The National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) is a specialist unit of His Majesty's Prison Service in the United Kingdom, who work alongside National Dog & Technical Support Group (NDTSG) that is equipped to respond to serious incidents in prisons, in particular protests [1] [2] and hostage taking incidents. [3]
Officers are trained in riot control tactics including methods of entry, working at height and hostage resolution. They wear stab vests, flame retardant uniforms, helmets and armoured gloves and carry Monadnock PR-24 batons, shields, PAVA incapacitant and smoke bombs. Staff operate at two sites, NDTSG Kidlington near Campsfield House in Oxford, and NTRG Hatfield Woodhouse, near HM Prison Hatfield in South Yorkshire.
Deployments of the NDTSG and NTRG are overseen at a national management level, and where escalation from localised 'Tornado Teams' is deemed appropriate.
The NTRG had 44 total staff in 2017, and a budget of £1.5 million in the financial year 2019-20. [4] In 2018, the unit was deployed 640 times to prisons across England and Wales. [2]
