thewilsons asked this question on 4/1/2000:

The standard police SWAT was derived from what international agency? What were the motivators for the American police swat team?

Detective gave this response on 4/1/2000:

If I recall correctly, the U.S. Law Enforcement S.W.A.T. concept began in the mid-1960s from a program developed by the Los Angeles Police Department, specifically former Chief Darryl Gates. There was a lot of civil unrest, riots, and so forth, and many of the larger cities were having problems with officers that had no special training. S.W.A.T. was developed to handle many of those issues and has now progressed to an even more focused group which normally responds to hostage situations, barracaded suspects, and the most dangerous of situations. I think there was more of a "military" design to the formation and operation of S.W.A.T. rather than anything having to do with European influences. I am not aware of any European law enforcement agencies that had anything close to this before it was developed here.

Hope this helps

Michael Director of Investigations TACTICS Private Investigators http://www.tacticsone.com

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