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SWAT

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Special Weapons And Tactics
Active1967–Present
TypeSpecial Operations
RoleDomestic Counter-Terrorism and Law Enforcement
Nickname(s)SWAT, SRU, SRT, CIRT, ERT, TRT, HRT, depends on the agency riot control department
This article is about Special Weapons And Tactics. For other uses, see Swat.

S.W.A.T (Special Weapons And Tactics) is an elite counter-terrorist Special Operations tactical unit, similar to the United States Navy SEALS, Taiwan Thunder Squad and Germany's GSG-9 Federal Police Special Unit, in American police departments, which is trained to perform high-risk, counter-terrorism operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular patrol officers. These can include serving high-risk arrest warrants, performing hostage rescue and/or armed intervention, preventing terrorist attacks and counter-terrorism, and engaging heavily-armed criminals. SWAT teams are equipped with the latest and most technologically advanced state of the art specialized firearms including assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, carbines, riot control agents, stun grenades, and high-powered rifles for marksmen (snipers). They have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, entry tools, armored vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and special radar motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages and terrorists inside of an enclosed structure (i.e. enclosed buildings, buses with windows covered by terrorists, or passenger airplanes with the window covered by terrorists).

The first SWAT team was established in the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1960s. Since then, many American police departments, especially in major cities and at the federal and state-levels of government, have established their own elite paramilitary units under various names; these units, despite their official name, are referred to collectively as SWAT units in colloquial usage.

History

File:LosAngelesSWAT.jpg
The LAPD SWAT was the first in the nation.

The development of SWAT in its modern incarnation is usually given as beginning in 1967, with reference in particular to then-inspector Daryl Gates of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

As far as the LAPD SWAT team's beginning, Gates' explained in his autobiography Chief: My Life in the LAPD, that he neither developed SWAT tactics nor its distinctive equipment. Gates wrote that he supported the concept, tried to empower his people to develop the concept, and lent them moral support. [1]

Gates wrote explaining that he originally wanted to name the platoon "Special Weapons Assault Team" or "Special Weapons Attack Team". However, this name was turned down by his boss, then-deputy police chief Ed Davis. Wanting to keep the name "SWAT", Gates changed the acronym to Special Weapons And Tactics.

While the public face of SWAT was made known through the LAPD, perhaps because of its proximity to the mass media and the size and professionalism of the Department itself, the first SWAT operations were conducted far north of Los Angeles in the farming community of Delano, California on the border between Kern and Tulare Counties in the great San Joaquin Valley. César Chavez' United Farm Workers were staging numerous protests in Delano, both at cold storage facilities and in front of non-supportive farm workers' homes on the city streets. Delano Police Department answered the issues that arose by forming the first-ever units using special weapons and tactics. Television news stations and print media carried live and delayed reportage of these events across the nation. Personnel from the LAPD, having seen these broadcasts, contacted Delano PD and inquired about the program. One officer then obtained permission to observe Delano Police Department's special weapons and tactics in action, and afterwards took what he'd learned back to Los Angeles where his knowledge was used and expanded on to form their first SWAT unit.

John Nelson was the officer who came up with the idea to form a specially trained and equipped unit in the LAPD, intended to respond to and manage critical situations involving shootings while minimizing police casualties. Inspector Gates approved this idea, and he formed a small select group of volunteer officers. This first SWAT unit initially consisted of fifteen teams of four men each, for a total staff of sixty. These officers were given special status and benefits. They were required to attend special monthly training. This unit also served as a security unit for police facilities during civil unrest. The LAPD SWAT units were organized as "D Platoon" in the Metro division. [1]

A report issued by the Los Angeles Police Department, following a shootout with the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974, offers one of the few firsthand accounts by the department regarding SWAT history, operations, and organization. [2]

On page 100 of the report, the Department cites four trends which prompted the development of SWAT. These included riots such as the Watts Riots, which in the 1960s forced police departments into tactical situations for which they were ill-prepared, the emergence of snipers as a challenge to civil order, the appearance of the political assassin, and the threat of urban guerrilla warfare by militant groups. "The unpredictability of the sniper and his anticipation of normal police response increase the chances of death or injury to officers. To commit conventionally trained officers to a confrontation with a guerrilla-trained militant group would likely result in a high number of casualties among the officers and the escape of the guerrillas." To deal with these under conditions of urban violence, the LAPD formed SWAT, notes the report.

