The Blanchard Police Department contains three other specialized units or taskings that are utilized on an everyday and an as needed basis. They are the School Resource Officer (SRO), the K-9 unit, and the newly forming Special Weapons and Tactics/Emergency Response Team (SWAT/ERT). These units give the department the necessary sources to aid in community relations, help prevent crime, and carry out high risk operations when needed.
The School Resource Officer, Detective Greg Alexander, in close coordination with the Blanchard Public Schools, works with students at all grade levels to promote a drug, violence, and gang free educational environment. The SRO's developed from law enforcement's national D.A.R.E. program and has been shaped to fit Oklahoma's schools and youth by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET). Detective Alexander conducts classes and activities for the youth of Blanchard in which they become more active in their school and community and to strengthen their awareness about drugs and gangs. With this knowledge, the children are able to make better choices about how to avoid the peer pressure that lures them to these vices.
Blanchard Police Department's K-9 unit has always been an asset to the functions of the department. Officer Kent Cunningham and his dog, Officer Turbo and Officer Brian Guthrie and his dog, Officer Quando, provide drug detection, search and rescue, and assailant take-down capability. The handlers and their dogs also perform regular, day-to-day operations in Blanchard as well. Officer Cunningham and Turbo have been, and will continue to be, utilized with the SRO Program for the younger children as a learning tool in K-9 functions in law enforcement.
The newest addition to the Blanchard Police Department is the ongoing development of a Special Weapons and Tactics/Emergency Response Team (SWAT/ERT)-See Pictures. The team, which will be comprised of different officers from the department, will be utilized in high risk incidents and situations. Some such areas of use would be that of barricaded suspects, hostage situations, and high risk warrant service.
The Blanchard Police Department is an Equal Opportunity Employer.