CAMP RIPLEY -- Members of the National Guard received some Domestic Operations training from local law enforcement this weekend.

A handful of area departments including the St. Cloud Police Department and St. Cloud S.W.A.T. spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday up at Camp Ripley.

Martin Sayre is a Lieutenant with the St. Cloud Police Department and Executive Officer for St. Cloud S.W.A.T. He says their group focused on civil disturbance training.

So we’re showing them our tactics and how we utilize that. How we do crowd control. How we take a civil disturbance and turn it peaceful.

Sayre says the training helps to prepare the National Guard for situations when they need to assist civil authorities.

Well, really we’re kinda teaching them how if a police department gets overwhelmed and can’t deal with the problem themselves if they had to call in the Minnesota National Guard, which is part of what they do, they can respond to that type of thing.

Other departments held different sessions on different topics including active shooter training.

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