The report states on page 109, "The purpose of SWAT is to provide protection, support, security, firepower, and rescue to police operations in high personal risk situations where specialized tactics are necessary to minimize casualties."

On February 7, 2008 a siege and subsequent fire fight with a gunman in Winnetka, California led to the first line-of-duty death in the 41 years of the LAPD's SWAT team.[3]

SWAT duties

SWAT duties include:

  • Hostage rescue
  • Crime suppression
  • Providing high-ground and perimeter security against snipers for visiting dignitaries;
  • Providing superior assault firepower in certain situations, e.g., barricaded suspects.
  • Rescuing officers and citizens captured or endangered by gunfire
  • Destroying guerrilla or terrorist operations in U.S. cities.
  • Resolve high-risk situations with a minimum loss of life, injury or property damage,
  • Resolve situations involving barricaded subjects, (see specifically HBT)
  • Stabilize situations involving high-risk suicidal subjects,
  • Provide assistance on drug raids, arrest warrant and search warrant service,
  • Provide additional security at special events,
  • Stabilizing dangerous situations dealing with violent criminals (rapists, serial killers, gangs).

Notable events

The first significant deployment of LAPD's SWAT unit was on December 9, 1969, in a four-hour confrontation with members of the Black Panthers. The Panthers eventually surrendered, with three Panthers and three officers being injured. By 1974, there was a general acceptance of SWAT as a resource for the city and county of Los Angeles.

On the afternoon of May 17, 1974, elements of a group which called itself the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a group of heavily-armed leftists, barricaded themselves in a residence on East 54th Street at Compton Avenue in Los Angeles. Coverage of the siege was broadcast to millions via television and radio and featured in the world press for days after. Negotiations were opened with the barricaded suspects on numerous occasions, both prior to and after the introduction of tear gas. Police units did not fire until the SLA had fired several volleys of semi-automatic and fully automatic gunfire at them. In spite of the 3,772 rounds fired by the SLA, no uninvolved citizens or police officers sustained injury from gunfire.

During the gun battle, a fire erupted inside the residence. The cause of the fire is officially unknown, although police sources speculated that an errant round ignited one of the suspects' Molotov cocktails. Others suspect that the repeated use of tear gas grenades, which function by burning chemicals at high temperatures, started the structure fire. All six of the suspects suffered multiple gunshot wounds and perished in the ensuing blaze.

File:Counterterrorismwiki.jpg

By the time of the SLA shoot-out, SWAT teams had reorganized into six 10-man teams, each team consisting of two five-man units, called elements. An element consisted of an element leader, two assaulters, a scout, and a rear-guard. The normal complement of weapons was a sniper rifle (apparently a .243-caliber bolt-action, judging from the ordnance expended by officers at the shootout), two .223-caliber semi-automatic rifles, and two shotguns. SWAT officers also carried their service revolvers in shoulder holsters. The normal gear issued them included a first aid kit, gloves, and a gas mask. In fact it was a change just to have police armed with semi-automatic rifles, at a time when officers were usually issued six-shot revolvers and shotguns. The encounter with the heavily-armed Symbionese Liberation Army, however, sparked a trend towards SWAT teams being issued body armor and fully automatic weapons of various types.

The Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999 was another seminal event in SWAT tactics and police response. As noted in an article in the Christian Science Monitor, “Instead of being taught to wait for the SWAT team to arrive, street officers are receiving the training and weaponry to take immediate action during incidents that clearly involve suspects' use of deadly force.” [4][dead link]

The article further reported that street officers were increasingly being armed with rifles, and issued heavy body armor and ballistic helmets, items traditionally associated with SWAT units. The idea is to train and equip street officers to make a rapid response to so-called active-shooter situations. In these situations, it was no longer acceptable to simply set up a perimeter and wait for SWAT.

