SWAT

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Alternate meaning: S.W.A.T. (movie), a 2003 motion picture

SWAT is an acronym for Special Weapons And Tactics.

In the United States, it is the most commonly known name to the public of a specialized paramilitary police unit in major city police departments who are trained to perform dangerous operations. These can include coordinated attacks on selected targets such as heavily armed criminals in secure locations. They are typically equipped with heavier armaments than ordinary police officers with available arms including submachine guns, carbines, specialized tear gas and concussion grenades, and high-powered rifles for "marksmen" (snipers).

History

The first SWAT unit was created in the city of Los Angeles. In the 1960s Los Angeles had some serious troubles with sniping incidents against police officers and civilians. Common police officers didn't handle those situations at all well, because line police officers, whose job is simple law enforcement, get limited weapons training, very little weapons practice, and effectively no team combat tactics or "counterforce" capability. Classic "riot police" (crowd control) squads also seemed not to be up to the challenge presented by these events. Officer John Nelson came up with the idea to form a specially trained and equipped unit, intended to respond to and manage critical situations while minimizing police casualties. Inspector Daryl F. Gates approved this idea, and he formed a small select group of volunteer officers.

This first SWAT unit was initially constituted as 15 teams of four men each, for a total staff of 60. These officers were given special status and benefits. They had to attend special monthly training. This unit also served as security unit for police facilities during civil unrest. In the LAPD, SWAT units were listed as "Platoon 'D'".

The first challenge for LAPD's SWAT unit was on 9 December 1969: a four-hour confrontation with members of The Black Panthers. The Panthers finally surrendered; the casualty tally was three Panthers wounded and three police officers wounded. By 1974 there was general acceptance and implementation of SWAT as a resource for the city and county of Los Angeles.

On the afternoon of May 17, 1974, LAPD SWAT took on one of its most significant challenges. Elements of a group which called itself the "Symbionese Liberation Army" (SLA), a group of heavily-armed fugitive criminal would-be revolutionaries, barricaded themselves in a residence on East 54th Street at Compton Avenue. Coverage of the siege was broadcast to millions via television and radio and read about in the world press for days after. Appeals to surrender were made to the barricaded suspects on 26 separate occasions, 18 preceding the introduction of tear gas, and 10 during the ensuing confrontation. Not a single round was fired by police until their initial appeals had been answered by repeated volleys of semi-automatic and fully automatic gunfire. Despite the later-calculated firing of 3,772 rounds by the SLA, no uninvolved citizens or police officers sustained injury from gunfire.

The fate of the suspects, however, was somewhat different. During the gun battle, a fire erupted inside the residence. The cause of the fire is officially unknown. Police sources speculated that an errant round ignited one of the suspect's 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.

Training

In 1983, SWAT supervisors are said to have taken part in coordinated training with somewhat similar response teams in Europe, including the German GSG-9, French GIGN and British SAS. Note that SWAT is sometimes characterized as "paramilitary" whereas units such as the SAS are actual elements of their country's military forces. At the time, a US legal principle called the Posse Comitatus Act was generally believed to prohibit such cross-training of SWAT with elements of the US military.

Over 2,000 hours of training, per officer, was invested in each operator in order to make this new concept a reality. In the 19 days of the 1984 Summer Games, SWAT officers reportedly worked a grueling 24 hours on and 24 hours off in a full-time training mode to use and hone their skills. The Los Angeles Summer Games came and went without an incident, but the counter-terrorism skills developed during that time reportedly raised the team to a new level.

Since its inception, LAPD SWAT Team members have effected the safe rescue of numerous hostages, arrested scores of violent suspects and earned hundreds of commendations and citations, including several Medals of Valor, the Department's highest award for heroism in the line of duty. The LAPD SWAT Team has rescued dozens of hostages and currently handles approximately 90 barricaded suspect incidents and 50 high-risk warrants a year.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) pioneered the use of SWAT teams to suppress urban violence and riots in the 1960s. This kind of police unit quickly became well known with the premiere of the short-lived but notorious 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. A later series of PC Games with a SWAT theme was authorized by Retired Chief Darryl Gates more than a decade later.

SWAT and similar units in the United States

A partial list of active SWAT teams and affiliate organizations in USA:

  • Milwaukee Police Department Tactical Enforcement Unit (TEU, 700's, Tac Squad or The Unit)
  • FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT)
  • DEA tactical team (MET) Mobile Enforcement Team
  • Eufaula SWAT
  • Escondido T.O.U.
  • Hillsborough SWAT
  • Huntington Beach Police SWAT
  • Huntington Park Police SERT
  • Palm Springs PD S.W.A.T.
  • Placer County Sheriff's Department S.W.A.T.
  • San Jose Police M.E.R.G.E. Unit
  • Del Ray Beach Police SWAT Team
  • Florida S.W.A.T. Association
  • Leon Co. Sheriffs Office SWAT
  • Suwanee Co. Sheriff S.R.T.
  • Carmel SWAT Team
  • Marion County Sheriff's Department S.W.A.T.
  • Hyattsville Police H.E.A.T
  • Massachusetts State Police S.T.O.P. Team
  • Jackson Police Dept. SWAT
  • Doa Ana County Sheriff's Office SRT
  • Hendersonville S.E.T.
  • Washington County Sheriff's Office of Tactical Negotiations
  • Baldwin Borough Police SWAT
  • Johnstown Police CERT
  • National Tactical Officers Association
  • Chattanooga Police SWAT Team
  • Texas Assoc. of Hostage Negotiators
  • Texas Tactical Police Officer's Association
  • Spokane Police SWAT
  • Fond du Lac Police SWAT
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