:: wikimiki.org ::

Counterterrorism

Counterterrorism

Counter-terrorism refers to the practices, tactics, and strategies that governments, militaries, and other groups adopt in order to fight terrorism. Counter-terrorism is not specific to any one field or organization; rather, it involves entities from all levels of society. For instance, businesses have security plans and sometimes share commercial data with the government. Local police, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel (often called "first responders") have plans for dealing with terrorist attack. Armies conduct combat operations against terrorists, often using special forces. Building a counter-terrorism plan involves all segments of a society or many government agencies.

Counter terrorist tactical units

Today, many of the western countries have special units, designated to handle terrorist threats. Besides various security agencies, there are elite tactical units whose role is to directly engage terrorists and prevent terrorist attacks. Such units perform both in preventive actions, hostage rescue and responding to on-going attacks. These units are specially trained and equipped for CQB with emphasis on stealth and performing the mission with minimal casualties. The units include take-over force, snipers, EOD experts, dog operators and intelligence officers. Examples for such units are the Israeli Sayeret Matkal (military) and YAMAM (civilian), the U.S. SWAT teams, the British SAS, the Austrian Cobra unit, and the German GSG-9.

Counter-terrorist units, by country

Afghanistan	?
Albania	RENEA, ROS
Algeria	BMPJ, DGSN
American Samoa	Defense is responsibility of the US
Andorra	Defense is responsibility of France
Angola	Angolan army ?
Anguilla	Defense is responsibility of the UK
Antarctica	Military action is expressly forbidden by the UN in this area
Antigua and Barbuda	Royal Antigua and Barbuda defense force
Argentina	BEOH - GEOF
Armenia	?
Australia	SAS Australian Regiment Tactical Response Group
Austria	GEK, WEGA, COBRA
The Bahamas	Royal Bahamas Defense Force
Bahrain	Security and Intelligence Service
Bangladesh	?
Barbados	Royal Barbados Defense Force
Belarus	?
Belgium	Sûreté de l'Etat, SGI - General Intelligence and Security Service
Belize	Belize Defense Force
Benin	?
Bermuda	Defense is responsibility of the UK
Bhutan	Royal Bhutan Army
Bolivia	Polivalente
Bosnia and Herzegovina	?
Botswana	Botswana Defense force
Brazil	Brazilian Army's 1st Special Forces Battalion
Brunei	Receives support from Australia
Bulgaria	National Service for Detecting and Preventing Terrorist Activities on the Territory of the Republic of Bulgaria
Burma	?
Cambodia	Royal Cambodian Armed Forces 911 Para-Commando Battalion
Cameroon	?
Canada	Joint Task Force 2, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Central African Republic	?
Chad	Currently being trained by USA
Chile	UAT Unidad Anti-Terrorista, GOPE Grupo de Operaciones Especiales
China (PRC)	Special Police Unit
Colombia	AFEUR
Denmark	Jægerkorpset (Army Special Force Unit), Frømandskorpset (Navy Special Force Unit) & Rigspolitiets Aktionsstyrke (Police SWAT)
Egypt	Unit 777
Finland	Tactical unit: Osasto Karhu, anti-terrorist intelligence: Suojelupoliisi
France	GIGN
Germany	GSG-9 (border guard police special forces), KSK (army special forces)
Hong Kong	SDU, ASU
India	National Security Guard, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Black Cats etc
Indonesia	Special Detachment 88 Anti-Terror (Densus 88)
Israel	Sayeret Matkal
Italy	GIS (Gruppo di Intervento Speciale) from Carabinieri, NOCS (Nucleo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza) from Polizia di Stato
Japan	Special Assault Team, S Unit
Malaysia	VAT 69, Paskal
Netherlands	BBE
New Zealand	Special Tactics Groups (STG), Special Air Service of New Zealand
Norway	FSK (Army special forces and counterterror unit), MJK (Naval special forces unit), HV Innsatsstyrke (National Guard counterterror unit), Delta (Police counterterror unit)
Philippines	Special Action Force, Light Reaction Company
Saudi Arabia	Special Emergency Forces
Poland	GROM, Formoza, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBŚ - Centralne Biuro Śledcze), Police CT units
Serbia & Montenegro	Special Anti-terrorist Unit - SAJ (SDB/UDBA), Special Gendarmerie Brigade (Police), 63rd Paratrooper Brigade (Military)
Singapore	Singapore Special Operations Force, Special Operations Command, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosive Defence Group
Sweden	Säkerhetspolisen (SÄPO), Nationella insatssyrkan
United Kingdom	SAS, SBS, MI5, Special Branch (Metropolitan Police Service)
Vietnam	Special Mission Police (Cảnh sát đặc nhiệm), Immediate Reaction Force (Cảnh sát cơ động)
Latvia	OMEGA (Police squad), Special Task Force (Speciālo Uzdevumu Vienība (SUV)) unit of Armed forces
USA	SWAT, FBI, SEAL Team SIX, Delta Force, various law enforcement agencies

Government

A government is the body that has the power to make and enforce laws within an organization or group. In its broadest sense, "to govern" means to administer or supervise, whether over an area of land, a set group of people, or a collection of assets. The word government is derived the Greek Κυβερνήτης (kubernites), which means "steersman", "governor", "pilot" or "rudder".

