Emergency Response Unit
This history is adapted from previous work by Jeff Mason in 2016 and Dave Kerkhof our Police Historian. In the fall of 1975 Chief Gordon Torrance was focused upon security at the Pre-Olympic basketball tournament to be hosted at McMaster University during July 1976.Three years earlier, during the 1972 Summer Olympics, in Munich Germany, a shocking act of international terrorism resulted in the death of eleven members of the Israeli Olympic Team during a failed hostage rescue attempt by a woefully unprepared Munich Police.
This tragedy, in combination with an increasing frequency of gun related incidents in both the US and Canada alerted law enforcement leaders to their vulnerability in the face of such random and brutal violence. Against this backdrop, Hamilton Police began laying the groundwork for a squad of policemen who could be called upon to handle hostage takings and other dangerous calls.
On Monday, November 3, 1975, Paul Lariviere (32 years) of Champlain St., Hamilton, exchanged gunfire with Hamilton Police from his third-floor apartment. A uniformed officer with a revolver eventually killed him. Lariviere was found to have 3 rifles and a revolver in his apartment. This incident was a catalyst for the Hamilton Police Service to form a specialized unit. On November 8, 1975, a decision was made by Chief Torrance to form a tactical unit that would begin training in January of 1976. The Unit was to be based on the concept of the NYPD and the Halton Regional Police. (Hamilton Police Scrapbook, HPL)
Back Row: Bob Pope, Bryan Barker, Kurt Platz, Jim Swire, Gary Bishop, Peter McHarg, Jack Loft, Vince DeMascio, Joe Connors.
Front Row: Bob Fullerton, Kevin Keyte, Bruno Sylvestry, Ralph Sharp, Dave Warnock, Jack Connolly
A request for applications was put out to members of the Police Force who would be assigned to “Hazardous Duty”. Sixty-one applications were received. The selection process included physical and skill evaluation. Emphasis was also placed on applicant’s past performance in high-stress situations. The applicants were narrowed to twenty-five by Executive Officers Keith Farraway and Colin Millar. Eventually, a total of fifteen officers were chosen and placed into three “teams”. They were placed under the direction of the Force Armourer for training and administration. Overall responsibility for the Unit was placed under the Operations Executive Officer. The Unit was known as “T.E.A.M.” which stood for ‘Tactical Emergency Assault Men’. Their mandate was written as follows: It is the aim of T.E.A.M. to preserve life, including that of the suspect.
The name of the unit, Tactical Emergency Assault Men, (TEAM)
was chosen to reflect the team effort needed to successfully resolve a dangerous crisis.
In early June 1976 the TEAM unit was declared operational.
While TEAM was being formed, thirteen CID officers were designated as negotiators. Their function was “the successful conclusion of an incident without using force” (Chief’s Report, 1977). In January 1976 a weeklong training session on negotiation was conducted. World-renowned hostage negotiator, Dr. Harvey Schlossberg was one of the lecturers. He was a psychologist as well as an N.Y.P.D. Detective who successfully concluded nearly 500 incidents. These negotiators trained and completed joint exercises with TEAM.
Five TEAM officers were initially sent to the ‘Anti-Sniper and Survival School’ at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. They also took on the responsibility of Explosives Disposal from Identification Branch. They received their training through the R.C.M.P.
In September 1977, during a sniper incident on East Avenue South, three officers were wounded and became trapped behind their cruisers. A borrowed Brinks truck came under fire from the gunman during their rescue. TEAM officers returned fire in defense of the rescue operation. The gunman was hit and was later found dead in the apartment. That experience convinced Staff Superintendent Keith Farraway that an armoured vehicle, capable of repelling sniper fire, was essential for the Hamilton Police.
“Terradyne” Light Armoured Patrol Vehicle
The vehicle went through a number of paint schemes. When the Police cruisers became yellow in 1979, the rescue vehicle was also painted yellow. In 1988 cruisers went to a white scheme with red and blue striping. The rescue vehicle was again painted to the same colours. When the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police became the Hamilton Police again in 2001, the vehicle was stripped of the blue and red striping as well as its coloured H.W.R.P. crest and replaced with a black subdued Hamilton Police crest.
