[Music] hello welcome to another episode of behind the badge I'm your host Sergeant Javier Salasar here at the sapd we like to stay ahead of things with fresh new ideas and programs some of these programs improve the quality of life some directly address certain crimes and others save lives today we'll be talking about several of our life- saving programs in one segment officer Misty Floyd will be talking to some officers from a program which as you may recall you heard about in our last episode about officer Bobby Deckard Sap's family assistance program helps the families of our officers in the event of a death or critical injury to an sapd officer Misty will be talking to some of these special officers about what they do for sapd families at a crucial time in their lives in an additional segment officer Roger Zuniga will introduce you to a civilian training program also aimed at saving lives the sapd recently partnered with news4 w and Education Service Center Region 20 to produce a video that that we call civilian response to active Shooters in short it's a training video geared toward teaching the average citizen what to do in an active shooter situation it's a great video so I'll let Roger tell you all about it a little later but first you'll hear from yet another group of specially trained sapd officers whom we call tactical Medics or Tac meds these specially trained officers save lives by filling a role and using equipment not traditionally associated with police officers I can't wait to tell you all about them we have a lot to cover today so we're going to take a quick break but stick around I had to go back to school to get a book I forgot and the quickest way was across a busy highway my dad had to identify my [Music] body pedestrians should never be on a highway or Expressway shortcuts can kill walk safe San Antonio welcome back as I mentioned in the intro we have a a several specially trained officers from various units in the department today one of those units is here with me today uh I've got Sergeant Edward Clow and Officer Rick Smith here uh from the Tactical medic program welcome to the show thank you thanks for having us thanks for coming in we just you know this this um program is is something that always generates a lot of media interest a lot of public interest and we just kind of wanted to show our viewers a little bit about what you guys do today I know it's a lot um so just I guess without uh without further Ado Sergeant Clow how did this how did this program start uh well uh it started by one of one of the officers that in our department was exposed to some training and saw that it was a a great opportunity for us and he brought it back to Command Staff and we the department decided let's let's go forward with this program there's a lot of benefit in it and so that's uh how we got got it off the ground okay so this was some sort of law enforcement training that this officer went to and brought it back to us from another agency yes originally the board Patrol uh has been doing this for quite a long time and offered us the training and we uh accepted and jumped at the opportunity okay what's what does the training involve uh well the training involves a number of officers that are trained in their em EMT licensing and the purpose is to be able to provide medical care during uh dangerous situations or highly uh stressful uh situations where uh EMS is not yet there or unable to get there because the scene is still volatile it's geared for not only police officers but citizens as well okay so so Rick I guess you're you're actually one of the guys on the street the bo boot on the ground so to speak uh implementing this stuff um what sort of uh things do y'all go through in training to prepare to prepare you guys for for what you do so uh like sergeant clar said we all are uh at a minimum emergency medical technicians licensed by the state of Texas uh but we we take that civilian training and and everything that we do uh we we put tactics with it so we really focus on care Under Fire we do a lot of high stress training uh we do a lot of our interventions in a training environment where we're we're physically uh gassed if you will and then we're starting IVs we're doing fine skills we're doing patient assessments so we try to make training very difficult very hard uh very physical so if and when uh we have to do it under under those circumstances it becomes a little bit easier okay so this this goes beyond I mean just to be clear this kind of goes beyond just the normal um you know CP R um you know putting a temporary splint on a on a broken bone things like that it goes a little bit more advanced than that absolutely uh our our tactical Medics are trained in both basic life-saving interventions uh but they're also trained in advanced life saving interventions such as advanced Airway placement IV access IO access is actually where we drill needles into bone to gain vascular access in case someone uh is uh been bleeding and they they need to they're going into shock we need to try to reverse that uh we also provide certain medications uh so it it's it's it's a complete program it's a lot more than bandaid okay so you guys are are administering meds and intubating and and doing all kind all that kind of stuff well needless to say I'm sure there's there's stories of success already out there I know that uh through my office in Pio we um we handle the the awards ceremony that comes comes up every year and I know last year there were quite a few Tech medics in that Awards program I'm assuming this year is going to be about the same well certainly last year we had seven that were awarded and this year we've nominated six so we have to we have to see we don't know yet we hope wow okay that's that's great how does an officer qualify to be a techm well he uh needs to be off probation the oneyear probation have an exemplary history with the Department driving uh discipline work ethic he needs to come highly recommended by his uh supervisors and peers okay and uh then he puts himself through school excellent okay and I would imagine it's it's quite a bit of school that's involved in this and and ongoing training also absolutely okay all and how many how many guys are on this team how many guys and women are on this team well right now the department is set at or the program is set at 40 officers sworn officers in our program okay and I'm I'm assuming it's not a full-time uh unit these people work where they work all over we try to um make sure or ensure that they are in high-risk areas uh of the department uh Patrol okay uh we have a number on the SWAT team we have uh officers that are spread out through all of the