Definitions

One approach is to define government as the decision-making arm of the state, and define the latter on the basis of the control it has over violence and the use of force within its territory. Specifically, the state (and by extension the government) has been considered by some to be the entity that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a territory. This view has been taken by the political economist Max Weber and subsequent political philosophers. The exact meaning of it depends on what is understood by “legitimate”. If we use the term in an ethical sense, then this definition would suggest that an organisation might be considered a state by its supporters but not by its detractors. An alternative definition is to take "legitimate" violence to be simply that which has active or tacit acceptance by the vast majority of the population. In this view, the presence of insurrection or civil war against an entity would jeopardise its claim to be a state, provided the insurrection enjoyed significant popular support. Similarly, an entity that shared military or police power with independent militias and bandits could be considered to have a monopoly on “legitimate” violence but to be failing to enforce it, reducing its claim to statehood. In practice, such situations are often described as "failed states". Government can also be defined as the political means of creating and enforcing laws; typically via a bureaucratic hierarchy. Under this definition, a purely despotic organization which controls a territory without defining laws would not be considered a government. Another alternative is to define a government as an organisation that attempts to maintain control of a territory, where "control" involves activities such as collecting taxes, controlling entry and exit to the state, preventing encroachment of territory by neighbouring states and preventing the establishment of alternative governments within the country. In Commonwealth English, the word "Government" can also be used to refer only to the executive branch, in this context being a synonym for the word "administration" in American English (e.g. the Blair Government, the Bush Administration). In countries using the Westminster system, the Government (or party in Government) will also usually control the legislature. The French use of the word gouvernement covers both meanings, whereas Canadian French generally uses it to mean the executive branch. The German word Regierung refers only to government as the executive branch; the wider meaning of the word, government as a system, can be translated as Staatsgewalt.

Forms of government

Various forms of government have been implemented. A government in a developed state is likely to have various sub-organisations known as offices, departments, or agencies, which are headed by politically appointed officials, often called ministers or secretaries. Ministers may in theory act as advisors to the head of state, but in practice have a certain amount of direct power in specific areas. In most modern democracies, the elected legislative assembly has the power to dismiss the government, but in those states that have a separate head of government and head of state, the head of state generally has great latitude in appointing a new one.

Theories

There are a wide range of theories about the reasons for establishing governments. The four major ones are briefly described below. Note that they do not always fully oppose each other - it is possible for a person to subscribe to a combination of ideas from two or more of these theories.

Greed and oppression

Many political philosophies that are opposed to the existence of a government (such as Anarchism, and to a lesser extent Marxism), as well as others, emphasize the historical roots of governments - the fact that governments, along with private property, originated from the authority of warlords and petty despots who took, by force, certain patches of land as their own (and began exercising authority over the people living on that land). Thus, it is argued that governments exist to enforce the will of the strong and oppress the weak.

Order and tradition

The various forms of conservatism, by contrast, generally see the government as a positive force that brings order out of chaos, establishes laws to end the "war of all against all", encourages moral virtue while punishing vice, and respects tradition. Sometimes, in this view, the government is seen as something ordained by a higher power, as in the divine right of kings, which human beings have a duty to obey.

Natural rights

Natural rights are the basis for the theory of government shared by most branches of liberalism (including libertarianism). In this view, human beings are born with certain natural rights, and governments are established strictly for the purpose of protecting those rights. What the natural rights actually are is a matter of dispute among liberals; indeed, each branch of liberalism has its own set of rights that it considers to be natural, and these rights are sometimes mutually exclusive with the rights supported by other liberals.

Social contract

One of the most influential theories of government in the past two hundred years has been the social contract, on which modern democracy and most forms of socialism are founded. The social contract theory holds that governments are created by the people in order to provide for collective needs (such as safety from crime) that cannot be properly satisfied using purely individual means. Governments thus exist for the purpose of serving the needs and wishes of the people, and their relationship with the people is clearly stipulated in a "social contract" (a constitution and a set of laws) which both the government and the people must abide by. If a majority is unhappy, it may change the social contract. If a minority is unhappy, it may persuade the majority to change the contract, or it may opt out of it by emigration or secession.

Operations

Governments concern themselves with regulating and administering many areas of human activity, such as trade, education, medicine, entertainment, and war.

Enforcement of power

Governments use a variety of methods to maintain the established order, such as police and military forces, (particularly under despotism, see also police state), making agreements with other states, and maintaining support within the state. Typical methods of maintaining support and legitimacy include providing the infrastructure for administration, justice, transport, communication, social welfare etc., claiming support from deities, providing benefits to elites, holding elections for important posts within the state, limiting the power of the state through laws and constitutions (see also Bill of Rights) and appealing to nationalism. Different political ideologies hold different ideas on what the government should or should not do.

Territory

The modern standard unit of territory is a country. In addition to the meaning used above, the word state can refer either to a government or to its territory. Within a territory, subnational entities may have local governments which do not have the full power of a national government (for example, they will generally lack the authority to declare war or carry out diplomatic negotiations).

Scale of government

Main articles: government ownership, government spending The scale to which government should exist and operate in the world is a matter of debate. Government spending in developed countries varies considerably but generally makes up between about 30% and 70% of their GDP.

Military

A military or military force (n., from Latin militarius, miles "soldier") has seen many different incarnations throughout time. Early armies may have been just men with sharpened sticks and rocks, through time they have included advancements such as men mounted on horses, men wielding swords and other metallic weapons, the bow and arrow, siege weapons, to the advance of the musket which form the roots of the armed force of most nations we know today. In modern times people use vehicles and guns. While military can refer to any armed force, it generally refers to a permanent, professional force of soldiers or guerrillas—trained exclusively for the purpose of warfare and should be distinguished from a sanctioned militia or a levy, which are temporary forces— citizen soldiers with less training, who may be 'called up' as a reserve force, when a nation mobilizes for total war, or to defend against invasion. The term military is often used to mean an army. The doctrine that asserts the primacy of a military within a society is called militarism.

