Officer Daryl Gates was a rising star within the Los Angeles Police Department when a disturbance erupted at the scene of the arrest of an intoxicated driver.
It was August , and the incident sparked an orgy of violence known as the Watts Riot. The rioting led to 45 million dollars in damage, destroyed nearly 1, buildings and ended 34 lives.
Although police and 4, National Guard members poured into the area in an attempt to control the situation, the after-action report sharply criticized the response. Gates observed that adding numbers was of little help when the personnel possessed neither the training nor equipment to make a significant impact.
Gates saw a need for a special team of highly-trained officers who could be called out for extremely dangerous circumstances. They were issued a variety of weapons confiscated from criminals. Their first transport van was a refurbished red delivery truck. The Black Panthers In , a standoff occurred at the headquarters of the Black Panthers after they ran a police captain out of the building with a pistol to his head.
The first attempt to arrest the perpetrators led to a sharp exchange of gun fire, which wounded three officers. Negotiations were accomplished with bullhorns. A plan that would have ended the conflict was formulated, but would have resulted in devastating consequences. SWAT commanders suggested attempting negotiations a final time. That final attempt resulted in the exit of a man waving a white handkerchief with his hands up. The incredibly volatile situation was resolved with no lives lost.
On the heels of this development, the FBI began teaching the following process for successful negotiations:. Active Listening 2. Empathy 3. Rapport 4. They also realized they needed teams of police officers equipped and trained to carry out these plans. They needed SWAT, special weapons and tactic teams. Snow p. Plenum Press, New York and London, The special weapons and tactics concept originated in the late s as a result of several sniping incidents against civilians and police officers around the country.
Many of these incidents occurred in Los Angeles during and after the Watts Riot. Upon critical examination of how each incident was managed by police, the leadership of the LAPD realized that an effective response to these dangerous situations was virtually non-existent. Officer John Nelson presented the special weapons and tactics concept to a young inspector by the name of Darryl F. Inspector Gates concurred and approved the concept of a small group of highly disciplined officers utilizing special weapons and tactics to cope with these unusual and difficult attacks.
Members of each team, who volunteered from the ranks of patrol and other police assignments, had specialized experience and prior military service. Each unit was activated for monthly training or when the need for special weapons personnel actually arose. These units, known as "station defense teams," provided security for police facilities during civil unrest.
The concept of a small group of highly disciplined officers utilizing special weapons and tactics to cope with these civil disorders and violent confrontations was started, originally known as C. These officers received additional training and were equipped with specialty munitions including rifles, chemical munitions, and body armor. In , the SWAT personnel were assigned on a full-time basis to Metropolitan Division to respond to continuing action by subversive groups, the rising crime rate and the continuing difficulty of mustering a team response in a timely manner.
The next major challenge for SWAT came in Over 2, hours of training, per officer, was invested in each operator in order to make this new concept a reality. In the 19 days of the Summer Games, SWAT officers worked a grueling 24 hours on and 24 hours off in a full-time training mode to polish those skills.
0コメント