Sullivan: 'Proud' to Help Capture Tsarnaev

While local officers played only a "very small role" in the apprehension of a man wanted in connection to the Boston Marathon bombings on Friday, the incident is one in which the officers will never forget, according to Hampton Police Chief Jamie Sullivan.

Sullivan was part of a 23-member Seacoast Emergency Response Team unit that responded from New Hampshire to Watertown, Mass., on Friday afternoon, arriving on scene just before a "barrage of shots" were fired and the events preceding the arrest of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev "unfolded."

Thousands of officers from various local, state and federal agencies also responded as part of the largest incident Sullivan, a president of SERT's board of directors, said he's ever responded to. Sullivan said SERT, which consists of police officers from 11 Seacoast area communities, including the Hampton and Portsmouth police departments, responded Friday to relieve other law enforcement agencies.

Sullivan and his unit were "multiple blocks away" and weren't "in the line of fire" when that barrage started, although he said they did help search homes and buildings and talk with locals before holding a perimeter within the small Boston town while other officers worked to bring Tsarnaev into custody without additional injury or loss of life.

"I'm very proud we were able to lend that assistance to Watertown and Boston police and help in any way we could have," said Sullivan.

The incident was the first major incident for Hampton-area police since Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney was killed during a drug raid on April 12, 2012. Sullivan said local officers were part of a "much more frontline" response in that incident, and said that Maloney's death didn't alter the way SERT officers responded Friday.

"We approached things much the same way," said Sullivan. "I'm sure the Greenland incident was on people's minds, but you go down and focus on the tasks at hand. All of the experiences officers had in their careers played a part in this, but you focus on the task at hand."

Sullivan said he's "glad" Watertown residents weren't injured during Friday's response and said he and other officers' "hearts go out to the families and individuals injured" during the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent manhunt.