As an example, in the policy and procedure manual of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Police Department, it is stated, "MPD personnel shall remain cognizant of the fact that in many active shooter incidents, innocent lives are lost within the first few minutes of the incident. In some situations, this dictates the need to rapidly assess the situation and act quickly in order to save lives." [5]

With this shift in police response, SWAT units remain in demand for their traditional roles as hostage rescue, counter-terrorist operations, and serving high-risk warrants.

Organization

The relative infrequency of SWAT call-outs means these expensively-trained and equipped officers cannot be left to sit around, waiting for an emergency. In many departments the officers are normally deployed to regular duties (such as the Manteca Police Department in California), but are available for SWAT calls via pagers, mobile phones or radio transceivers. Even in the larger police agencies, such as the Los Angeles PD, SWAT personnel would normally be seen in crime suppression roles - specialized and more dangerous than regular patrol, perhaps, but the officers wouldn’t be carrying their distinctive armor and weapons.

By illustration, the LAPD’s website shows that in 2003, their SWAT units were activated 255 times, for 133 SWAT calls and 122 times to serve high-risk warrants.

The New York Police Department’s Emergency Service Unit "New York Police Department Statistics". Archived from the original on 2007-06-11. is one of the few civilian police special-response units that operate autonomously 24 hours a day. However, this unit also provides a wide range of services, including search and rescue functions, and vehicle extraction, normally handled by fire departments or other agencies.

The need to summon widely-dispersed personnel, then equip and brief them, makes for a long lag between the initial emergency and actual SWAT deployment on the ground. The problems of delayed police response at the 1999 Columbine High School massacre has led to changes in police response, mainly rapid deployment of line officers to deal with an active shooter, rather than setting up a perimeter and waiting for SWAT to arrive.

Training

United States Mint Police Special Response Team

SWAT officers are selected from volunteers within their law enforcement organization. Depending on the department's policy, officers generally have to serve a minimum tenure within the department before being able to apply for a specialist section such as SWAT. This tenure requirement is based on the fact that SWAT officers are still law enforcement officers and must have a thorough knowledge of department policies and procedures.

SWAT applicants undergo rigorous selection and training, similar to the training some special operations units in the military receive. Applicants must pass stringent physical agility, written, oral, and psychological testing to ensure they are not only fit enough but also psychologically suited for tactical operations.

In addition, applicants must successfully pass a stringent background investigation and job performance review. Emphasis is placed on physical fitness so an officer will be able to withstand the rigors of tactical operations. After an officer has been selected, the potential member must undertake and pass numerous specialist courses that will make him or her a fully qualified SWAT operator. Officers are trained in marksmanship for the development of accurate shooting skills. Other training that could be given to potential members includes training in explosives, sniper-training, defensive tactics, first-aid, negotiation, handling K9 units, abseiling (rappelling) and roping techniques and the use of specialized weapons and equipment. They may also be trained specifically in the handling and use of special ammunition such as bean bags, flash bang grenades, tasers, and the use of crowd control methods, and special less-than-lethal munitions. Of primary importance is close-quarters defensive tactics training, as this will be the primary mission upon becoming a full-fledged SWAT officer.

SWAT equipment

SWAT teams use equipment designed for a variety of specialist situations including close quarters combat (CQC) in an urban environment. The particular pieces of equipment vary from unit to unit, but there are some consistent trends in what they wear and use.

Clothing and tools

Individual clothing and equipment usually consists of fire-resistant Nomex coveralls or jumpsuits, or BDUs (battle dress uniform), if need be, a body armor vest with Aramid or HMPE, an outer tactical load bearing vest (Omega style vest, LBV, or Plate Carrier [picture to right: Omega vests are being used]) for carrying ammunition and specialist gear and equipment, Nomex or other tactical gloves, balaclava or protective face covering (not always), protective eye goggles, Twaron/Kevlar helmet (PASGT) and/or gas mask, flashlight (usually a Surefire or similar brand), combat steel reinforced boots, flexi-cuffs, and thigh ammo/utility pouches and/or holsters. They often use drop leg holsters, while some officers prefer hip holsters.

Weapons

Members of the U.S. Air Force 60th Security Forces Squadron SWAT Team, Travis Air Force Base, California, USA

While a wide variety of weapons is used by SWAT teams, the most common weapons include submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles.

