The Erie County Sheriff’s Office Behavioral Threat Assessment Team (BTAT) was launched by Sheriff John Garcia in June of 2022 in memory of the 10 people who were killed in the act of domestic terrorism on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo weeks earlier. Its goal is to work with community stakeholders and local, state and federal partners to identify and address threats of violence across Erie County.
It is the mission of BTAT to ensure the safety and well-being of members of the diverse communities of Erie County by investigating and managing individuals who have demonstrated abnormal, threatening or obsessive behaviors that can lead to violence. BTAT maintains liaisons with mental health services and other community stakeholders in an effort to prevent targeted acts of violence.
BTAT is part of the Erie County Threat Assessment Committee, which has a collective goal of improving and streamlining targeted violence threat response protocols and strives for seamless sharing of threat information across systems.