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| 3 | %% The examples section has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings. |
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| 7 | %%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16726789790.49942400 |
| 8 | %%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 10 | [[quoteright:350:[[Film/SWAT2003 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/swatmovie.png]]]] |
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| 13 | ->''"S.W.A.T. is a life-''saving'' organization, not a life-''taking'' one. That's why the FBI and Secret Service come here to train with us."'' |
| 14 | -->-- '''[[SergeantRock Sgt. Dan "Hondo" Harrelson]]''', ''Film/SWAT2003'' |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Sometimes, [[GodzillaThreshold even the cops have to dial 911]]. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | One of the more iconic, recognizable, and dramatic images of law enforcement, a '''S'''pecial '''W'''eapons '''A'''nd '''T'''actics '''Team''' cuts an immediate and dramatic figure in any crime drama, police serial, or other story that immediately tells everyone present that the situation is deadly serious. They are usually called in for hostage scenarios, fortified and armed suspects, high-risk warrant raids, riot control, and terrorist threats. SWAT teams are easily recognizable, clad in black/blue clothing, helmets, body armor, and wielding heavy weaponry, such as assault rifles or shotguns. They also use special tactical gear like flashbang grenades, and travel in armored vehicles. They usually wear masks, be they balaclavas or gas masks, both for practical reasons (most balaclavas are fireproof, and gas masks help when dealing with tear gas) and to help keep them anonymous and impossible to read. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | The role of the SWAT team in fiction varies depending on the work in question. If they're on the heroes' side, they can be either [[BadassArmy elite, well-equipped problem solvers]], [[TheCavalry the rescue party]] who [[BigDamnHeroes bursts in to save the day]], or [[RedshirtArmy inept or ill-fated mooks]] who [[TheWorfEffect die to show how dangerous the villains are]]. In other works, a SWAT team can serve as a HeroAntagonist if they oppose a protagonist who is falsely accused or otherwise principled but on the wrong side of the law. If the protagonists are criminals, a SWAT team is often the GasMaskMooks that exist to get gunned down, or [[EliteMooks a major threat to the protagonists]]. In very cynical works involving a CrapsackWorld or dystopia, the SWAT team can be StateSec made up of {{Dirty Cop}}s. Effectiveness and role generally depends on the SlidingScaleOfLawEnforcement. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | SWAT teams in fiction are often inaccurately portrayed as opening fire immediately on suspects, or otherwise being TriggerHappy, or even deliberately killing suspects who present no immediate threat. In reality, as the page quote shows, SWAT serves as a life-saving police unit with ThouShaltNotKill rules. The ideal objective when a SWAT team is sent in is that ''everyone'' -- hostage, bystander, operator, and suspect -- comes out alive. SWAT officers have very specific procedures they usually have to follow; for example, a SWAT officer is supposed to clearly identify himself to a suspect, and can only open fire if the suspect raises a weapon or otherwise presents a threat to the life or safety of another. Of course, police procedures in a fictional setting may also deliberately diverge from real life, and even in reality, not all jurisdictions have the same standards. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | In recent years, the deployment of SWAT teams in real life has been increasingly called into question. Originally intended to respond to situations that, typically, would be unlikely to be encountered even once in any given officer's entire career, the vast majority of SWAT deployments are now to execute arrest and search warrants, often against non-violent offenders. Radley Balko's non-fiction book ''Rise of the Warrior Cop'' covers a lot of the history of SWAT, noting that in the LAPD standoff with the Symbionese Liberation Army, the SWAT team asked for a grenade launcher and were told in no uncertain terms that they did not have permission to obtain or use one. Fastforward to the present day, and ''hundreds'' of surplus grenade launchers, armoured vehicles, and even ''fifty-caliber machine guns'' have been [[http://www.vice.com/read/the-pentagon-is-giving-grenade-launchers-to-campus-police-904 given to police forces across America]] -- despite the fact that [[http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence violent crime has been declining for decades]]. Indeed, in the late 2010s, "[=SWATting=]" attacks (where a hoax call is used to try and bait a SWAT team into raiding someone's house -- leading to [[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/15/tyler-barriss-swatting-death-regret a fatality shortly after the Christmas in 2017]]) have become a serious issue, especially amongst Platform/{{YouTube}}rs, livestreamers, and other online celebrities. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | On the other hand, proponents argue that the heavy equipment being distributed to SWAT is more necessary now more than ever. A major catalyst for this argument was the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks 2008 Mumbai attacks]], where Indian police were completely outmatched against the attackers and led to a SWAT team being formed after the fact, as well as the raid on al-Qaeda terrorists after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings 2004 Madrid train bombings]], in which the terrorists blew themselves up in midst of the assault and several GEO officers saved their lives only thanks to their protective gear. With the establishment of ISIS as well as al-Qaeda shifting to a more decentralized operating structure, terrorist attacks involving multiple attackers armed with heavy weapons and body armor have become increasingly commonplace, such as the attacks in Paris in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2015_%C3%8Ele-de-France_attacks January]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2015_Paris_attacks November 2015]] followed by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_San_Bernardino_attack December 2015]] San Bernardino attack. During the Bataclan siege in Paris, RAID officers credited their equipment with saving their lives. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | May also be referred to as ESU (Emergency Service Unit) in the many shows about UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | ---- |
| 31 | !!Examples of this trope: |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 34 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 35 | * Not content with just SWAT, ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' introduces ESWAT -- Extra-Special Weapons and Tactics teams. These guys are definitely on the BadassArmy side of the scale; they're almost a military in [[LandOfOneCity Olympus]]. |
