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Paramilitarism
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Paramilitarism
Law Enforcement in the 1960s began to call for the establishment of dedicated units that could react competently to high risk procedures after several highly publicized hostage and sniper situations. The incident that inspired the SWAT concept occurred in August of 1966. A disturbed man climbed to the top of the 32-story clock tower at the University of Texas in Austin. For 96 minutes he erratically shot 46 people, killing 15 of them, until two police officers got to the top of the tower and killed him. (MacLoed) This incident was so evident that it traumatized the safety as American’s know it and gave police the final incentive they needed to form their own SWAT teams. Shortly after that, the Los Angeles Police Department formed the first SWAT team and originated the word SWAT to describe its influential team. The Los Angeles SWAT unit acquired national prestige when it was used successfully against the Black Panthers in 1969 and the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1973. (NDSN 1997) Police paramilitary units also known as SWAT teams were modeled after military special operations squads like the Navy Seals for example and other police paramilitary teams in foreign countries. By the mid 1970s larger city police agencies followed the ideas of the Los Angeles Police Department in establishing SWAT teams. It is very imperative to plainly describe traditional police and policing from police paramilitary units and their activities. Police paramilitary units are...
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