies
  • PennDot vehicles and equipment
  • Canteen and food resources
  • Fuel resources for vehicles
  • PEMA resources
  • FEMA resources
  • Traffic control equipment
  • Lighting suppliers (portable and vehicle mounted)

More Information

To get an application for this team, go to the Forms Page.