The Michigan State Police Emergency Support Team troopers rappel and practice fast-roping from a helicopter at their Fall Refresher Training on Tuesday morning. (Journal photo by Abby LaForest)

GWINN — The Michigan State Police’s Emergency Support Team held the second day of its Fall Refresher Training on Tuesday morning.

The training is an intensive, multi-day event that brings together the entire statewide ES Team for one of three annual large-scale training sessions. In the ES Team’s 50-year history, this is the second time a training like it has taken place in the Upper Peninsula (the first took place in the Sault Ste. Marie area in the late 1990s,) and the first time ever in Marquette County.

Lt. Ben Eckola, the MSP Eighth District’s public information officer, says that the selection for training locations are made on a case-by-case basis by the team and that some of the training and planned exercises are built around the rural terrain of the U.P.

“The team selects these locations and there’s a lot of logistical considerations that are made when you’re having this number of troopers respond to a certain area,” said Eckola. “We have to have places for them to train safely and different venues to host what we’re looking to do, like today with the helicopter, you need an airport nearby, things like that.”

Eckola says that the increase in state police presence throughout the county does not mean that there is an emergency or threat to public safety. Rather, the increase in police presence is related to the multi-day training exercises.

The Michigan State Police’s Emergency Support Team held their Fall Refresher Training in Marquette County this week. The increased police presence is the result of the training and there is no public emergency. (Journal photo by Abby LaForest)

“If there were any type of emergency

He explained that the training has been going well so far and that it’s been a cool opportunity to have MSP ES Team training in the Upper Peninsula, since it helps them maintain emergency preparedness in a more remote area.

“We want to maintain operational readiness to respond to any type of emergency throughout the state. Obviously, the U.P. presents some unique challenges. There’s very many remote areas and areas that are difficult to get to. The terrain can be difficult sometimes, so that provides a unique challenge for the members on our ES Team,” Eckola said. “With different aspects of things that are available here in the U.P., the training has been going great. It’s great to have everyone here in the U.P. and be able to do the training here.”

During training, the MSP ES Team refreshes their knowledge on a variety of skills, including physical agility testing, firearms training at a firearms range, tracking exercises, tactical scenario-based drills and more. The Mining Journal was invited to a media day where the team was practicing rappelling and fast-roping from a MSP helicopter.

“Our ES Team, they have the specialized equipment (for) specialized training, that if they’re needed to help supplement troopers at a local post or even other law enforcement agencies, the type of specialized training like you get to see today and the other stuff that’s going on throughout this week (helps,)” explained Eckola. “The training is good because it maintains the operational readiness and mak(es) sure they’re operating on peak performance and have any logistical issues worked out ahead of time so when they need to deploy in the real world for a real scenario, everything goes smoothly.”

The MSP ES Team’s calls for service are diverse, ranging from high-risk arrest and search warrant service to hostage rescue and responding to barricaded, armed individuals. The ES Team has responded to more than 4,500 calls for service since its creation in 1974, with more than half of those being requests for assistance from law enforcement agencies outside of the Michigan State Police. The team responded to more than 450 incidents statewide in 2024.

Approximately 60 members make up the ES Team, including tactical officers and negotiators from across the state, all of whom will be taking part in this week’s training. ES Team members train three times per year as an entire unit and monthly in smaller groups based on geographic and organizational boundaries. The ES Team is a specialized unit that troopers from across the state can apply to when openings are available.

More information about the ES Team and MSP career opportunities can be found online at michigan.gov/MSPjobs.

Abby LaForest can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 548. Her email address is alaforest@miningjournal.net.