Meaning of the word

:Also see: Armed forces As an adjective, "military" is a descriptive property of things related to soldiers and warfare. It also refers to such context dependent terms such as military reserves which may indicate an actual unit deployable on command or the general sense, of a Nation States reserve troops available to or eligible for duty in its armed forces. In formal British English, "military" as an adjective [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20030636.htm refers] more particularly to matters relating to an army (land forces), as opposed to the naval and air force matters of the other two services. In American English, "military" as an adjective is more widely used for regulations pertaining to and between all the armed forces like military procurement, military transport, military justice, military strength and military force.

Military procurement

Military procurement refers to common regulations and requirements for a ship or a detached unit to requisistion and draw on a base's facilies (housing, pay, and rations for detached personnel), supplies (most commonly food stocks or materials, and vehicles) by the service running a primary base; e.g. Army units detached to or staging through an air base, a vessel calling at a port near an army or air base, an army unit drawing supplies from a naval base.

Military transport

Military transport would pertain to an equipment trans-shipped via a sister service, or an individual detached for a technical school operated by a sister service, or the travel orders and authorization of such an individual to procede via a sister services vehicles, as well as the drawing (loan of) transportation assets (staff cars, Hum-Vees, military trucks) operating from the primary base command.

Military Justice

Military Justice, as in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Most nations have a separate code of law which regulates both certain activities allowed only in war, as well as provides a code of law applicable only to a soldier in war (or 'in uniform' during in peacetime). The statutory laws set down by the United States Congress to apply to the individual conduct within any military force of the United States— these are the specific articles under which a soldier or sailor would be tried for infractions ranging from minor (Late Return, petty theft; ) to severe (Rape, Murder); this code is usually referred to by the acronym UCMJ.

Military strength

Military strength is a term that describes a quantification or reference to a nation's standing military forces or the capacity for fulfillment of that military's role. For example, the military strength of a given country could be interpreted as the number of individuals in its armed forces, the destructive potential of its arsenal, or both. For example, while China and India maintain the largest armed forces in the world, the US Military is considered to be the world's strongest.

Military Force

Military Force is a term that might refer to a particular unit, a regiment or gunboat deployed in a particular locale, or as an aggregate of such forces (e.g. "In the Gulf War the United States Central Command controled military forces (units) of each of the five military services of the United States.").

Military history

:Main article: Military history Military history is often considered to be the history of all conflicts, not just the history of proper militaries. It differs somewhat from the history of war with military history focusing on the people and institutions of war-making while the history of war focuses on the evolution of war itself in the face of changing technology, governments, and geography. Military history has a number of purposes. One main purpose is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create a sense of tradition which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still another may be to learn to prevent wars more effectively.

Military reserve

:Main article: Military reserve Military reserve refers to specific trained pre-organized forces operating as an on call basis from the main military force. In the United States, the Reserves forces such as the qunit mission profile (e.g. Many 'Military Police' trained regular reserve units and ' National Guard units' were mobilized during the Iraq war, as were units specializing in supply, transport, engineering, et al.) These various volunteer manned units are always 'on call' and refered to as the ready reserves but might be augmented by the Inactive Reserves in time of dire emergency or total war under the United States model— the inactive reserve is composed of all former serving members of any of the US Armed Forces of military age. Individuls in this class are former members of the regular and ready reserve forces, that have opted to discontinue service in any of those organized bodys; in general, the inactive reserves are not an organized force, but a resource of trained manpower that can be mobilized similar to calling up a levy but in theory with the training of a militia. Individuals in the inactive reserves with specialized talents are from time to time also recalled into service, albeit rarely, one exception being the ongoing current need for Military Police and Quartermasters in Iraq.

Military science

:Main article: Military science Military science concerns itself with the study and of the diverse technical, psychological, and practical phenomena that encompass the events that make up warfare, especially armed combat. It strives to be an all-encompassing scientific system that if properly employed, will greatly enhance the practitioner's ability to prevail in an armed conflict with any adversary. To this end, it is unconcerned whether that adversary is an opposing military force, guerrillas or other irregulars, or even knows of or utilizes military science in return.

Specific militaries

- British Armed Forces
- Royal Navy
- British Army
- Royal Air Force
- Royal Marines
- Special Air Service
- Special Boat Service
- Canadian Armed Forces
- Canadian Army
- Royal Canadian Air Force
- Royal Canadian Navy
- Military of India
- Indian Army
- Indian Air Force
- Indian Navy
- Indian Coast Guard
- Indian Paramilitary Forces
- Military of New Zealand
- Royal New Zealand Navy
- New Zealand Army
- Royal New Zealand Air Force
- Special Air Service of New Zealand
- Military of the United States
- Army
- Air Force
- Marine Corps
- Navy
- Coast Guard
- Turkish Armed Forces
- Army
- Air Force
- Navy
- Gendarmerie
- Coast Guard See also :Category:Militaries.

