During the week of June 21, ten members of an elite unit within the New York City Police Department (NYPD), known as the Emergency Service Unit (ESU), attended Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC)-Charleston's own Maritime Tactical Operations Training Program (MTOTP).
What makes the New York Police Department (NYPD) ESU such an elite unit? Every member of the ESU is a certified Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Diver, and emergency medical technician, which allows them to seamlessly supplement the skills of other elite units within the NYPD, often at a moment's notice. The ESU specifically sought out FLETC-Charleston's MTOTP course to expand its tactical capabilities to the maritime environment.
The Maritime Tactical Operations Training Program is a 4.5-day training program involving extensive hands-on instruction of tactical boarding procedures on high-interest/high-threat commercial vessels. The program covers all aspects of high-risk tactics needed to board and control a high-interest vessel: mission planning, covert boarding by hook and climb for large commercial vessels, cross decking onto small commercial vessels, taking control of the vessels, and tactically moving to specific objectives while neutralizing threats.
Due to the physical demands of the program, students must pass a fitness test on the first morning of training—failure to pass any element of the test results in the student's removal from the program. Due to the ESU's already rigorous training regimen and mission set, the fitness test posed no issues for the team.
After the course, the ESU team members provided feedback praising the "crawl, walk, run" training philosophy demonstrated throughout the week and the realism depicted in the various laboratory and practical exercise scenarios throughout the course.
"The MTOTP course was the greatest training I attended throughout my career," one ESU member commented.
As a result of the positive training experience, the NYPD ESU has indicated they have approximately 40 more ESU team members who would like to attend the Maritime Tactical Operations Program over the next several years.
Students performing an underway vessel boarding on the Cooper River. (Stacy Sinke, TMO, FLETC Charleston)
Students performing a “hook and climb” maneuver off the side of the Cape Chalmers. (Stacy Sinke, TMO, FLETC Charleston)
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