John Nelson (police Officer)
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John G. Nelson (14 May 1928 – 28 February 2003) was an American police officer with the
Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
who is considered to be the founding father of 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 Weapons And Tactics) concept. After the Watts riots of 1965, Sergeant Nelson personally approached LAPD chief William Parker with his proposal for a SWAT unit. Nelson had served in the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
and based the SWAT concept on the Recon units, believing that a small squad of highly trained police officers armed with special weapons would be more effective in a riotous situation than a massive police response. Chief Parker liked the proposal and presented it to his command staff. He asked for a volunteer to form the SWAT unit. Fearing a political backlash, no one on his command staff was willing to volunteer, including Daryl Gates. Parker then told Nelson to go ahead and form the SWAT unit himself, which he did.


References

1928 births 2003 deaths Los Angeles Police Department officers United States Marines {{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub