SJPD Special Operations Division
Division Commander:
Captain Eric Sills
Phone: (408) 277-4715
Captain Eric Sills was hired on June 28, 1982. He worked in patrol and then was selected to work in the following specialized assignments: Information Center, Warrants Unit, Background Investigations, and Sexual Assault Investigations. Eric was promoted to Sergeant in January 1993. As a sergeant, Eric supervised patrol officers and served as a supervisor for the Internal Affairs Unit and Violent Crimes Enforcement Team. Eric was promoted to Lieutenant on June 15, 1997 where he served as a Patrol Watch Commander, Sexual Assault Unit Commander and Field Training Unit Commander. Eric was promoted to Captain on January 13, 2008 where he currently serves as the Commander of the Special Operations Unit.
The Special Operations Division is comprised of a number of highly proactive units which support both the Bureau of Field Operations and the Bureau of Investigations. Officers working in these units are specially trained in the following areas:
- Tactical responses to critical incidents
- Traffic enforcement planning and control
- Overt and covert gang and narcotics investigations
- Large preplanned demonstrations and events
- Helicopter and fixed wing air support
- Dignitary protection
- Bomb sweeps and investigations
- Canine deployment
- Horse mounted patrol
- Direct support to both bureaus in the apprehension of career criminals and violent offenders.
All assignments under the Special Operations Division are considered unique and fall outside the realm of normal patrol duties. Each requires a high degree of team camaraderie and discipline. All officers working in the Special Operations Division receive specialized training and develop a high level of proficiency and expertise for their particular assignment.
TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT (TEU) 
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The San Jose Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit is part of the Special Operations Division within the Bureau of Field Operations. It is comprised of one lieutenant, seven sergeants, thirty-two motorcycle officers, six radar car officers, and two commercial vehicle enforcement officers.
The primary duty of the Traffic Enforcement Unit (TEU) is the enforcement of traffic laws in order to reduce traffic collisions, their resulting injuries, and to facilitate the safe and expedient flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. These efforts result in safer roadways and streets, fewer fatalities, injuries, and reduces property damage. The Unit concentrates its enforcement efforts in the areas with the highest collision rates within the city of San José. These efforts have proven to be effective in reducing the numbers of collisions in the City.
METRO UNIT
The Metro Unit is comprised of specially trained Bureau of Field Operation’s personnel who are primarily responsible for establishing a rapid response program that may be implemented within any part of the City. The Unit coordinates with the Bureau of Investigations and Bureau of Field Operations Captains to identify areas within the city that are affected by increased violent crimes, narcotics trafficking, prostitution, and other nuisance crimes that affect the overall quality of life. Metro Unit personnel are also assigned to the city’s anti-graffiti task force and proactively investigate graffiti violations throughout the city. Metro Unit personnel utilize both overt and covert operations on a daily basis to achieve their established objectives.
MERGE UNIT
The Mobile Emergency Response Group and Equipment (MERGE) Unit is how the San Jose Police Department refers to its “SWAT” team. MERGE consists of two ten person teams and two supervisors. The MERGE Unit is responsible for supporting the Bureau of Field Operations by providing special skills and equipment to address critical incidents involving threats to life. In addition, the MERGE Unit assists the Secret Service with dignitary protection and provides direct support to patrol personnel in the apprehension of violent criminals. MERGE has also adopted responsibility for apprehending career criminals and violent offenders through the cooperative efforts of the Bureau of Investigations and other outside agencies. To accomplish these missions, officers work both in a covert capacity (plainclothes and “cold” cars) and the more traditional MERGE method of operation (uniforms and unmarked police vehicles). All officers are highly trained in a variety of different weaponry and work closely in a team setting.