Tactical aids include K9 Units, flash bang, Stinger and tear gas grenades.

Semi-automatic handguns are the most popular sidearms. Examples may include, but are not limited to: M1911 pistol series, Sig Sauer series (especially the Sig P226 and Sig P229) Beretta M9 series, Glock pistols, and H&K USP series.

Popular submachine guns used by SWAT teams include the 9 mm Heckler & Koch MP5 and 10 mm MP5/10 (used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Hostage Rescue Team and by United States Capitol Police), with or without suppressors. The H&K UMP has begun to replace the MP5 due to its lower cost and larger caliber, though albeit at the cost of a somewhat shorter effective range and more recoil.

Common types of shotguns used are the Benelli M3, SPAS-12, Remington 870 and 1100, Mossberg 500 and 590.

Common rifles include carbines such as the Colt CAR-15 and M4, H&K G36C and the Heckler & Koch 416[citation needed]. While affording teams increased penetration at the cost of accuracy, for dealing with well-protected criminals, the compact size of these weapons is essential as SWAT units frequently operate in CQB environments. The Colt M16A2 can be found used by Marksmen or SWAT officers when a longer ranged weapon is needed. The Heckler & Koch G3 series is also common among Marksmen or snipers, as well as the M14 rifle[citation needed]. Many different variants of bolt action rifles are used by SWAT, with a few occasions of the usage of a .50 caliber sniper rifle.

To breach doors quickly, battering rams, shotguns, or explosive charges can be used to break the lock or hinges, or even demolish the door frame itself. SWAT teams also use many less-lethal munitions and weapons. These include tasers, pepper spray canisters, shotguns loaded with bean bag rounds, and Pepper ball guns. Pepper ball guns are essentially paint ball markers loaded with balls containing Oleoresin Capsicum ("pepper spray").

Vehicles

Well-funded SWAT units may also employ ARV's, (Armored Rescue Vehicle[6] ) for insertion, maneuvering, or during tactical operations such as the rescue of civilians/officers pinned down by gunfire. Helicopters may be used to provide aerial reconnaissance or even insertion via rappelling or fast-roping. To avoid detection by suspects during insertion in urban environments, SWAT units may also use modified buses, vans, trucks, or other seemingly normal vehicles.

Units such as the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Special Response Team (SRT) used a vehicle called a BEAR which is a very large armored vehicle with a ladder on top to make entry into the second and third floors of buildings.

File:DallasLencoBearcat.jpg
Dallas Police SWAT's Lenco 'BearCat' Armored Rescue Vehicle. Similar Lenco models are also used by larger departments such as the LAPD and NYPD.

The Tulsa Police Department's SOT (Special Operations Team) uses an Alvis Saracen, a British-built armoured personnel carrier. The Saracen was modified to accommodate the needs of the SOT. A Night Sun was mounted on top and a ram was mounted to the front. The Saracen has been used from warrant service to emergency response. It has enabled team members to move from one point to another safely.

Recon

For tactical reconnaissance purposes, a team may be equipped with binoculars, fiber optic cameras (known by brand names such as the Viper, as used by the Los Angeles Police Department), thermographic cameras, or a variety of audio or video surveillance equipment. In nighttime or low-light operations, SWAT units may be equipped with night-vision goggles. Mirrors on extension poles, for looking around corners while not putting an officer directly in the line of fire, are among some of the more unusual and ad-hoc devices used by teams to deal with unique situations.

This kind of police unit quickly became well known with the premiere of the short-lived television series S.W.A.T. in the 1970s, which was panned as being overly violent and unrealistic with the characters regularly undergoing missions that usually happen only once in a lifetime for actual teams. However, the violence is mild by today's standards. In 2003, the movie S.W.A.T. starring Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell was released in theaters as an update of the TV series.

The SWAT Series of computer games by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vivendi Universal and Irrational Games started off as an interactive movie follow up of the Police Quest series which was narrated by retired Chief Daryl Gates, and was continued as a real-time strategy game and two first person shooters in the vein of Rainbow Six. All but one featured endorsements by the LAPD.

