The ''Unité Spéciale de la Police'' (USP) () is the tier one police tactical unit of the

Grand Ducal Police The Grand Ducal Police (, , ) is the national police force of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The police is under the control of the Minister for the Interior of Luxembourg, although they operate in the name, and under the ultimate control, o ...

that was created in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

in 1999. It is tasked with responding to especially dangerous situations such as hostage rescue operations, arrests of dangerous individuals, bomb threats, and dignitary protection duties. The unit trains abroad with comparable units, in particular the Belgian DSU and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

SEK.

History

The USP was formed in 1999 as a merger of the Police Intervention Group ()

counter-terrorist Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to com ...

group and the Gendarmerie Mobile Brigade (). By 2007, USP had conducted roughly 1,650 missions with an average of 300 assignments annually. Two-thirds of these missions were police arrests or surveillance, and one third of these tasks was close protection or other escort duties. *

Recruitment

Applicants to the USP must be younger than 30 years-of-age with several years of experience in the

police. Applicants undergo a selection test lasting one week. The applicants are tested for motivation, teamwork, thinking skills, and physical endurance. Once selected, candidates are trained over the course of six months in abseiling, basic defusing and disposal of bombs, close protection, close-quarters battle, commando style raids, counter-ambushes, counterterrorism, fast tactical shooting, field intelligence gathering, hand-to-hand combat, infiltrate the area with a helicopter, intervention, living difficult to access terrain, hostage rescue, marksmanship, medevac, mountain warfare, observation, reconnaissance tactics, SERE, tactical emergency medical, and urban warfare. When training is completed, the candidate is integrated into the USP, and after that they go to advanced tactical training.

Equipment

The ''Unité Spéciale de la Police'' uses an assortment of weapons and vehicles including: File:PoliceLuxembourgTM170.JPG, TM-170 of

Notable operations

Notable achievements of the formation include: * The rescue in 2000 of a large number of

Wasserbillig Wasserbillig ( ) is a town in the commune of Mertert, in eastern Luxembourg. , Wasserbillig has 3,485 inhabitants, which makes it the largest town in Mertert. Wasserbillig is the administrative seat of the commune of Mertert. Geography Wass ...

school members that had been taken hostage by a man armed with a

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

, and

knife A knife (: knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least Stone Age, 2.5 million years ago, as e ...

. The hostage-taker was shot and wounded, and all 45 children and 3 teachers were rescued. *The rescue in 2002 of the kidnapped son of a Swedish businessman. *The arrest and dismantling in 2003 of an

Al Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

cell in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unite Speciale de la Police ATLAS Network Police tactical units Protective security units Law enforcement agencies of Luxembourg