The Polk County Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team received a $500 from the Mentor Firefighter’s Relief Association. The CISM team is in place to assist all first responders in the aftermath of a critical incident.
Polk County Sheriff Jim Tadman said the CISM team is vital to make sure that first responders are taking care of themselves and each other following a traumatic incident which is especially important considering the likelihood that a first responder knows the people involved. “We are able to put on these debriefings for critical incidents,” said Tadman. “And lately we’ve had a couple of bad accidents, an incident out in Fosston. They aren’t always easy to go to. You’re dealing with people that you and terrible accidents and stuff like that. I think this is a great thing to be able to talk it out and put that team together to see if anybody is having problems. Back in the old days, we didn’t do that. We didn’t take care of ourselves back then. I’m glad to see this team started up and it’s been really active lately, and we don’t want it to be active.”
The CISM team has also expanded beyond the county borders to assist other counties who have had an incident and don’t yet have the same support structure. An incident can be traumatic for anyone involved from those taking the call in the dispatch center to the officers, firefighters, and EMTs on site. “We’ve had dispatchers, law enforcement, firefighters, along with Northwest Mental Health that goes to the training,” said Tadman. “We were just over in Clearwater County where they had firefighters that just dealt with a fire back there where somebody died or a suicide. So, we usually send over a firefighter, so it relates back and forth with what they do with their first responders. We put a team together of who is needed for each incident. It’s nice to feed off of [each other], and I’m glad it’s here.”
Polk County also renewed it’s Special Operations Group (SOG) Joint Powers Agreement, which was necessitated by new sheriffs in Polk and Grand Forks County. Tadman explains that the SOG is an agreement for the law enforcement agencies within both counties to work collaboratively with each other. “Our agreement is to work with Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office, Grand Forks Police Department, East Grand Forks Police Department, Crookston Police Department, University of North Dakota Police Department,” said Tadman. “We share resources, for boat & water we can call them over for assistance. We have members in our office that are on the SWAT team over there. When there is an incident and call out our guys, we’ll go over there. It’s a share back and forth if we have to take any law enforcement actions.”
Members of the SOG from North Dakota assist with several situations in Polk County, such as the arrest of Joshua Hendrickson last November and the drowning in June in Crookston. Likewise, members of the law enforcement agencies in Polk County serve on the SWAT team and will assist on calls in Grand Forks County. “I think it’s a great idea that we got together since we’re so close to work together,” said Tadman. “The last terrible incident that we had with the drowning in Crookston here we have the resources in boat & water, but they have bigger resources with their boats, TAC (Tactical) gear and stuff like that. It came in very handy because they had to tie off with ropes and use their divers. We don’t have any divers in the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, and that was the only way to get down to that car. It was very unstable for even boats to stay in place. But by working with our unmanned aircraft, we were able to fly above and tell them exactly where that vehicle was. That came in handy, so we couldn’t thank them enough because we don’t have some of those tools.”
