The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and its Sheriff’s Response Team recently hosted a live demonstration of tactical tools and improvised explosive devices at Pitchess Detention Center.
The morning demonstration last week was kicked off with opening remarks by Sheriff Robert Luna, discussing what the SRT does when it is deployed.
“Typically, when we are managing a protest that may turn into something else, our sheriff’s response team is always put on standby. They’re always very close by, not in the middle of it until whoever the incident commander decides they are needed for what they do,” Luna said.
He said it can be frustrating for the LASD when one-sided stories begin circulating about an incident. Luna clarified that it’s the people who are protesting at these events who say law enforcement hit them with rubber bullets, or they were gassed.
“Our deputies do an amazing job of managing crowds, because not only do we train on the legal aspects of it, we have to train for worst-case scenario, but we’re also trained in a lot of de-escalation techniques,” Luna said. “And we have folks that are on the department that are very good at negotiating with individuals to say, ‘Hey, what is your objective today?’”
During the presentation and demonstration, media outlets had the opportunity to ask questions about how the department will handle foreign media during the World Cup or how many deputies have been hurt during the line of duty at protests.
A sergeant who works with SRT, who could not be identified due to safety concerns and his line of work, discussed how SRT works, laws, and some tactics they use.
“Every deputy on SRT has other jobs within the department, and then when we’re activated, we all come together. The only people who do this full time are myself and my partner. We have five platoons, eight platoonists, four squads, a squad, two sergeants, and 16 deputies,” the sergeant said.
The sergeant showed many videos regarding protests. The videos were of people rioting in Paramount in June 2025, people in Milan rioting, people in St. Louis rioting and firefighters fighting police officers during a protest.
At the demonstration, the SRT demonstrated different tactical tools and showed improvised explosive devices that rioters may use during a protest.