| 36 | * SWAT teams are featured throughout ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. On three occasions, Section Nine deploys to resolve hostage situations Niihama SWAT can't handle; Batou and Saito rescue a Japanese Coast Guard [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Security_Team Special Security Team]] operator; Aramaki holds off a corrupt [=CO19=] team in London with a grenade, an alarm clock, and clever thinking; and there's the Narcotics Suppression Squad, a SWAT Team made of {{Dirty Cop}}s and unsavory types, run by the ''Ministry of Health''. Then by ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplexSolidStateSociety'', Section Nine has grown large enough that it has its own dedicated SWAT Team. |
| 37 | * In the third volume of ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', a few Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais elements (Special Police Operations Battalion) are sent to raid the penthouse in Rio de Janeiro where Alucard and Seras are staying, having been told by their Millennium-backed superiors that they're terrorists. Their performance against Alucard is... [[CurbStompBattle typical]]. |
| 38 | * ''Manga/{{Jormungand}}'': |
| 39 | ** SWAT snipers are deployed by the Dubai Police Force during the Orchestra arc, but they aren't terribly effective. |
| 40 | ** Among the HCLI crew, [[FriendlySniper Lutz]] was a former SWAT sniper before he joined Koko's team. |
| 41 | * The Special Assault Team eventually gets deployed in ''Manga/{{Parasyte}}'' against the titular monsters. They're far more trigger-happy than in reality, due to being up against inhuman monsters and led by a [[GeneralRipper soldier who orders them to shoot on sight]]. |
| 42 | * The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department deploys the Special Assault Team in ''Anime/TerrorInResonance'' to locate the bombs Sphinx planted in Episode 3. The SAT is again deployed in Episode 6 to secure Haneda Airport against a terrorist attack. |
| 43 | [[/folder]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Audio]] |
| 46 | * In ''Still the Twelfth Man'', one of these is dispatched when Max Walker barricades himself inside the commentary box with Richie Benaud hostage. |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 50 | * In ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'', Gotham City's Police Dept.'s SWAT team is a murderous goon squad gleefully following the orders of the corrupt Commission Loeb. When they tried to corner and kill ComicBook/{{Batman}}, they are no match for him. |
| 51 | * ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': |
| 52 | ** A New York city ESU team named Code: Blue, composed of badass cops equipped with above-average technology, occasionally helps the local heroes deal with supervillains. |
| 53 | ** One appears in ''ComicBook/AllNewUltimates'', led by Paul "The Crippler" Dennis. |
| 54 | ** SWAT's effectiveness varies in ''ComicBook/ThePunisher''. They're generally portrayed as reasonably competent, but not ''as'' skilled, experienced, or especially as ruthless and violent as Frank Castle. |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'''s home city of Metropolis has a similar team to Code: Blue above known as the Special Crimes Unit. |
| 56 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', a NYPD ESU team goes after Rorschach midway through the comic and subdues him, though not without him kicking some serious ass in the process. |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 60 | * The Wrestling/{{WWE}} alternate universe story ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14997911/chapters/34760702 The Horsewomen Of Las Vegas]]'' occasionally will show the SWAT team in action, led by Sergeant Bill Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}. The team also includes Wrestling/BobbyLashley and Wrestling/ChrisMasters. |
| 61 | [[/folder]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 64 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', the Child Detection Agency acts as the HomeOfMonsters equivalent of a SWAT team or a Hazmat team. |
| 65 | * ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': In ''Sugar Rush'', King Candy's enforcers include a C.L.A.W team who accompany him, [[DonutMessWithACop Wynchell and Duncan]] when they try to apprehend Vanellope and Ralph at the Kart Bakery minigame. |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 69 | * ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': A van of SWAT officers are among the assassins who ambush Nick Fury while disguised as police officers. Their van is also carrying a tripod mounted battering ram meant to breach the bulletproof glass on Fury's SUV. |
| 70 | * SWAT units appear in all three installments of ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy''. In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', they're little more than a RedshirtArmy who can't stop either Batman or the villains, but in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', they are actually pretty competent and effective once [[spoiler:they realize the Joker has switched the hostages and his minions]]. SWAT appears again early on in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''; in the initial engagement with Daggett's men, they hold their own, but a number of them are easily sniped by Barsad, Bane's right-hand man. Many of the cops sent to search the sewers are also SWAT. |
| 71 | * In ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'', a SWAT team, including two of the main characters, raid a zombie-infested apartment building in the beginning. They sport the usual early-era black bulletproof vests and caps as well as M16 rifles. |
| 72 | * SWAT serve as a RedshirtArmy in ''Film/DieHard'' and ''Film/DieHard2''. The LAPD SWAT team [[CurbStompBattle doesn't even get to fire a shot]], whereas the five-man airport SWAT unit, when ambushed by four of Colonel Stuart's henchmen, only is able to kill one of the mercenaries before being entirely wiped out. It takes [=McClane=] to take out the remaining three soldiers. |
| 73 | * BOPE, the protagonists of ''Film/TheEliteSquad'', were originally a conventional hostage rescue SWAT Team. Now they're a BadassArmy that fights fire with fire. (At best.) Or as the director said [[DVDBonusContent in an interview]] "SWAT teams are trained to rescue. BOPE are trained to kill." |
| 74 | * In ''Film/HardBoiled'', HKPF Special Duties Unit operators show {{Big Damn Hero|es}}ics in the hospital siege by helping to evacuate the maternity ward. |
| 75 | * In ''Film/Mosul2020'', the Nineveh Province SWAT team has spent a better part of the ISIS occupation of Iraq resisting the forces of ''Daesh'' with unparalleled brutality and commitment. By the events of the film, ''Daesh'' considers their ilk to be labelled "unforgivable" and will not take any SWAT member prisoner. The SWAT returns that sentiment to ''Daesh'' tenfold. |
| 76 | * In ''Film/TheNegotiator'', a SWAT unit attacks protagonist Danny Roman when a couple of {{Dirty Cop}}s try to take him out when he gets too close to the truth behind his friend's murder. The SWAT team is driven back without anyone getting killed, though one of them is captured in the process. |
| 77 | * Gabriel Law from ''Film/TheOne'' is a member of the Los Angeles County SWAT. An alternate-universe SWAT unit is also featured at the beginning of the movie, and a multiversal SWAT equivalent appears throughout the movie. |
| 78 | * ''Film/TheRaid'' follows an Indonesian SWAT Team called Detachment 88 going into an apartment building filled to the rafters with the worst thugs in the city. [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, only two D88 cops survive. Out of ''twenty''.]] |
| 79 | * In ''Film/TheSiege'', the FBI SWAT team leads the raid on a safehouse where co-conspirators in the bombing of an MTA bus are holed up. During both bus hostage situations, the NYPD Emergency Services Unit makes appearances. |
