Expert: Chris Wagoner - 3/21/2009

Question
Hello im edgar a huge swat fan and i got some questions i want you to answer first what type of fighting skills do i need to join the swat. Also may you please list some important requirements for the swat team.and what techneces do i need to join. Thank you!

Answer
Hi Edgar,

SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) are elite tactical units in American police departments. Similar organizations in other areas are South Australian STAR Force (Special Tasks and Rescue), London's Specialist Firearms Command and Taiwan's Thunder Squad. It is trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular patrol officers, including serving high-risk arrest warrants, barricaded suspects, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, and engaging heavily-armed criminals. SWAT teams are often equipped with specialized firearms including assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, carbines, riot control agents, stun grenades, and high-powered rifles for snipers. They have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, entry tools, armored vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers inside of an enclosed structure.

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 units under various names; these units, despite their official name, are referred to collectively as SWAT units in colloquial usage.

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).

SWAT duties include:

Hostage rescue.
Crime suppression.
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.
Countering 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, (specifically covered by a Hostage Barricade Team).
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 (such as rapists, serial killers or gangs).

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.

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 for sounding too much like a military organization. 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.

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.

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 a member of the LAPD's SWAT 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, 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.

Plenty more on the web.. be well and good luck!!