S.W.A.T's full name is Special Weapons And Tactics. As the name suggests, she is a special operations unit in the police force. Mainly responsible for combating major criminal activities, including support for the local conventional police, anti-narcotics, counter-terrorism, security for major events, hostage rescue, etc., can be said, is an all-round excellent special police force. Generally only when there are major emergencies and special circumstances, S.W.A.T will be mobilized.
Establishment:
In Los Angeles, as famous as the Hollywood Walk of Fame is the high crime rate there, S.W.A.T was born in this harsh social background.In the mid-1960s, in order to cope with the increasingly serious violent criminal activities, the LAPD began to work on the establishment of a rapid response, well-trained, well-equipped, capable of responding to major unexpected violent activities. The S.W.A.T was born as a special police unit capable of responding to major outbreaks of violence! At the beginning of the organization, the full name of S.W.A.T was called Special Weapons Attack Team, which means Special Weapons Attack Team. Because this name is too "militarized" and violent, used in a police force is too hard, so people for S.W.A.T changed a more "gentle", apt name: Special Weapons And Tactics.
In the beginning, S.W.A.T. members were elite officers selected from the regular police force who volunteered to join S.W.A.T. and were trained by the Marines. Important training subjects are urban street fighting techniques and CQB (Close Quarter Battle Indoors) to name a few. However, after many subsequent experiences summarized by dealing with urban crime operations, it was found that this kind of training was of little benefit to the police in combating criminal violence, but on the contrary caused a lot of damage to municipal facilities and private property. Therefore, the LAPD began to continuously reform the S.W.A.T's operational guidelines and training methods, aiming to make the S.W.A.T more effective in combating criminal activities and protecting public life and property. While eliminating criminal activities, unnecessary large-scale gun battles and destruction of public **** facilities are to be avoided as much as possible.
Merit:
With the accumulation of combat experience, S.W.A.T has gradually grown. Due to its ability to effectively deter criminal violence and its good performance in successive operations, S.W.A.T began to be emulated by police forces across the United States. S.W.A.T was often seen in major anti-criminalization campaigns on U.S. soil and overseas. Gradually, S.W.A.T began to be known throughout the world.
In 1984, when the Los Angeles Olympic Games were about to be held, S.W.A.T. was fully involved in the security of the Games in order to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that occurred 12 years ago in Munich, Germany. In order for the Olympics to be held smoothly, S.W.A.T increased the intensity of training in relevant subjects. This includes hostage rescue, physical training, combat coordination, and more. In addition, S.W.A.T. has replaced all the ammunition used in training with live fire from the usual training ammunition in order to maximize the team's proximity to actual combat training. So that the whole team can quickly and effectively improve the overall combat strength. Just in these few short weeks of intensive training, S.W.A.T's ammunition consumption was more than the previous year's total ammunition consumption. All of this laid the security foundation for the success of the Los Angeles Olympics.
Membership:
Joining the S.W.A.T involves a rigorous and demanding selection process, where all officers applying to join the team do so voluntarily and have served on the force for more than four years, and their performance must be in the top 25 percent of the department. Police officers who have met the above requirements are eligible for the following six-month training assessment. The training mainly tests the team members' physical fitness, shooting skills and tactical use. Each team member is required to have a strong physique, sharp reflexes and good psychological quality to cope with all kinds of emergencies and fast-paced combat missions. In addition, the players selected through the harsh training will have to undergo a quarterly fitness test, which is designed to keep each player in peak condition.
After six months of selection, those who are finally qualified are eligible to join S.W.A.T and become a real elite police officer.
Equipment:
S.W.A.T's important task is to respond to extreme violent crimes. They usually have to deal with gangs of criminals and triad forces. These criminal forces usually have powerful firepower, including automatic rifles, grenades, explosives, and more. As a result, S.W.A.T's combat equipment is constantly changing and improving. Only well-equipped S.W.A.T members can take the initiative in battle and overcome the enemy. Currently, the standard equipment of S.W.A.T team members is Colt 0.45-inch caliber semi-automatic pistol, which is mainly used for personal defense. Depending on the mission, the team members can also choose different main battle weapons. These include the HK MP5 series 9mm submachine gun, Colt 5.56mm caliber rifle, HK 5.56mm caliber G36C rifle, Benelli M1 Super90 tactical shotgun, Remington 700 sniper rifle, and more. To cope with special combat missions, the S.W.A.T is also equipped with door breakers, shock bombs, tear gas, smoke grenades, pepper spray, and so on. Interestingly, many S.W.A.T members also often pay out of their own pockets for new additions to their weapons, or even the weapons themselves.