| 80 | * ''Film/SWAT2003'' is centered on a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team. The movie starts with Street and Gamble getting thrown off one, then about a third of the way in Sgt. Hondo Harrelson comes in and handpicks a new one, including Street. |
| 81 | * In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', an LAPD SWAT team responds to the break-in at Cyberdyne. They fatally wound Miles Dyson, but are utterly helpless against a cyborg like the T-800, who casually incapacitates most of them without killing them. |
| 82 | * In ''Film/TheTown'', both Boston Police Department and FBI SWAT teams appear in the Fenway Park shootout, with the deaths of criminals Desmond Elden, James Coughlin and Albert Magloan all coming at the hands of SWAT team bullets. |
| 83 | [[/folder]] |
| 84 | |
| 85 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 86 | * Anti-Skill in ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' is the non-powered portion of city law enforcement, and most frequently shows up as SWAT teams. They're fairly competent, but out of their league against the more powerful Espers and sorcerers. |
| 87 | * In ''Literature/{{Daemon}}'', an FBI Hostage Rescue Team attempts to assault Sobol's booby-trapped mansion. Most are driven back, but one of them, Roy "Tripwire" Merritt, manages to get in, becoming a HeroAntagonist and FamedInStory. |
| 88 | * ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' has "hit-wizards" among the Ministry of Magic law enforcement personals who arrested Sirius Black in 1981. |
| 89 | * ''Literature/LastManStanding'' is about FBIAgent Web London, the SoleSurvivor of an FBI HRT raid that spectacularly failed with the entire team except Web being taken out by an [[SentryGun auto-turret]]. Web spends the novel dealing with the trauma, the guilt and eventually investigating the circumstances behind the failed raid. |
| 90 | * The ''Literature/RainbowSix'' novel and [[VideoGame/RainbowSix games]] focus on an international version of this composed of special forces troops and police officers recruited from various nations who work as a counter-terror and hostage rescue unit. Other Creator/TomClancy novels have included appearances by the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team. An HRT sniper is a recurring character. |
| 91 | * In ''Literature/ShadowOps'', a New York City ESU team is assigned to support [[MageKiller Shadow Coven]] when they're called in to take down a rogue [[BodyHorror Physiomancer]] loose in the sewers underneath the city. Being {{Muggles}} in a setting where said Physiomancer can literally reshape human flesh at will (both others and its own), most of the unit gets horribly massacred in the ensuing encounter. |
| 92 | [[/folder]] |
| 93 | |
| 94 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 95 | * ''Series/NineteenTwo'' has the Groupe tactique/Tactical Group for the Service de Police Métropolitain whenever the force needs them to go against armed criminals. Needless to say, [[RedShirtArmy they get into trouble when some of their elements get taken out by a bomb attack]], pointing to the possibility of [[DirtyCop a rogue cop helping out organized crime in Montreal]]. |
| 96 | * ''Series/TwentyFour'' features numerous variations of SWAT teams and federal response units, and CTU has their tactical teams. They generally serve as a RedshirtArmy, as the phrase "we're setting up a perimeter" is synonymous with "the bad guys are already escaping". When the tactical teams ''do'' manage to contain the bad guys, however, the resulting gunfight is usually a CurbStompBattle in favor of the good guys. |
| 97 | * FBI SWAT officers appear in ''Series/TheBlacklist'', but are usually given TheWorfEffect; the SWAT team escorting Liz, Ressler and the General's daughter in the pilot is slaughtered and the VIP captured, while in "Anslo Garrick", the SWAT officers guarding the black site are easily killed by Garrick's mercenaries. |
| 98 | * As a show that revolves around the NYPD, ESU teams are a regular feature of ''Series/BlueBloods'', responding to a variety of situations (including guarding Frank after he's been shot). |
| 99 | * The Victoria Police equivalent Special Operations Group is used several times throughout ''Series/BlueHeelers''. One season five episode had them wearing the Boonie hats and looking more like soldiers dressed as police or police with body armor and special weapons, much like the Heelers and other police are when they conduct high-risk operations. After the station bombing, they are played straight; black outfits, helmets and body armor, storming, raiding and searching a bombing suspect, complete with weapons at low ready as they sweep and clear for any suspects or signs of explosives. |
| 100 | * SWAT teams have appeared from time to time in ''Series/BurnNotice'', usually forcing Team Westen the additional challenge of avoiding shootouts they can't win. |
| 101 | * In ''Series/TheCape'', the local city's SWAT units are actually PrivateMilitaryContractors that serve as the FacelessGoons for [[MegaCorp the Ark Corporation]]. |
| 102 | * FBI Hostage Rescue Teams show from time to time in ''Series/CriminalMinds''; in one episode, they deploy to protect the FBI building from an [=UnSub=] who's a [[RetiredBadass retired Navy SEAL]]. [[spoiler:He gets into the building before they're even deployed.]] Plenty of non-HRT SWAT teams show up in the series as well. Of particular note is one episode in which a SWAT team launches a raid on a heavily armed {{cult}} compound while two members of the team and a social worker are inside, which -- after a gun battle -- leads to the team members getting captured and the social worker killed. |
| 103 | * ''Series/Crisis2017'' focuses on an [[PlausibleDeniability "unofficial"]] unit of the Special Investigation Team as they covertly dispose of terrorist threats to the state. The Special Assault Team also has a BigDamnHeroes moment in Episode 8. |
| 104 | * ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'' is about the Strategic Response Unit, which is an Emergency Response Team-type unit based in a CityWithNoName (filmed in Toronto, Canada). Much like ''Series/SWAT1975'', nearly every episode has them responding to a major incident that in real life would be a rare event. |
| 105 | * ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' is one of the few PoliceProcedural series to have the commander of the precinct's SWAT team[[note]]or rather, [[UnfortunateAcronym Emergency Action Team]] commander, who gets very annoyed when people make fun of the acronym[[/note]] as a regular character, in the form of [[CowboyCop gung-ho]] NobleBigotWithABadge Lt. Howard Hunter. A few of his team also achieve RecurringExtra status. |
| 106 | * ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'': Detective Tim Bayliss was a former member of a SWAT unit. Shortly after joining Homicide, he tries to brag about his previous position only to be mocked by his colleagues when they pinpoint that he's never actually been out in the field. |
| 107 | * Civilian SWAT teams appear a few times in ''Series/{{JAG}}''. |
| 108 | ** In the second season episode "The Guardian", Bud is trapped inside a church with a crazy homeless veteran who is a murder suspect and an MPD SWAT team is sent to the church and captures the suspect, but only after Harm has done his usual share of heroics. |
