Inside the Bureau of Reclamation Security Response Force
The agency may be small, but law enforcement plays a big role in protecting America’s critical infrastructure. Come with us as we go inside the Bureau of Reclamation’s Security Response Force.
It’s a smaller federal law enforcement agency, but one that plays a big role protecting some of America’s most iconic and important infrastructure sites.
We’re talking about the Bureau of Reclamation’s Security Response Force (SRF), which is one of many law enforcement groups within the Department of the Interior, and is an “elite, armed tactical security force that is skilled, professional, and dedicated.”
Mission
The SRF has a multi-faceted mission.
Its mission is to “ensure the uninterrupted delivery of water and power to the American public” to “protect our employees and public on Reclamation lands” and to “vigorously defend generation assets, transmission assets, and cultural resources.”
SRF officers are stationed at critical infrastructure across the country, including Hoover Dam in Nevada-Arizona, Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, and Grand Coulee Dam in Washington.
At those dams, SRF officers conduct security operations day and night and are focused on protecting the security of those dams, which are critical in providing water to millions in the western United States.
Recruitment
Like other law enforcement agencies, SRF is looking for “elite” candidates to join the force. SRF officers must “pass and maintain a level of physical fitness which separates them from all other security forces.” The SRF put out a video describing the specific physical requirements, which are the same for every applicant regardless of gender or age.
To become an SRF officer, a recruit must graduate Security Response Force Training Center (SRFTC) Basic Training Program (BTP) Academy, which mirrors the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) curriculum. All instructors are both SRFTC and FLETC certified.
The SRF also put out a broader recruitment video.
“Being part of this elite group was not handed to me. It was earned,” the narrator says in the clip.