shifts uh at when we make critical incidents we have officers there officers on the gang unit pop unit uh the the units that run lots of uh arrest warrants and search warrants we try to make sure that those units are covered okay so and these guys will also cross lines throughout the city they're not going to stay in one Patrol area if their services are of use to somebody on the west side of town they're going to make that drive from the East side if need be absolutely that's correct if uh if they can get there they will okay do we uh does any of our of our training involve other agencies that we work with yes it does uh so we partner up with the University of Texas Health Science Center uh their emergency Sciences department and they are kind of our oversight for all of our medical training we are a self-training unit but we utilize their staff their instructors and their expertise uh we also border up with the Department of Homeland Security border of Patrol which our program kind of mirrors their program so a lot of our tactical training our tactical medic schools come through them and recently we've uh hooked up with BTY Spring Branch Center for emergency healthcare services and our officers utilize their kadaver Labs okay so they're training on cavers matter of fact our next training will'll be doing some cabor training really okay and and this will be I I've seen that you guys also train in different environment you'll do some stuff out in the woods you'll do some Urban stuff we try to mix it up as much as possible yeah I mean we we saw we saw some of your your training and and I believe we've got some pictures of it here that we've been showing throughout this interview that uh you guys actually trained in our parking garage over at the headquarters sir y'all were y'all had these these these guys running up and downstairs and getting kind of dirty yes sir uh it's all goes back to stress inoculation uh we want our our operators our Medics to be able to perform these interventions under extremely tough circumstances and uh so it's a lot different than doing it in the classroom than doing it when you have sweat and and you're shaking and you can't catch your breath and so we want them to be able to be successful just interesting stuff all of it I'd love to have you guys back in at some point in the future to talk a little bit more about this um obviously we'd love to go attend some more of your training just to just to show the viewers what it is that y'all do on on video and and and more photos so great I'm glad you guys exist I'm glad you guys came in today great stuff thanks for coming on next up officer Misty Floyd is going to be talking to another within our department that contributes to everything that we do as a whole we were on our way to the park and Dad decided it was still safe not to use the crosswalk I was wrong my son and I paid for it with our lives crosswalks are there to help protect us always cross at a marked crosswalk or an intersection with a signal walk safe San Antonio welcome back to behind the badge I'm officer Misty Floyd joining us now are Lieutenant Jimmy sides and officer Doug Green from the sapd family assistance team we welcome both of you to the show gentlemen thank you for joining us today thank you for having us thank you we're here to discuss a really great team that sapd has put together and I'd like to know a little bit more about what the mission of this team is well the family assistance team is a group of volunteer offic officers who Provide support and assistance for our officers uh anytime uh one of the officers is critically injured uh perhaps he was a diagnosed with a catastrophic illness immediate family member passes away or unfortunately in those times when when he does the ultimate sacrifice and is killed in the line of duty so the officers step up uh Provide support for his family whatever needs they have whether it be transport hotel for the family planning the funeral arrangements just basically whatever the family needs during that time and how are these off officers selected to join the family assistance team uh whenever we if we do have an opening in the team or we see the need to add additional members uh we put a notice out to the department through our Daily Bulletin and through email asking for uh for applicants uh the officers uh contact us let us know they'd like to be part of it we have an interview process uh usually with three members of the family assistance team who uh form a panel the officer interviews and then from there we make our selection of who will be on on the team so actually these officers are handpicked yes they are safe to say that and Doug green you were actually handpicked to join the team yes ma'am right what was your reasoning behind wanting to be a part of it um it was just uh something that I felt uh just on the inside something that I knew I wanted to do to serve my my brother and sister officer because we are one big family and uh we have to take care of each other and that's what prompt me to join the family assistance team I knew this was a great opportunity to do that now as you're working with the family do you find yourself getting emotionally involved it's a very um it's a taxing experience do you find yourself getting emotionally involved oh very much so you become very close to the family uh and it is very emotionally uh taxing but um the family assistance unit in itself is very good at supporting you and helping you through uh the process that you're going through and we even have a um psychologist that's on the unit also that will uh will call us and check on us and even make arrangements for us to sit with them to help us process uh the the the crisis that we've taken the family through okay and Lieutenant are these officers assigned 247 to the family side or do they work in shifts typically what we do is they're on call each month okay uh so we have right now two man teams we recently expanded the team to nearly 30 members so I can go to a three-man team because what we found is there's so much that in event if an officer is killed there are so many responsibilities that go on that for one officer to handle it it's it's it's overwhelming so that's why we went to three man team so what we do is we put them on a monthly rotation uh they alternate typically about every nine months they they'll have a watch during that month to to help our officers okay and with um officer Bobby Deckard recently passing away his family just spoke so highly of the team and even mentioned that there were small details that they didn't even have to think about what they were going to eat for lunch even coffee in the morning because they were