Police Tactical Unit

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A police tactical unit (PTU) is a specialized, highly-trained police unit that responds to and resolves high-risk incidents, including terrorist incidents.[1][2][3][Note 1] Police
Police tactical units can be part of a:

police force under the authority of civilian officials;[2] or Gendarmerie-style police force under the authority of civilian officials (Interior Ministry) and/or the Defence Ministry that may have formal military status.[2]

In the United States, most police tactical units are known by the generic term of Special Weapons And Tactics
Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team.[2] In Australia, police tactical units are formally known as a police tactical group.[1] The European Union
European Union uses the term Special Intervention Unit to define national counter terrorist police tactical units.[4] Police
Police tactical units have similarities to military special forces / special operations forces units such as organisation, selection, training, equipment, and operational methodologies.[5][6][7] 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".[8] Aside from counter-terrorism hostage rescue, 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.[9][10]

Contents

1 See also 2 Notes 3 Further reading 4 External links

See also[edit]

List of Police
Police Tactical Units

Notes[edit]

Footnotes

^ Academic literature from North America has used the term Police Paramilitary
Paramilitary Unit (PPU) to describe a police tactical unit.[2]

Citations

^ a b Australia-New Zealand Counter- Terrorism
Terrorism Committee (2017). Active Armed Offender Guidelines for Crowded Places (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. p. 3. ISBN 9781925593976. Retrieved 30 September 2017. ^ a b c d e Alvaro, Sam. Tactical law enforcement in Canada; an exploratory survey of Canadian police agencies (PDF) (Thesis). Carleton University. ISBN 9780612484191. Retrieved 25 May 2017. ^ Rantatalo, Oscar (2013). Sensemaking and organising in the policing of high risk situations: focusing the Swedish Police
Police National Counter-Terrorist Unit (PDF) (Thesis). Umeå: Department of Education, Umeå University. ISBN 9789174596991. Retrieved 25 May 2017. ^ On the improvement of cooperation between the special intervention units of the Member States of the European Union
European Union in crisis situations, Council Decision No. 2008/617/JHA of 23 June 2008. Retrieved on 26 May 2017. ^ "Tactical Response and Operations Standard for Law Enforcement Agencies" (PDF). National Tactical Officers Association. September 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2017. ^ North Atlantic Treaty Organization (17 November 2015). "NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions" (PDF) (in English and French). AAP-06 (Edition 2016). Brussels: NATO Standardization Agency. Retrieved 26 May 2017. ^ Alexander, John B (July 2010). "4: Comparison between SOF and Law Enforcement Agencies". Convergence: Special
Special Operations Forces and Civilian Law Enforcement (PDF) (Report). JSOU report 10-6. MacDill Air Force Base, Florida: Joint Special
Special Operations University (JSOU) Press. pp. 48–62. Retrieved 30 September 2017. ^ Watkin, Kenneth (2016). Fighting at the legal boundaries: controlling the use of force in contemporary conflict. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190457976. ^ Newburn, TimPeter; Neyroud, Peter (2013). Dictionary of Policing. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 187. ISBN 9781843922872. ^ Diane Cecilia Weber (1999). Warrior Cops: The Ominous Growth of Paramilitarism in American Police
Police Departments (PDF). Washington: Cato Institute. p. 3. Retrieved 25 May 2017.