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municipalities (St. Anthony, Roseville, New Brighton, and North St. Paul). <br />This affords each member agency control and access to greater resources, <br />and with a swifter response time, than otherwise would be possible. In <br />addition, the training and experience gained by member Officers benefits our <br />home agencies and increases the working relationships with surrounding <br />jurisdictions. This continues to translate: to better combined services during <br />larger events. North St. Paul intends to increase their contribution by <br />assigning additional Officers to the team in 2009. The St, Anthony Police <br />Department will be training and assigning an Officer to the team as a <br />hostage negotiator. This will be of great benefit to our Department, as <br />critical communication skills learned in this position will be passed on to the <br />rest of the Department. <br />Our team acquired a new vehicle last year. Allina donated a retired <br />ambulance to us. The ambulance was repainted and refitted to meet the <br />transportation and equipment storage needs of the team. <br />East Metro SWAT executed six high risk search warrants and responded to <br />two callouts for barricaded suspects in 2008. On December 18, 2008 the <br />team served a search warrant on a meth lab at a Roseville residence. <br />Extensive planning took place prior to serving this warrant. Upon <br />announcing and entry into an interior room of the residence, the team came <br />under direct gunfire from the barricaded suspect. The team returned fire <br />immediately and withdrew from <br />the residence. During the <br />gunfight the team leader, a <br />Roseville Officer, was shot in the <br />wrist, and St. Anthony Officer <br />Mike Huddle was grazed in the <br />arm by a bullet from the suspect. <br />The shield carried by Officer <br />Huddle also took two direct hits. <br />This shield, and the tactics used <br />by the entire team, likely saved <br />Officer Huddle's life, as well as <br />the lives of other team members. An eight hour standoff ensued, during <br />which SWAT teams from Ramsey County and St. Paul were called in to <br />assist. Teams attempted several methods to get the suspect out of the home, <br />including tear gas and calling inside to him. During a lone phone <br />21 <br />