such small details that these officers paid attention to and just picked up on and took such excellent care of them so they continue to Rave about what great care that they receive um I know off prompter Doug you mentioned that this is like a calling within a calling yeah can you elaborate a little bit on that yeah well you know first of all I mean we're everybody on the unit you have sergeants you have lieutenants you have safe officers you have uh officers from all different parts of the department but first and foremost we are all police officers and uh we the first calling is being called to serve uh humanity and serve the serve the community and you just have to have a heart to serve people but the calling within the calling is having that heart to serve people who serve people okay which is our brother and sister officers wow I I really am just admire both of you for stepping up and being a part of such an amazing program and that you're able to go to other agencies and they can model our Department's um procedures and um and I'm thankful that both of you came to the show today and that we could elaborate a little bit more on what this program offers so thank you so much thank you thank you very proud to be part of the team thank you we're going to take a quick break but stick around I was out for my morning run I used the crosswalk and obeyed the signal but the driver turning right felt that his text message was more important than my life driver should always pay attention to pedestrians Crossing at Mark crosswalks let's share the roadway drive and walk safe San Antonio it's easy to see why this program is so successful as an officer I'm thankful this dedicated team of officers exists I hope and pray their services are never needed again but I know they will rise to the occasion when duty calls after this next break officer Zuniga will be introducing us to a program which shows us all what to do should we find ourselves in an active shooter event we'll be right back so stick around I was headed to the hospital to meet my brand new granddaughter I stepped off the bus and tried to cross the street without looking I was so excited that I didn't notice traffic hadn't stopped I never made it across I never met my granddaughter crosswalks are there to help protect us always cross at a marked crosswalk or an intersection with a signal walk safe San Antonio welcome back to behind the badge I'm officer Roger Zuniga as sge mentioned earlier the sapd partnered with Wai and Region 20 to produce an instructional video for the civilian population this video called civilian response to active Shooters utilized our award-winning SWAT team and some talented actors to show the average citizen what to do in the event of an active shooter or workplace violent situation thankfully most of us will never experience this but we'll be better prepared if we can follow this program we'd like to show you this after a short break welcome back I would like to introduce you to officer Trey Turner Trey Turner is with the San Antonio SWAT team Trey thanks for coming in today thanks for having me we've seen instances across the country where there have been active shooter situations and I think people just need to have some basic information basic understanding understanding of what to do in case they're caught up in a situation like this um so what was the purpose in making this training video that was exactly the purpose um we've been giving out this training for probably 10 12 years now to officers on on how they should respond to active shooter scene since Coline high school but since uh the Sandy Hook incident in Connecticut they started having a a a a need for what should actually the civilian do you guys that are trained have the have the guns have the the vest have the training what you know what to do what should these what should we do who don't have all the training in the guns so we came up with the the civilian response on on how to do this and we actually came up with the video of the the Run hiide fight concept very good and I understand you guys get uh requests to do training because a lot of office workplaces want to say I want to know what do we do in case there is something that happens uh how often do y'all get requests to do this um we're getting requests several times a week to to come and do this put on this kind of training so when we go out there and we present about an hour hour and a half presentation to them um we do show a video very similar to this and now we are able to come up with our own video so that we can actually get the information out to more people um since there's only just a few of us and we can't be at every place at every time that the video will be able to be disseminated across a a wider range of people and in doing the presentations and uh showing the video you guys have um what kind of feedback have you been getting from the people you present to uh everybody had they've the feedback has been very positive they've been glad that somebody's actually telling them what to do and um giving them just kind of a blueprint um when I'm under extreme stress we start explaining to them that that a lot of you you may think you know what to do when you're under some stress but let me tell you this is probably how your body's going to respond and this is what you should do and uh that's what the presentation goes into and the video hits on on uh not sitting around and waiting for somebody else to do something but taking decisive action to to be an active participant in your own Survival very good um what's the most important message you'd like to get out to someone who's uh they find themselves in a situation like this which hopefully they never will but in the event they do what's the most important thing you want to stress to the people uh out there in case they do find themselves in something like this well Roger if if somebody ever finds themselves in a situation like this the the main thing is like what I just said is to be an active participant in your own Survival is to stay calm um realize that that you you do have a a say in what's going on that get in there and if and if you can get out of the building get out of the building if you can't get out and do your best to deny that person access to where you're at and if for whatever reason he's right there in front of you then fight for your life and be ready to to uh go down swinging if if need be so I guess the three three letters or three words run hide fight really do to emphasize what we want people to understand about it run hide or fight yes sir okay all this information has been excellent and I really appreciate you coming on the show uh these tips I