WSVN 7 NewsLAUDERHILL, Fla. (WSVN) — Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputies and other law enforcement agencies took part in a civil disturbance training event Wednesday.
Along with BSO, five other area agencies — including the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Davie Police, Sunrise Police, Margate Police and Miramar Police — took part in the training that took place at Central Broward Regional Park.
Officials believe the training is completely necessary, especially with recent events. “These drills and this training is critically important,” said Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, “because if we have an incident like Ferguson, it’s probable that many agencies are going to be working together to resolve the issue. Riots are going to spread over different towns and communities, so that exchange in the interoperability becomes critically important.”
The training consists of a three-day seminar that is led by instructors from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Emergency Preparedness.
The training course focuses on legal use of force and de-escalation strategies, with safety always being the first priority. “One of the tactics or techniques used by protesters in the past is they want to blockade an area,” said BSO Major Oscar Llerena, “and in this particular incident, they blockaded the entrance to a detention center, and here you see the linking arms, which we teach techniques to defeat that and how to open up the arms so not to hurt the protesters and carry them out.”
The civil disturbances training seminar makes sure that law-enforcement officers are ready to handle large scale civil disturbances like the one that took place in Ferguson, Missouri.
Officials said the level of force used ultimately depends on the behavior of the protester. “Our philosophy is the least amount of force as necessary to accomplish our objectives,” said Israel. “In most cases, those objectives are decided by the protester. If they decide to comply with the law, we wrap it up quickly.”
They constantly refer to themselves as “agencies” SO I ask this…
Who are you agents for? I myself have authorized no agents to act on my behalf. In fact anyone claiming to be an agent for me can be executed on site. I give you permission.