A police tactical unit (PTU) is a specialized

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

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 tasks may include executing search warrants and arrest warrants for dangerous suspects, arresting or neutralizing dangerous armed suspects, and intervening in high risk situations such as shootouts, hostage takings, and terrorist incidents.

Definition

Police tactical units are dedicated units composed of personnel selected and trained in tactical skillsets to carry out the responsibilities of the unit, including use of force, arrest procedures,

close-quarters combat Close-quarters combat (CQC) or close-quarters battle (CQB) is a tactical situation that involves a physical fight with firearms involved between multiple combatants at short range. It can occur between military units, police/corrections offic ...

, door breaching, and

counterterrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...

. A PTU is equipped with specialized police and military-type equipment. PTU personnel may also be trained in crisis negotiation skills. A PTU can be part of either a police force under the authority of civilian officials; or a

gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

-style police force under the authority of an interior or defense agency, that may have formal military status. Other government agencies, depending on the country, may establish specialized units with comparable taskings, training and equipment, such as the coast guard, customs, or

corrections In criminal justice, particularly in North America, correction, corrections, and correctional, are umbrella terms describing a variety of functions typically carried out by government agencies, and involving the punishment, treatment, a ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, police tactical units are known by the generic term of special weapons and tactics (SWAT). In Australia, the federal government uses the term police tactical group. The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

uses the term special intervention unit for national counterterrorist PTUs.

Characteristics

Anti-Firearms Squad of the Fukushima Prefectural Police during an exercise

Police tactical units have similarities to military

special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

units such as organization, selection, training, equipment, and operational methodologies. For "certain counter terrorism operations, such as hostage rescue, there is a significant convergence of roles, tactics and force when employed in either an armed conflict or policing role". Aside from counterterrorism, the roles of police and military units differ in that the role of military units can result in the use of the maximum permissible force against enemy combatants while the role of police units is to use only minimal force sufficient to subdue suspected criminals, including negotiation.

Notes

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline, Police tactical units Law enforcement units

Definition

Characteristics

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links