| 109 | ** In "The Martin Baker Fan Club", an MPD SWAT team enter Harm's apartment after one of the crazy fugitive veterans grabbed a side arm from a police officer. The suspect is arrested but another veteran is shot at. |
| 110 | ** The opening of "The Colonel's Wife" is of a San Diego SWAT team, while on a drug bust, discovers the origin of a drug shipment. |
| 111 | ** In "Persian Gulf", an MPD SWAT team enters after Mac killed the terrorist Fadik Sahd. |
| 112 | * ''Series/LawAndOrder'' features the NYPD Emergency Service Unit. They wear [[BulletproofVest heavy vests]] and riot helmets and tend to carry Ithaca 37s and M16s. The Season 4 episode "Kids" even shows a [[ActionGirl female ESU officer]] being first through the door in a raid. |
| 113 | * The Creator/{{Netflix}} ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' shows make use of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit on several occasions. |
| 114 | ** ''Series/Daredevil2015'': |
| 115 | *** In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E6Condemned Condemned]]", an ESU squad is summoned to a hostage situation where Matt Murdock has overpowered a rookie police officer who stumbled upon him and Vladimir Ranskahov in an abandoned building. [[DirtyCop This ESU squad is working for Wilson Fisk]] and have been tasked with murdering several cops at the scene. A sniper on the team splits off from the others, goes to a nearby rooftop, and, when given the green light by James Wesley, guns down Detective Christian Blake (who has become a liability to Fisk) and two uniformed cops (to make it look random), while the rest of the team storm the building, kill the police officer that Matt overpowered, and then kill off Vladimir as he takes [[SuicideByCop one last stand]] holding them off so Matt can escape. |
| 116 | *** [[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E13Daredevil The season 1 finale]] sees an FBI SWAT team escorting Fisk under guard to Rikers, until mercs working for Fisk ambush the convoy and try to free him (with season 3 implying that [[spoiler:Tammy Hattley]] tipped them off). Then it turns out that one of the officers in the truck has been paid off by Fisk. |
| 117 | *** In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S2E2DogsToAGunfight Dogs to a Gunfight]]", ESU is shown using Grotto as bait to lure the Punisher into a trap. They later try to shoot at the Punisher while he and Matt Murdock are engaged in fisticuffs on the rooftop. |
| 118 | *** In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S2E4PennyAndDime Penny and Dime]]", ESU are shown on scene when Frank Castle is arrested in the cemetery. While he's recovering in the hospital from being tortured by the Kitchen Irish, he's considered a high enough risk prisoner (both to himself and other people) that an entire floor is cordoned off for him and guarded by an ESU squad overseen by Brett Mahoney. |
| 119 | *** ESU are later shown standing outside the courthouse after Frank Castle escapes from prison and DA Reyes gets killed. |
| 120 | *** In season 3, Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter is an FBI SWAT sniper assigned to bodyguarding Fisk as he's being transferred from Rikers to the Presidential Hotel. When the convoy is attacked by an Albanian hit squad trying to assassinate Fisk for snitching, Dex leaps into action and singlehandedly kills all of the assassins, [[ImprobableAimingSkills ricocheting bullets to hit men hiding around corners]], shooting two assassins in the head while they're clearly surrendering, and when his pistol runs out of bullets, hurls the gun and empty magazine at the last two assassins hard enough that the latter impales its target in the throat. Fisk subsequently takes Dex under his wing, and grooms the mentally unstable agent into becoming his new personal assassin. |
| 121 | *** In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S3E7Aftermath Aftermath]]", Fisk anticipates that Matt will visit Melvin Potter upon noticing the fake Daredevil suit on Dex and sends an FBI SWAT team there to pick him up. Matt and Melvin fight off the SWAT team, though Melvin gets captured and Matt ends up having to flee empty-handed. |
| 122 | ** ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': The police detail guarding Trish's hospital room in season 2 gets an ESU team after Jessica's mom kills Detective Costa's partner in the midst of escaping after a failed attempt to kill Trish. Some ESU accompany Costa when they catch up to Jessica at the ferris wheel right after her mom has been shot dead by Trish. |
| 123 | ** ''Series/LukeCage2016'': |
| 124 | *** ESU officers are shown escorting Cottonmouth as he's [[PerpWalk perp-walked]] out of his club for killing Misty Knight's partner Rafael Scarfe. |
| 125 | *** With Luke posing problems for the Harlem gangs, [[CorruptPolitician Councilwoman Mariah Dillard]] and [[ArmsDealer Willis "Diamondback" Stryker]] use Mariah's connections to manipulate the NYPD into bulk-purchasing [[DepletedPhlebotinumShells Judas bullets]], with ESU naturally being where they end up. Their plan involves Diamondback murdering a random police officer and pinning it on Luke. During Diamondback's HostageSituation at Harlem's Paradise, ADA Blake Tower expresses his reservations about this move to Inspector Priscilla Ridley, and wants to stall the possibility of a violent confrontation between Luke Cage and the Judas-armed ESU team because he knows it's only a matter of time before these kind of bullets end up on the street and in the hands of criminals. |
| 126 | ** ''Series/IronFist2017'': Once Danny Rand has driven the Hand out of Rand Enterprises, Harold Meachum backstabs him by framing him for the Hand's activities and sends a DEA SWAT team after them. Danny and Colleen overpower the SWAT team and escape. After Danny, Colleen and Ward defeat Harold, Jeri Hogarth gets the assault charges against Danny and Colleen dropped [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney thanks to a generous contribution to the DEA Widows and Children's Fund.]] |
| 127 | ** ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': An ESU team is summoned to Midland Circle in the climax and is responsible for evacuating Misty Knight after her right arm is cut off fighting Bakuto. |
| 128 | ** ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': |
| 129 | *** Dinah Madani and Sam Stein feed some false information to a bug in Dinah's office to trick whoever's on the other end into thinking that Frank Castle will be making a gun buy at the second floor of an abandoned factory. Billy Russo and a couple of [=PMC=]s on his payroll show up at the location, and subsequently open fire when the SWAT team reveals themselves. Several SWAT officers are killed in the gunfight, as are all of Russo's men. Before Russo escapes, he manages to corner and stab Sam to death with a retractable knife concealed in his right sleeve. |
| 130 | *** An NYPD ESU team headed by Brett Mahoney responds when Frank shows up at the hotel where Lewis Wilson tries to assassinate Karen Page and Senator Ori. They train their guns on Frank as [[WoundedGazelleGambit he uses Karen as a "hostage" to escape]]. |
| 131 | * ''Series/MoneyHeist'' prominently features the actual real-life Spain equivalent to the SWAT: the GEO, or "Grupo Especial de Operaciones" ("Special Operations Group"). They have a very active role in both story lines. |
| 132 | * ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': |
