There is no job in the world that better prepares an officer for multitasking under pressure than parenthood. Officer Tieranie De la Rosa works the overnight shift on Madison's north side, and spends her days with 9-month old twin girls at home. She is unflappable in the way only a mom of multiples can pull off; whether driving lights and sirens to a gun call or maneuvering a double stroller, Officer De la Rosa handles life with aplomb.
Tieranie grew up in small-town Wisconsin, in a community of 2,000 people where relationships meant everything. She recalls having high school teachers who taught her own mother and aunt, riding her bike to her grandma's house, and staying out and active until dark. Tieranie went on to college at UW-Oshkosh, and in her junior year, she interned with the Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and made an important decision: she wanted to be a police officer, not an analyst. Officer De la Rosa finished college and was initially hired by West Allis Police. "It was a great department," she says. "It made me the cop I am today." With three years on at West Allis PD, Tieranie was a field trainer and was being steered toward a sensitive crimes detective position.
Then another important relationship moved into Tieranie's life – her husband, who was firmly planted in Madison and has 2 older sons. Tieranie, who values family above all else, followed her heart to Madison and became a wife and proud stepmom. "I had always wanted to work for the Madison Police Department," she says on a cold Tuesday afternoon, as baby squeals rise and fall in the background. "Life takes you in one different direction, then brings you back."
The Madison Police Department's Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) is comprised of three elements, or platoons: Tactical, Sniper, and the Crisis Negotiations Team (CNT). While each component is critical in fulfilling the SWAT Mission ("to safely resolve high-risk situations through the professional utilization of specialized equipment, negotiation and tactics"), CNT is especially important, as a subset of that mission is that "SWAT will seek to resolve incidents through negotiation whenever possible".
Members of CNT therefore respond to the same calls that the SWAT Tactical and Sniper elements respond to – hostage situations, barricaded persons, weapon offenses, etc. CNT also staffs Command Posts on all high-risk warrant services done by SWAT. Currently, the CNT group is comprised of one Lieutenant, one Sergeant, and ten Crisis Negotiators. The Negotiators are comprised of Officers and Detectives, and they have a myriad of backgrounds.
The baseline training all MPD Crisis Negotiators attend is the FBI Basic Crisis Negotiation Course, which is a weeklong training. Many of our Negotiators though attend additional outside training, and the entire cadre meets as a team to train together four times a year. The entire SWAT group has "full team" trainings approximately four days a year as well. CNT (as is all of SWAT) is always "on-call", and their level of dedication to the citizens of Madison is commendable.