"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do us harm” George Orwell
Trussville Police
Designated Marksmen Team
The Trussville Police Department’s Designated Marksman Team (DMT) is a group of highly trained and specially selected officers who are experts in the fields of marksmanship, field craft, observation, and tactical awareness. This all volunteer unit falls under the overall command of the Special Response Team (SRT) but also functions as a separate tactical unit.
The DMT has two primary functions. First, they provide perimeter security for officers and the community on the scene of a violent or potentially violent situation. Secondly, they are the eyes and ears of the SRT, acting as observers, gathering and relaying vital information back to the command center.
Depending on how a situation develops the team is trained to provide support for members of the SRT who may be required in enter a facility and make an arrest, or to neutralization a situation should it be determined a deadly threat is posed to the community. Should the subject surrender prior to SRT involvement the DMT would handle arresting the subject.
An additional expertise of the DMT involves the use of tactical tracking methods. Members of the DMT are also trained in the fine art of tracking individuals, in the event a child is lost or runs away, an adult is suffering from some form of dementia or become disorientated, a kidnapping occurs, or a criminal escapes into the woods. The DMT is trained to track these individual using tried and true techniques such as; reading and following foot prints, understanding normal patterns of individuals lost or running away, probable directions of travel, etc.