| 133 | ** In "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E10 The Devil's Share]]", the US Marshals have a SWAT Team guarding Alonzo Quinn. They prove to be ineffective against [[OneManArmy John Reese]], who (while bleeding to death from barely treated gunshots) nonlethally [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] them to get to Quinn. |
| 134 | ** In "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E12 Aletheia]]", a Northern Lights assassination team adopts the guise of an FBI SWAT Team to eliminate a Vigilance terrorist group that's holed up in a bank. |
| 135 | * In ''Series/Phoenix1992'', thanks to several real-life scandals at the time, the Major Crime squad has to show they have reasonable cause to believe the criminals are armed before they can even deploy the Special Operations Group -- and this while they're investigating a case involving a [[CopKiller car bomb set off outside a police station]]. After they do a raid, find that the crooks have an Uzi on the premises (fortunately not used) and Lochie nearly gets shot with an elephant gun, they eventually get permission. |
| 136 | * In ''Series/PoliceRescue'', having been involved in several real-life controversial shootings at the time, the NSW Tactical Response Group are portrayed as somewhat TriggerHappy to contrast with our heroes, who of course are 'good' police who only want to save lives. |
| 137 | * ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'' (and the source series, ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'') features a SWAT-themed SuperMode for the entire team; in this mode, they gain armor (including big vests), helmet add-ons (a headset and a targeting/infrared vision device), and large automatic weaponry. They also get the SWAT Megazord, composed of jets and able to turn into a Zord-sized {{BFG}} for containing criminals. |
| 138 | * The Japanese drama ''S: The Last Policeman'' (which is based off of a manga) features a fictional police squad called NPS ([[WordSaladTitle National Police Safety Rescue]]) which is stated to have the ideal combination of the mobility of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Assault_Team SAT]] and the investigative skills of the SIT (Special Investigative Team). The movie sequel ''S: The Last Policeman -- Recovery of our Future'' also has SAT, SIT, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Security_Team SST]] units in it as well. |
| 139 | * ''Series/SWAT1975'', which [[Film/SWAT2003 the above-mentioned film]] was based on, was one of the earliest examples on TV. Generally, what happens goes as follows: a crisis goes down that requires SWAT attention, the SWAT team gears up and piles into its infamous "War Wagon", and the criminals give up the second they see SWAT on the scene. |
| 140 | * ''Series/SWAT2017'', an adaptation of both the original 1975 series and the 2003 film, is likewise about the members of an LAPD SWAT unit. |
| 141 | * Both SWAT teams and FBI Hostage Rescue Teams appear in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' frequently, when police and the FBI close in on either the Connors or the machines hunting them. It almost always ends ''badly'' for them. Their usage here falls under WrongGenreSavvy in that Ellison knows he's against a serious threat and calls out the HRT, assuming they can deal with any reasonable enemy. Unfortunately, he's dealing with a [[ImmuneToBullets Terminator]], and SWAT teams don't bring anti-tank weapons. |
| 142 | * In ''Series/{{Underbelly}}'', the Victoria Police equivalent Special Operations Group appears as black suited super-soldiers. They work with detectives to entrap and barricade Jason Moran before using sledgehammers to break him out of his car, and Steven Owen uses them to arrest Carl Williams after he makes death threats (Owen claims that he's armed and extremely dangerous, so they rough him up) as well as planting listening and monitoring devices. |
| 143 | * ''Series/TheWire'': Baltimore Police Department SWAT teams do show up from time to time for raids. |
| 144 | ** SWAT are deployed ''en masse'' to raid Barksdale stashhouses after Kima Greggs gets shot in an undercover buy gone wrong. |
| 145 | ** The most notable use of the SWAT team in the show is in the antepenultimate episode of season 1, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LSo8_fBE_k when they are about to arrest Avon Barksdale in his office]]. Jimmy [=McNulty=] sees the show of force as a little bit excessive, so he and Daniels do better: they just wordlessly walk up the stairs to the office like a walk in the park, put the handcuffs on Avon, then walk out -- the only words being when [=McNulty=] tells Stringer "[[BadassBoast Catch you later]]." |
| 146 | --->'''Jimmy [=McNulty=]:''' This isn't as much fun as I thought it would be...\ |
| 147 | '''Cedric Daniels:''' SWAT guys do love to break out their tools, don't they?\ |
| 148 | '''Jimmy [=McNulty=]:''' Do they think there's [[Film/Scarface1983 Tony Montana]] up there? These guys probably haven't touched a gun in years. ''[{{Beat}}]'' Ah, fuck this shit. You and me, Lieutenant. |
| 149 | ** The season 3 finale sees Rawls deploy SWAT and lots of patrol officers as part of the show being put on to clear out Hamsterdam, the unauthorized "drug-free zone" that Major Colvin had been running. This also impacts the Major Crimes Unit, who have to borrow Western District cops like Herc and Carver to go arrest Avon Barksdale and his men at one of their stashhouses because Rawls denies them access to the SWAT unit. |
| 150 | ** Season 4 sees the hostile Lt. Charles Marimow, installed in Major Crimes on Rawls' orders to scuttle investigations with major political implications, utilize SWAT teams in a failed attempt to raid some of Marlo Stanfield's stash houses, but the information is bad, and they only succeed in arresting some low-level members of Marlo's crew. |
| 151 | ** In season 5, Kenneth Dozerman ends up in the tactical unit after the Major Crimes Unit is shut down due to Carcetti's cutbacks. |
| 152 | [[/folder]] |
| 153 | |
| 154 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 155 | * In ''TabletopGame/FreedomCity'', the equivalent of DC's Special Crimes Unit is STAR Squad, standing for Superhuman Tactics and Regulation. |
| 156 | * In ''TabletopGame/GURPSTechnomancer'', SWAT stands for Special Weapons and ''Talismans'', and they're meant to deal with criminals who have high-powered magic. |
| 157 | [[/folder]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 160 | * SWAT in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' is, for all intents and purposes, just another gang of thugs, usually seen shaking people off for protection money or violently disputing over turf with other gangs, and their chief is the single dirtiest cop in all GCPD (and that's saying something). They decide to completely ignore their police duties for the night in order to try to earn the bounty on Batman for themselves. |
| 161 | * ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'': The Allied Peacekeeper is the basic infantry unit, essentially a SWAT member with military-grade armor and a shotgun with low range but high knockback. They also get a riot shield that lets them tank ridiculous amounts of damage, but its main use is to clear out garrisoned buildings (at the cost of the unit). |
| 162 | * A Detroit SWAT unit appears early on in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', containing the hostage situation at the Sarif factory. They eventually go in after Adam Jensen enters the facility and recovers the top-secret prototype he's after. Jensen himself is also ex-SWAT team leader. In the sequel, ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'', Jensen is now part of an Interpol SWAT unit called Task Force 29, which is comprised of ex-SAS and other Special Forces types. |