Military Alliances

- NATO
- ANZUS
- United Nations
- Warsaw Pact

Reference

Major books for understanding the role of the military, and the civilian leadership of the military. # Why the Allies Won (WWII

Police

]] ] Police forces are government organisations charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order. The word comes from the French, and less directly from the Greek politeia, referring to government or administration; the word police was coined in France in the 18th century. The police may also be known as a constabulary, after constables, who were an early manifestation of police officers. In most Western legal systems, the major role of the police is to discourage and investigate crimes, with particular emphases on crime against persons or property and the maintenance of public order, and if able to apprehend suspected perpetrator(s), to detain them, and inform the appropriate authorities. See criminal law. Police are often used as an emergency service and may provide a public safety function at large gatherings, as well as in emergencies, disasters, and search and rescue situations. To provide a prompt response in emergencies, the police often coordinate their operations with fire and emergency medical services. In many countries there is a common emergency service number that allows the police, firefighters or medical services to be summoned to an emergency. Police are also responsible for reporting minor offences by issuing citations which typically may result in the imposition of fines, particularly for violations of traffic law. Police sometimes involve themselves in the maintenance of public order, even where no legal transgressions have occurred — for example, in some Australian jurisdictions, people who are drunk and causing a public nuisance may be removed to a "drying-out centre" until they recover from the effects of the alcohol.

History

In ancient times, the military was mostly responsible for maintaining law and order in cities. The Roman Empire had a reasonably effective law enforcement system until the decline of the empire, though there was never an actual police force in the city of Rome itself. Beginning in the 5th century, policing became a function of clan chiefs and heads of state. Local lords and nobles were responsible to maintain order in their lands, and often appointed a constable, sometimes unpaid, to enforce the law. In 1663, London hired watchmen to guard the streets at night, augmenting the force of unpaid constables, as the first paid law enforcement body. This practice was widespread throughout the United Kingdom. Then, on June 30 1800 the authorities of Glasgow, Scotland successfully petitioned the Government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police. This was the first professional police service in the country and was different from previous law enforcement in that it practiced preventative policing. This was quickly followed in other towns, which set up their own police forces by individual Acts of Parliament ^{[http://www.scotia-news.com/issue5/ISSUE05a.htm]}. In 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act was passed by Parliament, allowing Sir Robert Peel, the then home secretary, to found the London Metropolitan Police, generally regarded as the first civil police force organised on modern lines. It became a model for the police forces of many countries, including the United States. The first police service to be set up outside the UK was in Gibraltar, with the formation of the Gibraltar Police (now Royal Gibraltar Police) in 1830. By 1721, the Mossos d'Esquadra had been formed in Catalonia in north eastern Spain. In 1834, the Toronto Police were founded in Canada, one of the first municipal police departments in North America. In the United States some of the first full-time police forces were the Boston founded in 1839 and the New York City in 1845.

Multiple levels of police agencies

In many countries, particularly those with a federal system of government, there may be several police or police-like organisations, each serving different levels of government and enforcing different subsets of the applicable law.

Australia

In Australia there are two levels of police forces, state police and the Australian Federal Police. Each State as well as the Northern Territory is responsible for maintaining its own police force which is responsible for policing at the state and local level. This involves general law and order, traffic policing, major crime, anti-terrorism branches, water police, search and rescue and in some states transit police. Local policing in the Australian Capital Territory, Jervis Bay Territory and Australia's external territories is contracted to the Australian Federal Police (AFP). In some states, local governments employ by-laws officers or rangers to enforce local by-laws or ordinances relating to such matters as parking, dog ownership, retailing, littering or water usage. These local government officers are not considered to be police forces as they generally only have the power to issue fines and do not have the same powers as state police, such as the power of arrest. The Australian Federal Police operates at a Federal level and concerns itself with Federal laws including corporate law, drug smuggling, money laundering, people smuggling, e-crime and anti-terrorism. Australian Federal Police Officers also serve on international peacekeeping and policing operations in such places as Cyprus, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Other Federal Agencies are also responsible for specific areas of law enforcement. These include the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Customs Service.

Brazil

In Brazil there are two or three levels of policing: the Brazilian Federal Police and state police operate everywhere, and some cities also have City Guards. Each State is responsible for maintaining its own police forces, which are responsible for policing at the state and local level. Patrol and order duties are carried out by a military police force and investigation duties by a civil police force. Because of this division of responsibilities, there is lot of tension between these forces. In some cities, the local government employs city guards, who patrol municipal property such as parks and the environs of city halls. City guards are not permitted to carry firearms on duty. The Brazilian Federal Police operates at a Federal level and concerns itself with Federal laws, including corporate law, drug smuggling, money laundering, people smuggling, e-crime and anti-terrorism.

Canada

e-crime In Canada, there are three levels of police forces: municipal, provincial, and federal. Constitutionally, law enforcement is a provincial responsibility, although most urban areas have been given the authority to maintain their own police forces. Small municipalities contract out their law enforcement to the provincial authorities, and all but three provinces in turn contract out their provincial law enforcement responsibilities to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal force, which therefore is the only police force to service three distinct levels in the area. Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland maintain their own provincial police forces: The Ontario Provincial Police, Sûreté du Québec and Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. Smaller Canadian cities often contract police service from the RCMP, while larger cities maintain their own force. There are also a few private police forces, with the same powers as other governmental forces. The Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railroads both have their own police forces, whose duty is to prevent pilferage of the merchandise being carried on their rail systems and to protect staff, passengers and property. Other entities, such as Hydro Québec and formerly the National Harbour Board, also have their own police forces.

