The Deer Park Police Department's Crisis Negotiation Team is utilized to solve special threat situations such as suicide attempts, barricaded suspect and hostage incidents through the process of specialized negotiation techniques. The primary goal of the team is to bring these types of situations to a peaceful resolution, thus reducing loss of life and harm to citizens and officers.
The team is comprised of five members.Sergeant Sawtell serves as the team commander, and four other officers complete the team. All members of the team attend a 40 hour basic negotiation school and are required by the department to train once a month to maintain proficiency. Monthly training is usually in the form of a simulated incident and is routinely conducted in conjunction with the department's SWAT team or with other area police negotiation teams. All members attend an annual training conference that is presented by the Texas Association of Hostage Negotiators and the Federal Bureau of Investigations which focuses on recent issues relevant to negotiations. The team also has advisers available from the FBI and the mental health community if necessary.