| 163 | * ''VideoGame/DoorKickers'' has the player controlling a SWAT unit to clear buildings of various armed criminals. The sequel, ''Door Kickers 2'', which is set in the Middle East against insurgents and terrorists, features the [[{{Qurac}} Nowheraki]] SWAT, which is a unit of soldiers and police native to the country. They have less advanced equipment compared with the Army Rangers and CIA squads, but can use shields, Molotov cocktails, various types of Kalasnikov and NATO weapons, and [[ZergRush large numbers of light militia]]. |
| 164 | * In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the NCR's [[EliteMooks Veteran Rangers]] utilize gear custom-made from Pre-War SWAT and Riot Police gear. [[BadassPreacher Joshua Graham]] also wears a Salt Lake City P.D SWAT tactical vest as part of his custom armor, which the player gets a variant of after completing the ''Honest Hearts'' DLC. |
| 165 | * SWAT serves as an enemy throughout the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games, generally as an antagonist in different missions, and as one of the grades of police response called in as more crimes are committed. By ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV GTA IV]]'', the SWAT team is replaced by a Homeland Security stand-in known as NOOSE, the [[FunWithAcronyms National Office of Security Enforcement]]. |
| 166 | * ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' may take place in the 2500s, but SWAT teams are still in use on most human worlds. They've only shown up in the games once, namely a brief appearance in the ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' audio logs where they take down an ex-cop who went postal. |
| 167 | * In ''VideoGame/MafiaII'', Empire Bay has a SWAT unit that appears in several missions during the DLC's. This is a unique anachronism as the game is set during TheFifties and the first SWAT teams didn't become operational until about 1964 or 1968. |
| 168 | * The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' games have a sci-fi equivalent in the form of Citadel Security's Special Response division. Aside from the usual SWAT-style duties, they also serve as the front-line defense of the Citadel if it is attacked. According to the second game, they suffered heavy losses while fighting off the geth incursion in the first game, and in the third, they take a hefty beating when [[spoiler:a major Cerberus force attacks the Citadel in an attempt to assassinate the Council]]. |
| 169 | * In ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'', the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT unit is called into action to deal with a Neo-Mitochondrion Monster outbreak at the Akropolis skyscraper. By the time Aya Brea shows up on-scene, [[RedshirtArmy they're pretty much all dead]]. |
| 170 | * ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' and ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'' have the SWAT as your main enemies since you're a heavily armed robber. The SWAT team come in varying appearances, gear, and tactics. There's also [[EliteMooks special SWAT units]] designed to disable you quickly. |
| 171 | * Japan's Special Assault Team is featured in ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' in the introduction to several characters' story modes foiling an attempted hijacking of an airliner. Naoto's story mode begins with the hijacking, but the SAT members are not actually seen as she isn't out on the runway. Aigis's story mode also begins with the hijacking, and it is only in her mode that we see the SAT operation as it unfolds. They are [[PoliceAreUseless completely useless]] compared to the Shadow Operatives. |
| 172 | * ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': |
| 173 | ** S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) are the Raccoon Police Department's elite unit, brought in for the most dangerous missions. Each member wears a CustomUniform, many of them are either ex-military personnel or have unique specialist skills, they have use of their own helicopters and carry weapons that are unique among the police force, such as their customised "Samurai Edge" pistols. |
| 174 | ** Raccoon City's SWAT team appear in the intro cutscene in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' to showcase how powerful and dangerous the zombies have become by having the entire team slaughtered by them. The SWAT officers use submachine guns and shotguns while the regular police officers use pistols, but even the extra firepower were no match against the zombie horde. |
| 175 | * SWAT Team Leader is a high-level job in the Law Enforcement career in ''VideoGame/TheSims'' and ''VideoGame/TheSims2''. Curiously, there is no actual job for SWAT cop, only SWAT leader. |
| 176 | * The ''VideoGame/{{SWAT}}'' games obviously involve this, eventually progressing from a point-and-click adventure game to a top-down tactical simulator to tactical squad-based [[VideoGame/SWAT3 first-person]] [[VideoGame/SWAT4 shooters]]. The ''SWAT'' games heavily emphasize the use of proper police procedure: cuff every enemy, collect evidence, report all injured or dead people, always announce your presence and demand surrender before firing, and ''especially'' emphasis on trying to take down suspects alive. |
| 177 | * ''VideoGame/ThisIsThePolice'' has SWAT Teams, along with many other types of officer. |
| 178 | * In ''VideoGame/WorldWarZ2019'', Tatsuo Matsumoto from the Japan chapter is a veteran policeman with years of experience in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's most prestigious special units: the Riot Control Unit, Special Assault Team, and Special Investigation Team. |
| 179 | * The titular Chimera Squad of ''VideoGame/XCOMChimeraSquad'' is set up like this, being limited in jurisdiction to a single city, a role based around taking down criminal and terrorist threats, a focus on breaching tactics, and travelling around in an [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier wheeled APC]]. |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 183 | * The titular ''WebVideo/AnimeCrimesDivision'' maintains its own SWAT team, who are deployed multiple times in later episodes to deal with a SerialKiller, raid the Neo-Otaku City version of a RedLightDistrict, and guard the city's fiber-optic cables. |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
| 185 | |
| 186 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 187 | * In ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', a SWAT team arrests a squirrel for stealing a gas cap from Rocko. They all consist of koalas with [[VisualPun flyswatters]]. |
| 188 | * The titular characters of ''WesternAnimation/SwatKats'' are implied to have been this before [[{{Jerkass}} Commander Feral]] kicked them out of the Enforcers and [[ReassignedToAntarctica demoted them to a salvage yard]], hence their names as {{vigilante|Man}}s. Indeed, they function as the SWAT equivalent because they're the ones to beat the villains after the Enforcers have failed, but they typically dress in flight suits, not typical SWAT gear, and tend to use non-lethal weaponry along the lines of AbnormalAmmo, though they ''will'' kill if necessary. |
| 189 | [[/folder]] |
| 190 | |
