The Beijing Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (

Abbr. An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: SWAT; ; also known as Beijing Special Police Force or simply 'Beijing SWAT' ) is a

police tactical unit A police tactical unit (PTU) is a specialized police unit trained to handle situations that are beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement units because of the level of violence (or risk of violence) involved. A police tactical unit's tas ...

in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

that deals with incidents beyond the capabilities of normal patrol officers such as hostage situations, high risk warrants and riot control. The unit, along with the

Snow Leopard Commando Unit The Snow Leopard Commando Unit (Simplified Chinese: 雪豹突击队), formerly known as the Snow Wolf Commando Unit (Abbreviation: SWCU; Simplified Chinese: 雪狼突击队), is a highly elite police tactical unit of the People's Republic of Chi ...

(SLCU), was tasked with many of the security responsibilities of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. It is reputed to be one of the most well-equipped and well-trained of all the

SWAT In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

Special Police Unit The Special Police Units (abbreviation: SPU; ) are the police tactical units of the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) at the provincial and municipal levels. There is at least one of such unit in each Chinese province to offer their services ...

s in the

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Jurisdictionally the unit is under the control of the

Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau () is a department of the municipal government of Beijing. It serves as the city's public security bureau and branch of the people's police under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) The headquarters ...

of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

History

The Beijing SWAT unit and

(SLCU) were unveiled in a demonstration at the Beijing Police Academy on April 27, 2006, as part of a public relations effort to illustrate the capabilities of the

People's Armed Police ) , abbreviation = PAP ("People's Armed Police") CAPF ("Chinese Armed Police Force"), formerly abbreviated''Wujing'' ( zh , s = 武警 , p = Wǔjǐng , l = Armed Police , labels = no ), or WJ as on vehicle license plates , patch ...

(PAP) to deal with

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

issues, protection of delegates, and to enforce law and order in the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. The unit has in recent years received training and advice from Western counter-terrorism units. In June 2008, the unit's 120-operator No. 1 Detachment was renamed Blue Sword or (蓝剑, "Lán jiàn") Commando Unit.

Role

Typically expected of a police tactical unit from any country will be the role of a tactical response team to handle hostage-rescue, high-risk warrants, VIP or dangerous criminal escort duties and sometimes counter-terrorism and anti-riot duties.

Organization

The Beijing SWAT Unit is divided into sub-units consisting of but not limited to: a Helicopter Unit (飞虎队; nicknamed ''

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

''), an Underwater Diving team (蛙人队; nicknamed ''

Frogmen A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some European countries, police work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, comb ...

''), female SWAT unit (女子特警队) and a K9 Unit (警犬队).

Training

Recruits are selected from six colleges, including the

Beijing Sports University Beijing Sport University (BSU) (), formerly known as "Central Institute of Physical Education" () and "Beijing Institute of Physical Education" (), is a nation-level public university located in Beijing, China. It is one of the National Key Univ ...

and

Chinese People's Public Security University People's Public Security University of China () is a university in Xicheng District, Beijing, China. It was founded in 1948 and is directly under the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China. The university specialises in ...

. Beijing SWAT members are trained, aside from combat tactics, in many subjects including English, etiquette, cultural dynamics, intelligence gathering, counter-terrorism and anti-riot and anti-nuclear and biological warfare tactics. All

operatives undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Weapons and equipment

The unit is armed with a variety of domestically manufactured weapons such as

QBZ-95 The Type 95 automatic rifle () or QBZ-95 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by Norinco, and issued since 1995 as the service rifle for the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police and various paramilitary law enforcemen ...

assault rifles and

QSZ-92 The QSZ-92 () is a semi-automatic pistol designed by Norinco. History The development of the QSZ-92 pistol began circa 1994 and it is now being adopted by the People's Liberation Army's forces. The export variants (9×19 mm versions) include the ...

pistols. Vehicles In preparation for the

, the local government allocated CNY 280 million for the Beijing SWAT to procure equipment for operations, some of which went into purchasing specialized vehicles for various duties including the

Hummer H2 The Hummer H2 is a large SUV that was marketed by Hummer and built in the AM General facility under contract from General Motors from 2002 to 2009. It is based on a modified GMT820 GM three-quarter-ton pickup truck in the front and a half-ton 15 ...

and APC's.

References