France

National Harbour Board National Harbour Board In France, there are two separate national police agencies, with overlapping but different jurisdiction:
- the National Police (Police Nationale) in the towns;
- the Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale; military police) in the country, villages and small towns. A similar diffusion exists, or has existed, in several other countries following the French system. Additionally, French municipalities may have a local police called the police municipale, garde municipale or garde champetre, with restricted powers: they can only enforce the municipal by-laws (amongst which those related to the road circulation) and participate in prevention actions (survey, evacuation of buildings, protection against accidents, etc.). These personnel may or may not be allowed to bear firearms. In French, the term "police" not only refers to the forces, but also to the general concept of "maintenance of law and order" (policing). There are two types of police in this general sense:
- administrative police (police administrative): uniformed preventative patrols, traffic duties etc., with limited powers of arrest.
- judicial police (police judiciaire): law enforcement and investigation of crime, with full powers of arrest. Thus, the mayor has administrative police power in a town (i.e. they can order the police to enforce the municipal by-laws), and a judge has police power in their court (i.e. they can have people who disrupt the proceedings expelled from the court room). Until 1984, the National Police was involved in the prehospital care and casualty transport (Police secours). The prehospital care is now performed by firefighters; however, mountain rescue is performed by the Gendarmerie PGHM (Peloton de gendarmerie de haute montagne) and the National Police CRS (Compagnies républicaines de sécurité; Republican Security Companies). Some other countries follow this model and have separate police agencies with the same role but different jurisdictions.

Germany

CRS CRS Germany is a Federal Republic based on sixteen states. Each of those states has its own police force. Each is supervised by the Minister (or, in Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin, the Senator) of Internal Affairs of the state. Although uniforms and vehicle colour schemes are similar all over Germany, the police forces are structured slightly differently in each state. For example, the Kriminalpolizei (detective branch) are part of the ordinary police force in some states and separate organizations in others. In addition, the Federal Government has a Federal Police, previously called the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Protection), but from 2005 named the Bundespolizei (Federal Police). The German Federal Railways also had its own police force, the Bahnpolizei (Railway Police). When the railways were privatized in the 1990s, the Bahnpolizei was assimilated into the Bundesgrenzschutz, since executive power in Germany is only permitted by law to be under government control. Private police forces are therefore not allowed in Germany. Due to the ideal of using the same color of police uniforms and vehicles throughout the European Union, the German police have in the last few years begun to slowly change from green to blue. Hamburg was the first state to make the transition. Before German reunification on 3 October 1990, the German Democratic Republic was policed by the Volkspolizei (People's Police).

India

The police is under the state jurisdiction. The police reports to the state home department. Each state has its State Police and large cities have a Metropolitan Police.

Interpol

Most countries are members of the International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol, established to detect and fight trans-national crime and provide for international co-operation and coordination of other police activities, such as notifying relatives of the death of foreign nationals. Interpol does not conduct enquiries nor arrests by itself, but only serves as a central point for information on crime, suspects and criminals. Political crimes are excluded from its competencies.

Japan

Political crime]] Japan's police are an apolitical body under the general supervision of an independent agency, the National Police Agency, and free of direct central government executive control. They are checked by an independent judiciary and monitored by a free and active press. The police are generally well respected and can rely on considerable public cooperation in their work.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a unitary (as opposed to federal) state, and police forces, generally speaking, are organised at the level of administrative districts. Certain departments of the Metropolitan Police operate throughout the country, including the Anti-Terrorist Branch, Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department, and certain units of Special Branch. The new Serious Organised Crime Agency will also be a national agency that will work in all police areas. The smallest UK force is the City of London Police.

The United States of America

City of London Police State Police, United States]] In the United States, there are several levels of policing and law enforcement services, federal police, state police (often called state troopers or highway patrol), special-purpose district police (parks, schools, housing, transit, etc), county police (sheriffs, constables, and some county police agencies), and local police. There are thousands of separate police forces. Local policing is usually conducted by the police departments at the county, city, township or village level and may range from one person offices (sometimes still called the town marshal) to the 40,000 men and women of the New York City Police Department. County sheriffs, county police, state police, and highway patrols enforce laws in their particular jurisdictions and are usually the only police in unincorporated areas beyond the jurisdiction of the cities. They also assist the local police with investigations and may operate county jails. Special district police vary in their levels of authority. In some states, they serve as little more than security police, but in states such as California, special district forces are composed of fully-sworn peace officers with statewide authority. These include the Los Angeles School Police Department, which with a deployment of 525 sworn and non-sworn personnel covers 708 square miles from five police divisions and the Minneapolis Park Police Department, a much smaller unit with a deployment of 38 sworn police officers and 27 non-sworn Park Patrol agents. Federal police fall into two broad categories:
- Investigative agencies (such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Secret Service); and
- uniformed security police agencies (such as the Federal Protective Service, U.S. Mint Police, United States Park Police and United States Border Patrol). United States Border Patrol Both types operate at the highest level and are endowed with police or quasi-police roles. The investigative agencies have nationwide jurisdiction, while the uniformed agencies tend to have rather limited territorial jurisdictions. The FBI has the most general investigative powers, while the other federal agencies are highly specialized. All federal agencies are limited by the U.S. Constitution to investigating only matters that are explicitly within the power of the federal government, like interstate commerce. However, federal investigative powers have become very broad in practice, especially since the passing of the USA PATRIOT Act. Because of all this complexity, at a crime or disaster scene affecting large numbers of people, there will be many different police agencies involved. Usually the highest local agency, or the highest federal law enforcement agency (the FBI), if a federal law was involved, will take command in such confusing situations, as depicted in movies like The Negotiator or Die Hard.