For personal protection, S.W.A.T team members are standardly equipped with fireproof combat suits, tactical undershirts, Kevlar vests and helmets, and goggles and windshields. This equipment allows the team members to maximize their protection during operations. If the security threat level is higher, team members are also issued Kevlar vests fitted with boron carbide ballistic ceramics, which can effectively withstand rifle bullets.
Establishment:
Early S.W.A.T. consisted of fifteen four-person squads, which were later converted to five-person squads.In 1971, S.W.A.T. was integrated into the Secret Service Metropolitan Division, which already had three other A, B, and C units, so S.W.A.T. was given the number D Paltoon, a full-time secret service unit. The Metro Division currently has the following teams: Team A: Logistics, Team B: Riot Control, Team C: Security, Team D: S.W.A.T, Team E: Mounted Police, Team K: K-9
The S.W.A.T has a full complement of 67 personnel, including one lieutenant who heads up the entire S.W.A.T., and six noncommissioned officers who head up the six teams, with two five-person squads under each team. In the execution of the mission, the teams are organized into offensive, sniper, support, medical, and negotiation teams. A typical 5-man squad of the Offense Group consists of a Detective S.W.A.T whose main tasks are hostage rescue, fire support to regular police teams, high-risk searches, execution of arrest warrants, and high-ranking officer escorts.
Weapons and equipment
1, M1911 pistol
L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T. as a special equipment and special tactics squad, naturally, you have to use and regular standard equipment is different. As a basic personal configuration, the first is a pistol, S.W.A.T. currently adopts the pistol is Kimber's SWAT Custom TLE RL II, Kimber specializes in the production of competition-grade accuracy of the M1911-style pistol, and this custom model with tactical light rails is a combat pistol specifically tailored for L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T.. Although the L.A.P.D. standard issue was the 9mm Beretta, the S.W.A.T. needed a weapon with a larger bullet diameter, velocity, kinetic energy, etc. They were faced with a situation that required them to have such powerful and lethal firepower, so the .45 (11.43mm) caliber M1911 was the obvious choice.
2, MP5 sub-machine gun
L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T.'s main assault weapon is the H&K MP5 9mm sub-machine gun, this gun can be said to be well known, despite the weight of a large, expensive, but excellent shooting accuracy and very high * make the MP5 become the world's law enforcement units of choice. .W.A.T.'s MP5s are all modified with SureFire's tactical wood guards for mounting tactical lights.
3, M4 Assault Rifle
L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T.'s assault support weapon is the Colt-made M4A1 carbine, and L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T. has two M4A1 carbines in a group of Element. Each M4A1 was fitted with a 1.5×16mm ACOG TA44-5 scope, a model with a projected magnification of 1.5x, which allows for accurate aiming at slightly longer ranges as well as for use in close combat.The TA44-5 model has a division into a tritium- and natural-light-illuminated dot (a long, clear strip at the top of the scope is the one used to collect natural light for the light-gatherer), allowing it to be used even in dim conditions. Modified SureFire M500AB front wood guard for hanging tactical lights.
4, Tactical Shotguns
The shotguns used by L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T. are the Remington M870 and the Burnelli M1 super 90, with the pump-action Remington M870 being used to fire high-powered flash/shock grenades or for preliminaries such as breaking hinges on doors and launching cable hooks, and the semiautomatic Burnelli M1 super 90 being used primarily for combat use.
5, Sniper Weapons and Sniper Teams
L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T.'s D Squad is responsible for sniper and observation missions, and has 12 observer/snipers.***The D Squad often participates in VIP protection or hostage-taking operations, which often require the presence of both snipers and other assault teams. D Squad officers are typically deployed in two-man sniper teams, equipped with 3x9-scope Remington M700PSS rotary-pullback sniper rifles. For nighttime undercover operations, officers typically use H&K PSG-1 semi-automatic police sniper rifles with silencers.The snipers of L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T. are likewise legendary among the American police community.
6, Other Gear
L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T. also has a wide range of specialty gear such as fire-resistant combat suits, TAC undershirts with modular gear pockets, ceramic plates that can be inserted for added protection, helmets with integrated personal radio headsets/microphones, throwback telephones, fiber optic scopes, breaching mallets, and much more.
L.A.P.D. S.W.A.T. utilizes vehicles that are also specially modified. The most famous of these are the special SWAT-Truck and Chevrolet's Suburbans large SUVs.The SWAT-Truck is a chassis converted from a twin-axle truck, with lots of drawer space in the compartment for storing a wide range of special equipment. At the same time, the truck is also integrated with video, audio and communications equipment, is SWAT's mobile command platform, the vehicle can receive the reconnaissance team sent back to the scene of the video signal, you can with the scene of the suspect with a confidential line to talk to, but also can command each independent SWAT combat team.