| 191 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 192 | * The Reserve Unit of the Shanghai Municipal Police ([[OlderThanTelevision established in 1925]] by the legendary fighting instructor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Fairbairn William Fairbairn]]) is often considered the UrExample of the modern SWAT team. The Unit was literally kept in reserve at the SMP training depot and was used to quell riots and serve as an extra layer of security for important items or people in addition to fulfilling "typical" current SWAT duties. To aid with the Unit's training, Fairbairn also developed the Mystery House – the first "kill house"-style shooting range, designed to resemble a Chinese apartment building and complete with pop-up shoot/no-shoot targets and audio distractions. |
| 193 | * Modern SWAT teams first came into existence in the 1960s. [[TropeMaker The first team was a 100-man specialized unit established by the Philadelphia Police Department in 1964]] in response to an alarming increase in bank robberies. The police wanted to be able to react quickly and decisively to bank robberies while they were in progress, by utilizing a large number of specially trained officers who had at their disposal a great amount of firepower. The tactic worked and was later soon to resolve other types of incidents involving heavily-armed criminals. |
| 194 | * SWAT as we currently know them in municipal law enforcement was [[TropeCodifier best refined by the LAPD]]. After the Watts Riots in Los Angeles in 1965, the LAPD began considering tactics it could use when faced with urban unrest, rioting or widespread violence. Daryl Gates, who led the LAPD response to the riots, would later write that police at the time didn't face a single mob, but rather "people attacking from all directions." There was the fear of lone or barricaded gunmen who might outperform police in a shootout, as happened in Austin with Charles Whitman. Gates had originally intended "SWAT" to stand for "Special Weapons Attack Team", but changed it to "Special Weapons and Tactics" when advised that the city government would be unlikely to accept a police unit being called an "attack team". |
| 195 | ** Many U.S. cities don't use the term "SWAT". Common titles in include Emergency Response Team, Special Response Team, or Tactical Response Team. |
| 196 | *** The [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops NYPD]] and the Port Authority Police are unique for law enforcement entities, in that the functions of a SWAT team (high risk warrant raids, hostage situations, counterterrorism, security details, etc.) are just one of many duties given to the Emergency Services Unit. ESU is assigned to handle any situation that requires advanced equipment and expertise, which include SWAT, serious car accidents (rollovers and extrications), building collapses and more. |
| 197 | *** The NYPD does have one ESU detail that is strictly SWAT operations. It's known as the Apprehension Tactical Team or the "A-Team". It was founded in 1989 in order to supplement the ESU's sometimes overwhelming requirement to perform raids throughout the city (at the height of the crack epidemic). The A-Team strictly performs tactical missions which, on a day-to-day basis are typically High-Risk search warrants. The A-Team is widely considered to have the highest operational tempo of any US tactical team, sometimes performing as many as 800–1000 missions per year. The team can be called upon to support any unit within the NYPD, federal law enforcement agencies, or outside municipal police departments upon official request for tactical entries. Members of the A-Team are also utilized as tactical and firearms trainers for ESU and other NYPD units. The A-Team has participated in many of the city's most notable criminal take-down operations. Members of the team are recruited from within ESU, based on team needs and assignment to the team is highly selective. A-Team members are still required to maintain all of their periodic ESU certifications and proficiencies, and must be able to support the non-tactical ESU on any type of operation should the need arise. |
| 198 | * American prisons have CERT (Correctional Emergency Response Team), who serve a roughly analogous role. |
| 199 | * "SWAT" is the term used to refer to special response units belong to local county governments in the United States, with federal law enforcement branches having their own equivalents (for example, the FBI field office SWAT teams and the Quantico-based FBI Hostage Rescue Team). The SWAT name has also been used in the following countries: |
| 200 | ** Bangladesh. Under the control of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, but under the Detective Branch. |
| 201 | ** China. Major cities/towns like Beijing and Shanghai have their own SWAT under the control of the local Public Security Bureau. [[https://read01.com/M2GRoB.html The following are patches used by PSB SWAT units.]] |
| 202 | ** The Philippines. Each city has a SWAT team under the control of the Philippine National Police. |
| 203 | ** South Korea (Similar to the Philippines). |
| 204 | ** The city of Dubai in the [=UAE=] has a SWAT unit created in 1991 under the Dubai Police Force's General Department of Organisation, Protective Security and Emergency. |
| 205 | ** In India, the city of Delhi has a SWAT unit of its own in 2009 (Officially in action by 2010) to counter potential terrorist attacks in the city after the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008 with the first of its officers trained by the National Security Guards and Israeli security contractors. The state of Punjab also has a SWAT unit, whose existence was officially announced to the public in 2009 with its first officers also trained by Israeli security contractors. In 2010, Aligarh has established a [=SWAT=] team within its own police force. |
| 206 | * Canadian SWAT-based units usually operate under (the names of) Emergency Response Team, Emergency Response Unit, Tactical Response (or Rescue) Unit and Tactical Unit. Regina is known to have a tactical unit that uses the SWAT name for the Regina Police Service. For French-speaking towns/cities, they have units that operate under Groupe d’intervention (Intervention Group) or Groupe Tactique d’intervention (Tactical Intervention Group), based on European naming practice. |
| 207 | * Germany has the GSG-9 (''Grenzschutzgruppe 9'' -- Border Protection Group 9) a highly successful anti-terror group which was formed after the [[Film/{{Munich}} 1972 Olympic Games Massacre]], which saw [[http://youtu.be/CIicN7RXyRs?t=4m32s common riot police and beat cops advancing on the terrorists in stahlhelms and colourful tracksuits (in a botched attampt at 'disguise') with military-grade rifles they had never used before.]] In recent years, the [=SEKs=] and [=MEKs=] fulfill the SWAT role while the GSG-9 functions similarly to the Hostage Rescue Team when federal police resources are used. |
| 208 | * The closest analogue to a SWAT in Russia and the Former Soviet Union is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOBR SOBR]] spetsnaz (formerly known as OMSN) which is under the authority of the National Guard. Like many special purpose police units, they were formed after the Munich Olympics tragedy. Like SWAT, they are rapid response paramilitary police units specializing in high-risk criminal arrests, counter-terrorism and cordoning. Unlike most SWAT teams however, they can be called upon by the Russian authorities to serve in a war zone, with SOBR being called to serve during the war in Chechnya. Another organization is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMON OMON,]] an organization that acts as a special police unit with similar duties, and has since been also merged into [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_of_Russia National Guard of Russia (Rosgvardiya).]] |