The Canine Unit consists of two teams of officers with five dogs on each team and two supervisors. Officers assigned to the Canine Unit purchase their own dogs and are allowed to work with the animal for seven years. The mission of the Canine Unit is to deploy specially trained officers and canines to support the Bureau of Field Operations. They accomplish this by performing the following duties:
- Searching for fleeing felons
- Conducting building searches
- Providing direct assistance to patrol officers on a variety of different calls for service, and
- Providing demonstrations to various community organizations
When unassigned to specific events, canine units also perform direct patrol duties by initiating field contacts with subjects engaged in suspicious activity and making arrests when criminal violations occur.
VIOLENT CRIMES ENFORCEMENT TEAM
The purpose of the Violent Crimes Enforcement Team (VCET) is to support the Bureau of Field Operations and the Bureau of Investigations with gang related incidents. The assistance given to the Bureaus involves but is not limited to:
- Aggressively enforce all crimes associated with adult/youth violence related to criminal gang activity
- Arresting perpetrators of gang violence and assisting the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office with successful prosecution
- Policing special events and festivals that the Special Operations Division is tasked with staffing
- Augment the MERGE Unit on tactical missions by providing additional staffing through the Collateral Response Team.
The VCET Unit is part of the Special Operations Division. The Unit has 18 officers, 3 sergeants and 1 lieutenant.
BOMB SQUAD
The San Jose Police Bomb Squad is the largest squad in the South Bay. All squad members are certified Bomb Technicians and are graduates of the Hazardous Devices School (HDS). The Bomb Squad is classified as a “tier one” squad, by the FBI. Which means it is capable of responding to multiple calls at the same time and possesses the man power and equipment to handle major incidences involving explosives or weapons of mass destruction. Squad members are available 24/7 and are assigned to being on-call every six weeks, in a two person team configuration. The squad trains a minimum of twice a month for ten hours or sixty hours per quarter. Every three years all members must return to HDS and successfully pass a one week intense recertification course sponsored by the United States Government. The Department’s squad has the very latest in equipment and response vehicles allowing the Bomb Squad to be truly state of the art.
Each member is certified in explosives demolition, hazardous materials, nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The main job of the Bomb Squad is to render safe explosives, improvised explosive devices (IED), respond to suspicious packages, investigate explosive related incidences, perform explosive breaching, handle unexploded ordnance (UXO), process post blast scenes and handle large amounts of dangerous fireworks.
AIR SUPPORT UNIT
The primary purpose of the Air Support Unit (ASU) is to provide aerial services for other Units within the San Jose Police Department. In addition, the ASU will provide services for other Departments within the County of Santa Clara. The ASU’s main objectives are to:
- Provide aerial support for police ground units on matters relating to public and officer safety. An emphasis will be placed on pursuits, apprehension of fleeing suspects and searches for missing persons who are "at risk"
- Schedule and perform various public relations appearances and demonstrations.
The ASU flies an American Eurocopter EC 120. The staff consists of one sergeant pilot, two officer pilots and one officer tactical observer. The ASU is supervised by the sergeant who is also a pilot instructor. The ASU is part of the Special Operations Division, Bureau of Field Operations.
HORSE MOUNTED and PARKS UNIT
The Horse Mounted and Parks Unit have the responsibility for patrolling the City’s parks, rivers, and downtown area on horseback. Bicycles, patrol cars and 4 x 4 vehicles are also utilized. In addition, the unit assists the Bureau of Field Operations in special events, such as parades, rallies, searches, crowd control, and dignitary protection. The Unit also performs various public relations appearances and demonstrations.
The Horse Mounted and Parks Unit is part of the Special Operations Division. The Unit is comprised of 7 officers, 1 sergeant, 1 lieutenant and 13 police horses.
HONOR GUARD CEREMONIAL UNIT
The Honor Guard and Ceremonial Unit have the responsibility of conducting flag raising ceremonies and honor guard details at special events. The special events include Police Department sponsored functions, parades and officer funerals. The Honor Guard and Ceremonial Unit is a collateral assignment and it consists of 20 officers, 2 sergeants and 1 lieutenant.
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