Police armament and equipment

Die Hard] Die Hard)]] Die Hard]] Die Hard Die Hard, Switzerland]] In many jurisdictions, police officers carry firearms in the normal course of their duties. Police often have specialist units for handling armed offenders, and similar dangerous situations, and can often, in extreme circumstances, call on the military, sometimes including special forces like the SAS. They can also be equipped with non-lethal (more accurately known as "less than lethal" or "less-lethal") weaponry, particularly for riot control. Non-lethal weapons include batons, shields, riot control agents, rubber bullets and stun guns. The use of firearms or deadly force is typically a last resort only to be used when necessary to save human life, although some jurisdictions allow its use against fleeing felons and escaped convicts. Police officers often also carry handcuffs to restrain suspects. Modern police forces make extensive use of radio communications equipment, carried both on the person and installed in vehicles, to coordinate their work, share information, and get help quickly. In recent years, vehicle-installed computers have enhanced the ability of police communications, enabling easier dispatching of calls, criminal background checks on persons of interest to be completed in a matter of seconds, and updating the officer's daily activity log and other required reports on a real-time basis. Other common pieces of police equipment include flashlights, whistles, and, most importantly, notebooks and "ticketbooks" or citations.

In specific countries

India

Unlike in many other countries, the various state police forces in India extensively use the Jeep as their main mode of transport. Jeeps are known for their capabilities to move around in any sort of terrain. The Jeep is always the primary mode of transport at the police station, although for traffic enforcement and patrolling, motorcycles are also extensively used. The Jeeps are provided with wireless sets, light bars and sirens. In specific cases, the Jeeps may also be fitted with hard covers, rather than the canvas cover.

Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has an unarmed police force, An Garda Síochána, although they are all trained to use firearms and all detectives and special units carry them.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom and some other countries of the British police tradition, the police are not normally issued firearms, but are issued other weapons (batons, pepper spray, CS Spray etc.), although some officers may be issued firearms in special situations. This originates from the formation of the Metropolitan Police in the 19th Century, when police were not armed, partly to counter public fears and objections concerning armed enforcers. However, the Ministry of Defence Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary and Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary) are issued firearms as a matter of routine. Every force can also call upon armed response units in a matter of minutes, and certain specialist squads, such as the Flying Squad, Special Branch, Diplomatic Protection Group, Royalty Protection Branch, and officers protecting airports and government buildings, are routinely armed. The archetypal British "bobby" walked his beat alone. Apart from rapid response units, motor vehicles were rarely used except in rural districts (and even there, bicycles were more common). However, in the last few decades the police have become increasingly motorised and it is now rare to see an officer on foot patrol except in city or town centres, and then rarely alone, although police forces have recently begun to put more police back on the beat. Patrol cars, sometimes known as panda cars (or sometimes jam sandwiches), are in use everywhere and may be crewed by one or two officers. Except for rapid response and traffic patrol vehicles, they are generally smaller and less powerful than American vehicles.

United States

Police in the United States usually carry a pistol (Glocks and Sig-Sauers are the most common) and an impact weapon - a baton, also known as a "nightstick". Most large police departments have elite SWAT units which are called in to handle situations which require greater force, such as hostage situations and building raids. Some departments also use nonlethal weapons like Mace, pepper spray, electroshock guns, and beanbag rifles. Some police departments allow their officers to carry shotguns or assault rifles in their vehicles for additional firepower. To efficiently cover the sprawling layout of the typical American city, American police officers usually patrol in pairs called "units," and ride in specialized cars (such as the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor) called "cruisers", "patrol cars", or "prowl cars", or in the New York City Police Department "RMPs" (Radio Mobile Patrol). High-speed car chases are common in certain areas of the United States, so police officers are usually trained in high-speed driving techniques and the PIT maneuver. Horses are still used, mainly in crowd control situations, but in remote areas occasionally for patrol or search and rescue.

Restrictions upon the power of the police

In order for police officers to do their job well, they are vested by the state with a monopoly in the use of certain powers. These include the powers to arrest, search, seize, and interrogate; and if necessary, to kill. In nations with democratic systems and the rule of law, the law of criminal procedure has been developed to regulate officers' discretion, so that they do not exercise their vast powers arbitrarily or unjustly. criminal procedure] In American criminal procedure, the most famous case is Miranda v. Arizona which led to the widespread use of Miranda warnings. American police are also prohibited from holding criminal suspects for more than a reasonable amount of time (usually two days) before arraignment, using torture to extract confessions, using excessive force to effect an arrest, and searching suspects' bodies or their homes without a warrant obtained upon a showing of probable cause. There are exceptions for exigent circumstances such as the need to disarm a suspect who is resisting arrest. The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the use of the U.S. military for police activity, giving added importance to police SWAT units. British police officers are governed by similar rules, particularly those introduced under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, but generally have greater powers. They may, for example, legally search any suspect who has been arrested, or their vehicles, home or business premises, without a warrant, and may seize anything they find in a search as evidence. Unlike the system in many countries, a British police officer's rank has no bearing on his or her powers - all police powers are derived from the "office of constable" into which every police officer has been sworn and the newest probationary constable (or part-time volunteer special constable) has exactly the same powers as the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, Britain's most senior police officer.

Difficult issues

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Police organizations must sometimes deal with the issue of police corruption, which is often abetted by a code of silence that encourages unquestioning loyalty to one's comrades over the cause of justice. In the comparatively rare event that an officer breaks this code on a significant scale, they may receive death threats or even be left for dead, as in the case of Frank Serpico. One way to fight such corruption is by having an independent or semi-independent organization investigate, such as (in the United States) the FBI, internal affairs, or the Justice Department. However, truly independent organizations are generally not called in except for the most openly severe cases. Some police organizations, especially in multi-racial or multi-ethnic areas, are faced with routine accusations of racial profiling. Police forces also find themselves under criticism for their use of force, particularly deadly force, when a police officer of one race kills a suspect of another race. In the United States, such events routinely spark protests and accusations of racism against police. Finally, in many places, the social status and pay of police can lead to major problems with recruitment and morale. For more information on extreme forms and various views of policing, see secret police, police state, corporate police state, thought police, and police brutality.

