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SWAT

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SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) is a specialized unit in many American police departments, which is trained to perform dangerous operations. These can include serving high-risk arrest warrants, performing hostage rescue and/or armed intervention, preventing terrorist attacks, and engaging heavily-armed criminals. SWAT teams are equipped with specialized firearms including submachine guns, shotguns, carbines, riot control agents, stun grenades, and high-powered rifles for marksmen (snipers). They often have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, entry tools, armored vehicles and night vision optics.

Special Weapons And Tactics
File:LosAngelesSWAT.jpg
Los Angeles Police Department SWAT Patch
Active1960s–Present
CountryUnited States
RoleDomestic Counter-Terrorism and Law Enforcement
This article is about Special Weapons and Tactics. For other uses, see Swat.


History

The development of SWAT is generally credited to the Los Angeles Police Department, in particular to then-inspector Daryl Gates, in 1967. In Gates’ autobiography, Chief: My Life in the LAPD (Bantam Books, 1992), he explained 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”. However, this name was turned down by his boss, then-deputy police chief Ed Davis.

John Nelson was the officer who came up with the idea to form a specially trained and equipped unit, 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 was initially constituted with 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. This includes 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 increases the chances of death or injury to officers. To commit conventionally trained officers to a confrontation with a guerilla-trained militant group would likely result in a high number of casualties among the officers and the escape of the guerillas.” 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.”

SWAT duties

SWAT duties include:

  • Non-violent apprehension of desperate barricaded suspects;
  • Protecting emergency personnel against snipers;
  • Providing high-ground and perimeter security against snipers for visiting dignitaries;
  • Providing controlled assault firepower in certain non-riot situations, i.e., barricaded suspects;
  • Rescuing officers and citizens captured or endangered by gunfire
  • Neutralizing guerilla or terrorist operations.
  • Catching people that could be involved in undercover work.

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 finally surrendered, with only 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. 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 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.

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 high-power anti-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 sea 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 in 1999 was another seminal event in SWAT tactics and police response. As noted in an article in the Christian Science Monitor, “[i]nstead 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.” [3]

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." [4]

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 can not 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, cell 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. This would seem to average to about one call every other day, but considering the 24-hour a day availability of police work, this means a lot of time between calls.

The New York Police Department’s Emergency Service Unit 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 rescue and search functions 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, although the use of firearms is considered a last resort in law enforcement. Other training that could be given to potential members includes training in explosives, sniper-training, first-aid, negotiation, handling K9 units, abseiling (rappelling) and roping techniques and the use of specialized weapons and equipment. They are also 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-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.

File:Military swat team.jpg
A SWAT team prepares to enter a building during an exercise simulating a hostage situation. The weapon in the lead officer's hand is the Beretta M9, the standard-issue sidearm for US military forces.

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.

Individual clothing and equipment usually consists of fire-resistant Nomex/Teijinconex coveralls or flightsuits, a body armor vest with Aramid or HMPE, an outer tactical load bearing vest for carrying ammunition and specialist gear and equipment, Nomex or other tactical gloves, balaclava or protective face covering, protective eye goggles, Twaron/Kevlar helmet and/or gas mask, flashlight (usually a Surefire or similar brand), combat boots, flexi-cuffs, and thigh ammo/utility pouches. While a wide variety of weapons are used by SWAT teams, the most common weapons include submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles. Tactical aids include flashbang, Stinger and tear gas grenades. Semi-automatic handguns are the most popular sidearms. Popular submachine guns used by SWAT teams include the 9 mm Heckler & Koch MP5 and 10 mm MP5/10 (used by the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team and by United States Capitol Police), with or without suppressors, and, to a lesser degree, Mac-10s. Common rifles include the M4 Carbine. The Colt M16A2 is rarely used because it is much longer than the M4, making maneuvering around enclosed quarters more difficult. However, it still finds favor with some teams with rural and long-range operations. 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 Pepperball guns. Pepperball guns are essentially paintball markers loaded with balls containing Oleoresin Capsicum ("pepper spray").

Well-funded SWAT units may also employ armored SWAT vans 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.

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 amongst some of the more unusual and ad-hoc device used by teams to deal with unique situations.

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. It was cancelled in the later episodes of the series, due to the violence of the program.

The SWAT Series of computer games by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vivendi Universal and Irrational Games started off as an interactive movie followup 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.

During the 1990s, there was also a cartoon TV show called SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron.

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.

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 is debuting both Kansas City and Detroit SWAT.

The British comic Viz once ran a spoof strip called SWANT (Special Weapons And No Tactics) involving a disastrous SWAT team.

Controversies

The use of SWAT teams in non-emergency situations has been criticized.[5] 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.[6] The officer who was responsible, Deval V. Bullock, was suspended for three weeks without pay.[7] One notable critic is Radley Balko, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, author of Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America.[8]

SWAT and other units in the United States

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

North America
South America
Europe
Middle East
Africa
Asia/Pacific
Australasia (Oceania)

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)
  2. ^ "Report following the SLA Shoot-out (PDF)" (PDF). Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved 19 June 2006.
  3. ^ "Report folliwong 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)
  4. ^ "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)
  5. ^ Steve Macko, "SWAT: Is it being used too much?", Emergency Response and Research Institute, July 15, 1997
  6. ^ Tom Jackman, "Va. Officer Might Be Suspended For Fatality", Washington Post, November 25, 2006
  7. ^ "A Tragedy of Errors", Washington Post, November 25, 2006
  8. ^ Radley Balko, "In Virginia, the Death Penalty for Gambling", Fox News, May 1, 2006
  • 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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