In the United States, a SWAT team is generic term for a law enforcement unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to handle riot control or violent confrontations with criminals, the number and usage of SWAT teams increased in the 1980s and 1990s during the War on Drugs and later in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. In the United States by 2005, SWAT teams were deployed 50,000 times every year, almost 80% of the time to serve search warrants, most often for narcotics. By 2015 that number had increased to nearly 80,000 times a year. SWAT teams are increasingly equipped with military-type hardware and trained to deploy against threats of terrorism, for crowd control, hostage taking, and in situations beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement, sometimes deemed "high-risk". Other countries have developed their own paramilitary police units (PPUs) that are also described as or comparable to SWAT forces.
Special police usually describes a police force or unit within a police force whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same country or from other police in the same force, although there is no consistent international definition. A special constable, in most cases, is not a member of a special police force (SPF); in countries in the Commonwealth of Nations and often elsewhere, a special constable is a voluntary or part-time member of a national or local police force or a person involved in law enforcement who is not a police officer but has some of the powers of a police officer.
The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), more commonly known as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the DC Police, is the primary law enforcement agency for the District of Columbia, in the United States. With approximately 3,400 officers and 600 civilian staff, it is the sixth-largest municipal police department in the United States. The department serves an area of 68 square miles (180 km2) and a population of over 700,000 people. Established on August 6, 1861, the MPD is one of the oldest police departments in the United States. The MPD headquarters is at the Henry J. Daly Building, located on Indiana Avenue in Judiciary Square across the street from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The department's mission is to "safeguard the District of Columbia and protect its residents and visitors with the highest regard for the sanctity of human life". The MPD's regulations are compiled in title 5, chapter 1 of the District of Columbia Code.
The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state. At present, it has 2,187 troopers, 1,500 of them being uniformed troopers, and 540 civilian support staff—making it the largest law enforcement agency in New England. The MSP is headed by Colonel Christopher Mason.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is an agency of the Republic of the Philippines created embracing the cities of Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan, Pasay, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasig, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Valenzuela, Malabon, Taguig, Navotas and San Juan and the municipality of Pateros. Metropolitan Manila, or the National Capital Region, is constituted into a special development and administrative region subject to direct supervision of the Office of the President of the Philippines. The MMDA office is located at Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) corner Orense Street, Guadalupe, Makati, Philippines.
The Fresno Police Department (FPD) is responsible for policing the city of Fresno, California. The Chief of Police is Paco Balderrama who was sworn in on January 11, 2021. In 2005, the department had 807 sworn personnel and 406 non-sworn personnel.
The Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), formerly known as the Metro-Dade Police Department (1981–1997), Dade County Public Safety Department (1957–1981), and the Dade County Sheriff's Office (1836–1957), is a county police department serving Miami-Dade County. The MDPD has approximately 4,700 employees, making it the largest police department in the southeastern United States and the eighth largest in the country. The Department is still often referred by its former name, the Metro-Dade Police or simply Metro.
The St. Louis County Police Department (SLCPD) is the primary and largest law enforcement agency serving St. Louis County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The current Acting Chief of Police is Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Gregory. According to the Charter of St. Louis County, the county police chief has all of the criminal law enforcement duties of the sheriff of St. Louis County, except for the operation of the St. Louis County Jail, which is handled by the St. Louis County Department of Justice Services (civilian), court bailiff and service of civil process. Court bailiff/civil process duties are provided by a court-appointed sheriff and his employees, none of whom have law enforcement powers.
The Anchorage Police Department (APD) is the police department of the Municipality of Anchorage in Alaska. Functioning as a service area of the Municipality, its patrol area includes the core "Anchorage bowl", the Seward Highway corridor from Potter Creek south to McHugh Creek, and the Glenn Highway corridor north of the Anchorage bowl to the municipality's border with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, including the communities of Eagle River, Chugiak and Eklutna. Through a memorandum of understanding, APD also handles calls on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson which involve civilian suspects or victims. Serving Alaska's largest city, APD is also the only metropolitan agency and the largest municipal police force in Alaska.
The King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) is a local police agency in King County, Washington, United States. It is the primary law enforcement agency for all unincorporated areas of King County, as well as 12 cities and two transit agencies which contract their police services to the KCSO. KCSO also provides police and fire Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting to the King County International Airport. KCSO also provides regional-level support services to other local law enforcement agencies such as air support and search and rescue. The department has over 1,000 employees and serves 2.1 million citizens, over 500,000 of whom live in either unincorporated areas or the 12 contract cities.
The Metropolitan Division, also known as Metro, is an elite division of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The Metro Division, which also contains LAPD's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, contains line platoons of specially-trained police officers. It is tasked with numerous crime-fighting duties including solving major crimes, dignitary protection, surveillance, providing counter-terrorism details and attending high-risk barricaded situations, such as a hostage situation.
The Omaha Police Department (OPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The OPD is the largest law enforcement agency in the state of Nebraska.
The Lenco BearCat is a wheeled armored personnel carrier designed for military and law enforcement use. It is in use by several military forces and law enforcement agencies around the world.
The Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council or "NEMLEC" is a non-profit consortium made up of 63 police departments in Middlesex, Essex and Suffolk County and 2 County Sheriff's Departments. Member agencies participate by sharing resources and personnel, allowing member agencies to provide supplemental services to citizens in the 925 square miles they serve. NEMLEC coordinates the mutual aid between agencies in accordance with M.G.L. Section 40, Paragraph 8G and 4J. The organization is headquartered at 314 Main Street, Suite 205 in Wilmington, Massachusetts. In 2014 its president was Michael Begonis, the chief of the Wilmington Police Department. By the next year, press reports indicated the president was John Fisher, chief of the Carlisle Police Department.
The militarization of police is the use of military equipment and tactics by law enforcement officers. This includes the use of armored personnel carriers (APCs), assault rifles, submachine guns, flashbang grenades, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, and SWAT teams. The militarization of law enforcement is also associated with intelligence agency–style information gathering aimed at the public and political activists and with a more aggressive style of law enforcement. Criminal justice professor Peter Kraska has defined militarization of police as "the process whereby civilian police increasingly draw from, and pattern themselves around, the tenets of militarism and the military model".
The Cape Cod Regional Law Enforcement Council is a regional mutual aid facilitator formed by 43 police agencies in the area on or near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It pools resources to provide SWAT, a Motor Vehicle Crash Reconstruction Team, a School Resource Officers’ Network and other units in the area.
The St. Charles County Police Department (SCCPD) is the primary and largest law enforcement agency serving St. Charles County, Missouri. The current Chief of Police is Colonel Kurt Frisz. According to the Charter of St. Charles County, the county police chief has all of the criminal law enforcement duties of the sheriff of St. Charles County, except for the operation of the St. Charles County Jail, which is handled by the St. Charles County Department of Justice Services (civilian), court bailiff and service of civil process. Court bailiff/civil process duties are provided by an elected Sheriff and his deputies.
