By Mari Radtke
Sheriff Bruce Devereax and Deputy Dan Bracy sat before the O’Brien County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday March 9 asking for approval to join the High risk Entry and Arrest Team, H.E.A.T. for short. H.E.A.T. is a multi-jurisdictional tactical team of law enforcement officers representing 29 member departments throughout northwest Iowa and southern Minnesota. Membership is by invitation and [H.E.A.T.] Board of Directors approval. The O’Brien County office invited to join is Deputy Dan Bracy.
Bracy began his career with the O’Brien County Sheriff’s department in October 2009 as a jail officer. He came to O’Brien County with his wife, a Sheldon area native. Bracy served as a jailer until 2017 when he accepted a deputy position.
H.E.A.T. is a collection of police and sheriff departments designed to provide highly trained, highly skilled specialty responses to a variety of situations ranging for a welfare check for an elderly loved one to a potentially dangerous mass-arrest of members of a criminal enterprise. The skills inventory of H.E.A.T. members range from the ability to pick a lock for peaceful well checks to snipers to paramedics and negotiators. It even has a SWAT. Each member is required to train 10 paid hours each month.
The way the response team works is when a situation arises a member department in need of assistance makes the call. Chain of command and response direction begins with the requesting department. Member officers available and needed, respond as soon as possible. Bracy explains that if he is on duty and a call comes in which he is needed, he will contact the sheriff and once he is replaced by another deputy for O’Brien County coverage he will leave for the location. Because of the wide geography tied to the response team, response times can be lengthy.
Bracy was invited to join the response team. He began training with the group in January 2021. He will serve in a probationary capacity to the organization for one year. After the year their Board of Directors will vote on his membership. His specialty on the team will be determined at that time.
Bracy graduated from University of Iowa in 2005, majoring in Criminology with a minor in Sociology. He became a firearms instructor in 2018, also receiving a “Smith and Wesson M&P” handgun Armorer in the same year. That qualifies Bracy to inspect and work on department firearms. He is certified to tear them down once a year to check the wear and tear. He can identify worn or broken parts of the firearms to make them safe for the officers’ use. Since the new year, Bracy has added a Smith & Wesson certification. He is also an Armorer for the AR15 model. He will be attending a school in April toward a Rifle Instructor certification.
In addition to serving O’Brien County as a Deputy officer, Bracy was appointed to a newly created position of Jail Administrator. He works with the current Jail Supervisor and with Sheriff Devereaux with jail operations. Bracy is in charge of all inmate disciplinary hearings at the jail.
The cost to join High risk Entry and Arrest Team is $2260.00. Bracy said, “In January I asked if I could look into joining the HEAT Team because I believe it is a HUGE asset for the residents of O’Brien County.”