CARMEL – For years, the Emergency Response Team (ERT) has been deployed in Putnam during crises to assist local police with situations involving armed suspects, barricaded individuals, or people in emotional distress.

Two years ago, the team was disbanded because, according to Putnam County, the county Legislature never approved an intermunicipal agreement with police from Carmel and Kent.

County Attorney Compton Spain sent a memo to the late Sheriff Kevin McConville in December 2024 recommending that his department should “immediately abandon and discontinue all involvement” with the team comprised at the time with 19 deputies and six officers from Carmel and Kent Police Departments.

The sheriff’s department formed its own team while the Carmel and Kent Police Departments followed suit.

Now both the county and towns of Carmel and Kent have decided to reestablish the team of highly trained officers by entering into an intermunicipal agreement to deal with threats to public safety that will be more effectively dealt with through the use of a specially trained tactical team.

Sheriff Brian Hess, along with Police Chiefs Anthony Hoffmann of Carmel and Kevin Owens of Kent, concluded that coordinating their teams would address efforts more efficiently.

The county and towns signed the intermunicipal agreement this week.