| 209 | * UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers have these as well, easily recognisable because they're the ''only'' uniformed police who openly carry firearms (Officers of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary[[note]]who guard Britain's Nuclear reactors -- Britain' [[UsefulNotes/UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm nuclear weapons]] are guarded by the military, rather than civilian, police[[/note]] or Protection Command[[note]]whose remit is the protection of senior politicians, members of the Royal Family, and Diplomats[[/note]] may also carry weapons, but you're pretty unlikely to see one in your day-to-day life). The Metropolitan Police's Specialist Crime and Operations Specialist Firearms Command, [=SCO19=] (Previously known as S019 or C019) is probably the most famous, thanks to BritainIsOnlyLondon. Of about 130,000 police officers in the United Kingdom, only about 6,600 are Authorised Firearms Officers, and Specialist Firearms Officers who train on SWAT-type tactics are even rarer -- London only has about 70. The highest level of qualification for [=AFOs=] to try is for the Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers ([=CTSFO=]), which was initially created to provide security to Greater London for the 2012 Olympics. They are mostly deployed in teams to events where there's a likelihood of a terrorist attack/incident, although they are called in to help take down heavily armed criminals. |
| 210 | * The Garda Síochána has the Emergency Response Unit, created in 1977 as a response to the growing threats of terrorism in Europe during the Cold War, they are tasked to support regular officers in confroting heavily armed criminals in Ireland. The Armed Support Unit was first formed in 2008 to serve as first responders in most Irish cities like Dublin and Limerick due to concerns that the ERU may not be deployed fast enough in case of a situation where regular officers urgently need help. |
| 211 | * Australian law enforcement also have emergency police units from the Federal Police's Specialist Response Group to the Critical Incident Response Team, sort of the halfway point between beat police and proper SWAT. The most famous would arguably be the Sons of God, Victoria's Special Operations Group that is more or less a police {{expy}} of the SAS or the FBI HRT. |
| 212 | * Spain has the GEO (''Grupo Especial de Operaciones'' -- Special Operations Group) which is part of the national police. It was openly inspired in the German GSG-9 and the British SAS. |
| 213 | * Japan's closest equivalents would be the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Assault_Team Special Assault Team]] under the National Police Agency. They operate as a mixture of regional/city-based [=SWATs=] and the FBI's HRT as they're deployed in Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido, Chiba, Kanagawa, Aichi, Fukuouka and Okinawa on a case-by-case basis if the local special police unit need assistance or the [=NPA=] deems it necessary for their intervention. Most of the time in the said places, they act as the city/prefectural SWAT unit. |
| 214 | ** Other cities/prefectures have their own special police units to act in the place of the SAT in a local situation under a police department's Criminal Investigation Department in order to provide SWAT-based manpower for officers working in the department. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has the Special Investigation Team. The Osaka Prefectural Police has the Martial Arts Attack Team. Chiba Prefectural Police has the Assault Response Team. Saitama Prefectural Police has the Special Tactical Section. The Kanagawa Prefectural Police has the Special Investigation Section and the Aomori Prefectural Police has the Technical Special Team with the Hiroshima Prefectural Police has the Hostage Rescue Team. |
| 215 | *** For the Akita/Iwate/Ibaraki/Miyagi/Fukushima/Tochigi/Shizuoka/Aichi/Mie/Fukuoka/Nagasaki Prefectural Police, their local SWAT-style units are also called the SIT, named after the [=TMPD=]'s own unit. |
| 216 | ** Each city/prefectural police also has some anti-riot officers trained to conduct SWAT-based missions in a city/prefecture as a first responder when reports of gun usage against fellow officers, civilians or politicians are reported. The Anti-Firearms Squad is embedded in (at least) one anti-riot platoon. |
| 217 | ** The Japan Coast Guard has the Special Security Team, its own anti-crime/terrorist unit that operate in Japanese territorial waters. |
| 218 | * The Singaporean equivalent is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Tactics_and_Rescue_(Singapore) STAR (Special Tactics and Rescue),]] under the command of the Singapore Police Force's Special Operations Command. They mainly deal with counter-terrorism and crimes involving firearms. |
| 219 | ** In response to various criminal and terrorist incidents outside Singapore, the SPF has created various police tactical units to serve as first response units before STAR (or the Singaporean military) would be sent in to resolve an incident. They comprise the Special Guard and Counter-Terrorism Unit/Special Action Group/Special Tactical Unit (from Gurkha Contingent), In-Situ Reaction Team (from Protection Command) and the Special Task Squadron (from the Police Coast Guard). |
| 220 | * [[UsefulNotes/LesCopsSportif France]] has two version: |
| 221 | ** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIGN GIGN]] (''Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale'', "National Gendarmerie Intervention Group"), is the Gendarmerie's tactical unit. Created on 1973 to deal with hostage-taking, they are active in rural areas and abroad. |
| 222 | ** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID_(French_police_unit) RAID]] (''Recherche, Assistance, Intervention, Dissuasion '', "Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence") is the unit for the National Police and is mainly active in urban areas. |
| 223 | * The concept was introduced to UsefulNotes/{{India}} following the November 26, 2008 terror attacks in UsefulNotes/{{Mumbai}}. Mumbai got first dibs, as their cops were no stranger to gunning down criminals in “encounters”. They called it Force One. This later inspired other cities to form similar units starting from Delhi. |
| 224 | ** The Central (armed) Reserve Police Force was next, with the establishment of the [=COBRAs=] (Commando Battalions for Resolute Action), although this unit is more geared towards jungle warfare against guerrilla insurgents. |
| 225 | * UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} has the GOPE (Grupo de Operaciones Policiales Especiales, Special Police Operations Group) who aid the Carabineros (Chilean police force) in high-risk policial operations such as bomb disposal and anti-crime raids. |
| 226 | * The Philippine National Police has the Special Action Force, which was raised in the 1980s under the former Philippine Constabulary. Inspired by the British SAS, it's the PNP's main counter-terrorism unit, although they do get deployed in anti-crime operations if/when they are judged to be better (in terms of getting results) that the PNP SWAT teams. |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
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