know uh hopefully we'll never have something like that here in San Antonio but in the case we do I think because of uh what you guys do and the training you put on and this video I think we'll be better prepared as a city to uh handle anything that we come across so thank you very much I do appreciate it thank you coming up next is going to be the video that we've been talking about the civilian response to active Shooters take a look news4 and the San Antonio Police Department have joined forces to make this active shooter training video to give you the tools you'll need to increase your chances of survival should you ever find yourself in an active shooter situation thankfully though most of us never will to be clear this is not an anti-gun video and by no means is the information in this video fail prooof some of the techniques you learn may need to be adapted to suit certain situations now the sole purpose of this training video is to help Empower you and motivate you to be proactive in developing your own plan know when it's time to run know where you're going to hide and if necessary be prepared to fight [Music] it's a typical day at work you're sitting at your desk doing what you always do and then you hear this you're confused shocked scared stay calm keep your composure but move do not waste time trust your gut and go it's time to run help others if you can and get out of the building any way you can look for the closest exit and be aware of alternate exit routes my gosh once you're outside call 911 immediately we're going to need somebody here quick the operator will need as much information as you can give them the name of the building the location how many people may still be inside how many may be hurt they'll need suspect information race gender a description of the suspect is there more than one shooter and what kind of weapon they're carrying and if you see unsuspecting co-workers heading for the door stop them from going inside if you are not near an exit and you cannot safely get out of the building it's time to hide get out of the hallways in common areas gunmen typically use them as hunting ground find a room and lock the door block the door with whatever you can find a desk file cabinet a printer turn off the lights radios monitors and silence your cell phone do your best to hide behind something big enough that may Shield you from bullets if you are someone with you is bleeding apply pressure and try to elevate the wound help may not arrive until the shoot is stopped as hard as it may be don't try to rescue anyone on the other side of that door you don't know where the shooter is he could be right up the hallway and you don't want to place anyone else inside this room in any danger also he could be trying to trick you into opening that door by pretending to be someone who needs [Applause] help stay down stay quiet create a sense that no one is inside that room if there's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide be prepared to fight there is strength in numbers if you're with a group organize an ambush style surprise attack and grab anything you can find to hurt the shooter and defend yourself your number one priority should be to do whatever it takes to stop the gunman immediately if possible take control of the weapon if he lets the weapon go or can't control it you've won more than half the battle whatever you decide to do make sure your actions are Swift and decisive hesitation can be deadly in a situation like this when seconds count if you have a concealed handgun license and have your own gun choose your actions carefully make sure no co-workers are behind the shooter or you you don't want to accidentally shoot someone or have the gunman return fire and hit someone behind you and protect your weapon he may fight you for it remember if you do decide to fight you'll be fighting for your life your goal should be be to win by any means necessary when police arrive remember they are looking for someone holding a weapon put your hands up don't make any sudden moves if you are a licensed handgun holder make sure you set your gun down step away from it and put your hands up make it clear you're not a threat to anyone you may be searched even handcuffed by police until law enforcement is certain the threat no longer exists you are to do exactly as they say until you're let out of the [Music] building again these are only guidelines some of the techniques you've seen here may need to be modified to better suit your workplace or even your own home and one last piece of advice here create an alert system for employees via social media sites like Twitter and Facebook if there is an active shooter situation think about who will be in charge of sending out those alerts the bottom line having a emergency plan in place and practice it often the odds of you becoming a victim of an active shooter situation are low but if it does happen you'll be more prepared on behalf of news4 San Antonio in the San Antonio Police Department be safe and thanks for watching that brings yet another episode to a close thanks so much for tuning in we hope the information we presented will be useful to you as always we like to use our show to give you an inside look at what we do behind the badge of the sapd we'd like to take this opportunity to ask you our viewers to provide us some feedback how are we doing what would you like to hear about on future episodes keep those emails for story ideas and feedback coming to behind the badge at San antonio.gov check out this and episodes from our past on our Facebook page at www.fb.com San Antonio PD until next time I'm Sergeant Javier Salasar thank you for watching behind the badge [Music] [Music] hello I'm San Antonio Police Chief William mcmanis and I'm red mccon driving too close to Big Rigs is dangerous so don't get too close or speed around Rigs and don't cut off trucks Don't tailgate and don't speed and don't get a ticket aggressive driving is also against the law leave more space for trucks Today We Gather to recognize the selfless decision of one of the most influential women of our time the woman who after having one too many drinks chose not to drive home buzzed here today to honor Rachel is the family whose lives she spared [Music] did you know that getting up and getting active for just 60 minutes a day is all it takes to help you get stronger look better and feel great or that fresh fruits and veggies aren't just healthier and crunchier they can taste better too eating better and getting more active is easier than you think yeah keep watching for some fun and easy ways to discover the magic of healthy living in your life America let's get healthy together [Music]