Policing structures

Most police forces contain subgroups whose job it is to investigate particular types of crime. In most Western police forces, perhaps the most significant division is between "uniformed" police and detectives. Uniformed police, as the name suggests, wear uniforms, and their jobs involve overt policing operations, traffic control, and more active crime response and prevention. Detectives, by contrast, wear 'business attire' when their job is to more professonally investigate crimes, usually on a longer-term basis. There are also "plainclothes" officers, who are required to dress in more casual attire for purposes of blending in better. In some cases, police are assigned to work "undercover", where they do not identify themselves as police, sometimes for long periods, to investigate crimes, particularly organized crime, unsolvable by other means. This type of policing shares much with espionage. Specialized groups exist within the branches either for dealing with particular types of crime (for instance, traffic policing, murder, or fraud) or because of particular specialised skills they have (for instance, diving, operating helicopters, bomb squad, and so on). Most larger jurisdictions also retain specially-trained quasi-military squads armed with small arms for the purposes of dealing with particularly violent situations; and they are often equipped with an additional arsenal of non-lethal tactical tools like tear gas, "flashbang" and concussion grenades, and rubber bullets (since their situational mandate typically focuses on removing innocent bystanders from dangerous people and dangerous situations, not violent resolution). These are sometimes called SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) teams. Lastly, Western law enforcement commonly employs "internal affairs" police whose job is to oversee and investigate the officers themselves. They do not typically carry firearms and limit their work to fighting bribery, graft, and other forms of internal corruption.

Army

Army (from French armée) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. More commonly, however, it is only used specifically to refer to a land force of the military. Within a national army, an army can also refer to a large formation, usually comprising one or more corps. Army is also often used in the description or title of military or paramilitary organisations which are not part of a country's official armed forces (and may well be illegal), such as the Irish Republican Army, and also in some non-military organisations organised on a quasi-military basis, such as the Salvation Army and the Church Army.

National land forces

A national army is usually the arm of the military service which conducts land-based warfare (for example, the United States Army, or the French Armée de Terre). Most armed forces make considerable distinction between the army or land forces, the navy, and the air force, often maintaining three independent organizations. Many air forces were formerly part of an army; historically, the United States Air Force originated as part of the United States Army, for example. Modern armies comprise several branches (also called services, or administrative corps). These may include the combat branches: infantry, armoured, artillery, and combat engineers, as well as the support branches: communications, intelligence, medics, supply, and army aviation (as opposed to a national air force).

Formations

An army can also be a large military organization (formation) comprising one or more corps. A particular army is named or numbered to distinguish it from military land forces in general—for example, the U.S. First Army and the Army of Northern Virginia. In the British Army it is normal to spell out the ordinal number of an army (e.g. First Army), whereas lower formations use figures (e.g. 1st Division). Armies (as well as army groups and theaters) are large formations which vary significantly between armed forces in size, composition, and scope of responsibility. In the Soviet Red Army, "armies" were actually corps-sized formations, subordinate to an army-sized "front" in wartime. In peacetime, a Soviet army was usually subordinate to a military district. For the hierarchy of land force organizations, see military organization. .

Stealth

Stealth can refer to several things:
- Stealth technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles
- Stealth aircraft are aircraft using stealth technology
- Stealth (film) (2005)
- "Stealth" is claimed as a trademark by Leo Stoller, who threatens to sue anybody who uses it in a product or company name, domain name, or even in the text of a Web site.
- Dodge Stealth (car) ja:ステルス

EOD

Things commonly known by the acronym EOD include:
- Explosive Ordnance Disposal — a bomb disposal
- The computing term for the end of data character or signal
- end of day
- Esoteric Order of Dagon

Sayeret Matkal

Sayeret Matkal (Hebrew: סיירת מטכ"ל - General Staff Reconnaissance unit) is the elite special forces unit of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). It was established in 1957 as Unit 269 by veterans of the Paratroopers Brigade, Unit 101 and the IDF's Intelligence Branch (Aman). Its main roles are counter terror, deep reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. The unit is modelled on the British SAS, and organizationally reports to Aman. Its IDF nickname is simply "The Unit". The unit's motto is "Who Dares Wins" (same as the SAS motto). The unit is best known for Operation Thunderbolt, mistakenly better known as Operation Entebbe, in which it rescued more than 100 Air France airline passengers hijacked to Uganda by PLO terrorists, losing the unit commander (Yonathan Netanyahu) to enemy gunfire.

Recruitment and training

The unit was kept top-secret during its initial years. Fighters and commanders were selectively hand-picked, based on personal acquaintances and family members of existing members (two of Netanyahu's brothers also served in the unit, for example). Since the 1980s, while still secretive, the unit opened to voluntary recruits. Twice a year it holds a notoriously gruelling selection camp (Gibush) for potential recruits lasting several sleepless days. The recruits are constantly monitored by doctors and psychologists. Those who make it through the end with passing evaluation marks are admitted. During the 1990s, this selection camp practice was picked up by other IDF special forces (Sayeret). Lately, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz plans to unify all these camps to prevent recruit burn-outs and medical injury by over-enthusiastic youths. Once admitted to the unit, recruits train for 18 months, with heavy emphasis on small arms, martial arts, orienteering, camouflage, reconnaissance and other skills important for survival behind enemy lines. Although Sayeret Matkal has its own insignia, Sayeret Matkal is the only unit in the IDF whose soldiers are not allowed to wear it in public due to its classified nature.