In 2005, a television show debuted on A&E entitled Dallas SWAT, documenting the personal and professional lives of SWAT officers of the Dallas, Texas Police Department. The television show is now being shown on Court TV and in 2006 A&E debuted both Kansas and Detroit SWAT.

Up to and including the 1980s, movies that featured SWAT units (such as Die Hard and Die Hard 2) portrayed them as carrying M16 rifles and wearing black armour and clothing but not wearing protective helmets. By the mid to late-1990s, SWAT officers were typically depicted in full protection with helmets and goggles/visors, balaclavas, and carrying MP5 submachine guns, with the occasional member carrying a rifle/carbine or shotgun (such as in Face/Off).

Such police units have also been parodied. During the 1990s, there was also a cartoon TV show called SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron. The British comic Viz once ran a spoof strip called SWANT (Special Weapons And No Tactics) involving a disastrous SWAT team. A SWAT unit is featured at the end of the movie The Blues Brothers (1980), along with state troopers, the military, the fire brigade, the mounted police, the Chicago Police Department, etc. They chase Jake and Elwood Blues in the Cook County Building, leading the pursuit by all the law enforcement officials throughout the building stairwells. The obvious irony of the whole sequence is that one of the missions of the SWAT teams is to arrest heavily armed, dangerous, criminals while the Blues brothers are unarmed and are only petty criminal offenders.

Controversies

The use of SWAT teams in non-emergency situations has been criticized.[7] In 2006, a SWAT team served a warrant on Salvatore Culosi, a 37-year old optometrist in the Fair Oaks section of Fairfax County, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., who was accused of sports gambling; the attempted arrest ended with his accidental death.[8] The officer who was responsible, Deval V. Bullock, was suspended for three weeks without pay.[9] One notable critic is Radley Balko, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, author of Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America.[10]

SWAT and other units in the United States

U.S. Air Force 37th Training Wing's Emergency Services Team use a team lift technique to enter a target building during training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, USA.
Main article: List of Special Response Units in the United States

Though initially confined to metropolitan cities, today virtually every city with a police force in excess of a handful of officers has a paramilitary tactical unit. A variety of abbreviations and acronyms are used for these organizations, which operate at federal, state, and local levels. Most known examples are:

Similar units outside the United States

See also: List of Special Response Units

Other law enforcement agencies, both in the US and around the world, also have similar paramilitary units. However, SWAT usually refers to tactical units attached at the municipal level. The term "special weapons and tactics" unit has also become somewhat generic, and sometimes includes some patrol officers trained and equipped to respond to violent threats.

Europe

Middle East

Africa

The United Nations Mission in DRC (Congo) Security Intervention Team (SIT)

Asia-Pacific

South America

North Americas

Canada  Canada

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SWAT.

References

  1. ^ a b "Development of SWAT". Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved 19 June. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help) Cite error: The named reference "SWAT01" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Report following the SLA Shoot-out (PDF)" (PDF). Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  3. ^ Siege in Winnetka, California
  4. ^ "Report following the Columbine High School Massacre". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 19 June. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Policy & Procedure Manual". Minneapolis, Minnesota, Police Department. Retrieved 19 June. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ GUIDELINES for ARMORED RESCUE VEHICLES | Article from Tactical Response | HighBeam Research
  7. ^ Steve Macko, "SWAT: Is it being used too much?", Emergency Response and Research Institute, July 15, 1997
  8. ^ Tom Jackman, "Va. Officer Might Be Suspended For Fatality", Washington Post, November 25, 2006
  9. ^ "A Tragedy of Errors", Washington Post, November 25, 2006
  10. ^ Radley Balko, "In Virginia, the Death Penalty for Gambling", Fox News, May 1, 2006
  11. ^ Operations Support

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docket/NIOSHdocket0008.html

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/

http://www.cdc.gov/NIOSH/topics/emergency.html

http://www.ntoa.org/

http://www.socom.mil/

http://www.houstontx.gov/police/career/images/swat_night.jpg

  • [1] The National Tactical Officers Association, a national organization of tactical professionals.
  • [2] The International Tactical Officers Training Association, an organization of tactical professionals more recently established than the NTOA.
  • SWAT USA Court TV program that broadcasts real SWAT video.
  • Cato Institute Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America
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