The Advanced Local Emergency Response Team (ALERT) is a unique multi-agency terrorism response team designed to treat patients in a mass casualty setting. Formed in 1998, the ALERT team is particularly focused on rapid deployment response to mass-casualty incidents involving chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The team may also be activated in response to natural or man-made disasters including hurricanes and aircraft crashes. Participants include over 100 representatives from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, firefighters, paramedics, environmental health personnel, nurses, physicians, and chaplains. Ranked third in the nation among similar response teams, ALERT represents a unique cooperative effort among public safety organizations, and has served as a model to cities around the country who wished to form their own organizations to handle the aftermath of a terrorist incident.

The Sheriff's Office provides a total of ten personnel for ALERT, supervised by Captain Kristjan A. Rahe. Each participating agency has a primary mission based on its field of expertise, and a secondary mission designed to help support the team's operation. Sheriff's personnel are primarily responsible for scene security and crime scene evidence collection. One deputy sheriff sergeant also has been trained and certified as a hazardous device technician. Additionally, the members assist with the decontamination and medical evacuation of victims once the assigned primary mission has been achieved. Team members train a minimum of eight hours monthly in both their field of specialty and in HAZ-MAT operations. Questions regarding ALERT may be addressed to the agency's ALERT Coordinator, Captain Kristjan A. Rahe, at Kristjan.Rahe@mecklenburgcountync.gov.