In 1981 Brinks Canada offered to sell a 1969 Brinks truck to the Hamilton police for $1. Bill Hendry, a talented mechanic in the Central police garage used special armour steel plate, donated by Stelco, to transform the Brinks truck into an imposing armoured Rescue Unit capable of stopping gunfire from all small arms ammunition commonly encountered on the street. This plating included the whole inside of the truck, walls, ceiling, windows of course and the radiator. At the time, it was the only vehicle of its kind in North America.
In September 1977, during a sniper incident on East Avenue South, three officers were wounded and became trapped behind their cruisers. A borrowed Brinks truck came under fire from the gunman during their rescue. TEAM officers returned fire in defense of the rescue operation. The gunman was hit and was later found dead in the apartment. That experience convinced Staff Superintendent Keith Farraway that an armoured vehicle, capable of repelling sniper fire, was essential for the Hamilton Police.
This truck was used by the Emergency Response Unit until June 2013. In 2012, the Hamilton Police Service purchased a Light Armoured Patrol Vehicle (LAPV) from Terradyne Armoured Vehicles in Newmarket, Ontario. The cost of the vehicle was $279,180.00. This 15,000-pound vehicle replaced the ageing Brinks truck. The new vehicle obviously was better equipped and even allowed for some off-road deployments. The vehicle has a matte black finish with a subdued crest and markings.
In April 1987 Hamilton’s TEAM unit added another first to its history when P.C. Mary Sullivan became an active member. Mary was the first female tactical unit officer in the Province of Ontario. In deference to the unit’s new gender profile, the name was changed to Tactical Emergency Assault Members. During the winter of 1990, following the Ontario Police Commission Review of Tactical Units, the name was changed again to the Emergency Response Unit, in the interest of more provincial uniformity.
Retired Sergeant Joe Connors remembers that the unit was composed of 15 people when they were on the 8-hour shift (5 per shift) plus the Force Armourer. When the Service changed to 12 hour shifts the ERU became 16 people. That changed again to 12 people around 1993 and the ERU became a separate unit.
The unit had an appointed member acting as co-ordinator up until about 1987 when a Sergeant was assigned to the unit. Eventually there were two Sergeants. All of their equipment was upgraded to meet new provincial standards around 1993. The Hamilton ERU then met all of the requirements for performing the functions of a tactical unit. Hostage rescue services however, were still contracted out to the OPP “TRU” team.
In September 2013 Hamilton’s ERU was able to meet standards for provincial certification as a Hostage Rescue Unit. With this certification the ERU attained the highest emergency response standard available in the Province.
1985? – Left to Right: Squad One: Tom Farraway, Bill Paynter, Mac Heddle, Gary Elliott, ?, Chief Gordan Torrance – Squad Two: Bruce Graham, Tom Standen, Pete Allard, Tom Marlor, Stew Jones. Bob Pope – Squad Three: Mike Keith, Joe Auer, Ken OBreza, Paul Knapp, Hans Schmeideberg
Dave Beech Training
1998 Aircraft Assault Training
Front: Al Faccinda, Bob Pope, Keith Farraway, Vic Swirewich, Lloyd Rappani
Middle: Ralph Sharp, Steve Gibbons, Randy Graham, Greg Hamilton, Kevin Keyte, Bob Fullerton.
Back: Dave Warnock, Vince DeMascio, Larry Johnson, Gary Bishop, Jim Swire,
Jack Loft, Joe Connors. K9 is Jag, Handler is Larry Johnson
Today’s ERU officers stand on the shoulders of the unit members who came before them. Over the past 40 years the names of the individual members have changed but the unit continues on in service to our brother and sister officers and the citizens of our community.
This history is adapted from previous work by
Jeff Mason in 2016 and
Dave Kerkhof our Police Historian.