Notable (former) Sayeret Matkal figures

Despite being a top-secret and relatively small army unit, former Sayeret Matkal veterans have a disproportionate influence on the army and public service. This may partly be due to the fact that rigorous screening and training (second only to that of the Israeli Air Force pilot academy) ensures that only the most capable and motivated Israeli youths are accepted by the unit as fighters.
- Ehud Barak - unit commander, later IDF Chief of Staff and Israeli Prime Minister
- Benjamin Netanyahu - unit team leader, later Israeli Prime Minister
- Yonathan Netanyahu - unit commander, killed in Operation Entebbe. Benjamin Netanyahu's older brother.
- Shaul Mofaz - unit deputy commander, later IDF Chief of Staff and Israeli Defense Minister
- Moshe Yaalon - unit commander, later IDF Chief of Staff
- Danny Yatom - unit commander, later Major General, head of Mossad and a Knesset member
- Avi Dichter - unit fighter, later head of Israel's General Security Service (Shabak, aka Shin Bet)
- Several other unit veterans who later became army generals
- There is a wideheld misconception that Israeli Prime Minister and former Major General Ariel Sharon also served in Sayeret Matkal. This belief is unfounded. Sharon (then a Major) did create and command the IDF's first special-forces unit (Unit 101) in 1953. Many people feel that this unit was the organizational parent of Sayeret Matkal. When Unit 101 was merged into the Paratroopers Brigade in 1954, Sharon became brigade commander - he never served in Sayeret Matkal.

Known operations

Note: Until recently the Israeli army had an official policy of denying existence of this unit. Operations were generally attributed to "elite paratroopers". Sayeret Matkal operations are still kept secret to this day. However, due to the unit's successes in daring operations, it soon became a very publicly-known secret in Israeli society.
- 1968 - Operation Shock - Sabotage of power plant and Nile bridges in Egypt (jointly with Israeli Air Force)
- 1968 - Operation Gift - Sabotage of 14 Arab airliners in Beirut International Airport, Lebanon
- 1969 - Operations Orchard 22, Orchard 37 - Assaults on high voltage wires and a control antenna in Egypt
- 1969 - Operation Butmus - Assault on fortified Green Island, Egypt (jointly with Shayetet 13)
- 1969 - Operation Rooster 53 - Kidnapping an entire Egyptian radar installation (jointly with Israeli Air Force)
- 1970 - Operation Rhodes - Assault on fortified Shaduan Island, Egypt (jointly with Shayetet 13)
- 1972 - Operation Isotope - Foiling a Sabena aircraft hijacking in Tel Aviv, Israel (hostages rescue)
- 1972 - Operation Crate 3 - Kidnapping 5 Syrian intelligence officers
- 1973 - Operation Spring of Youth - Killing Black September terrorist leaders in Beirut, Lebanon (jointly with Shayetet 13)
- 1973 - Recapture of Mount Hermon from Syrian commandos in the Yom Kippur War (jointly with Golani Brigade)
- 1973 - Deep interdiction ambushes in Egypt and Syria during the Yom Kippur War
- 1974 - Ma'alot massacre (school hostages rescue)
- 1975 - Savoy Operation (hotel hostages rescue)
- 1976 - Operation Entebbe - Foiling an Air France aircraft hijacking in Entebbe, Uganda (hostages rescue)
- 1977 - Reputed foiling of a Lufthansa aircraft hijacking in Mogadishu, Somalia (hostages rescue, jointly with GSG-9)
- 1978 - Coastal Road Massacre (bus hostages rescue)
- 1980 - Misgav Am (Kibbutz hostages rescue)
- 1984 - Kav 300 affair (bus hostages rescue, see Shabak#Years_of_crisis)
- 1988 - Reputed Abu Jihad killing, in Tunis, Tunisia
- 1989 - Sheik Abdul-Karim Obeid kidnapping, Lebanon (see Ron Arad)
- 1994 - Mustafa Dirani kidnapping, Lebanon (see Ron Arad)
- 1994 - Nachshon Waxman (foiled hostage rescue)

SWAT

:For other uses, see Swat. Swat SWAT (an acronym for Special Weapons And Tactics; originally Special Weapons Attack Team) is a specialized paramilitary police unit in major United States city police departments, which is trained to perform dangerous operations. These can include coordinated attacks on selected targets such as heavily armed criminals in secure locations. SWAT teams are equipped with specialized firearms including submachine guns, carbines, specialized tear gas, concussion grenades, and high-powered rifles for marksmen (snipers). They often have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, entry tools, steel reinforced boots and night vision optics.

History

The first SWAT unit was created in the city of Delano, California, in the 1960s in response to the farmworker uprisings led by the then-new UFW headed by César Chávez. This unit was a department-wide team which received specialized crowd control, sniper/counter-sniper, and counter-force training. In the 1960s, Los Angeles was experiencing problems with sniping incidents against police officers and civilians. Ordinary police officers handled those situations poorly, since they received limited weapons training, very little weapons practice, and effectively no training in team combat tactics or "counterforce" capability. Classic "riot police" (crowd control) squads did not fare well either. Officer John Nelson came up with the idea to form a specially trained and equipped unit, intended to respond to and manage critical situations while minimizing police casualties. Inspector Darryl F. Gates approved this idea, and he formed a small select group of volunteer officers. After seeing the Delano Police Department in action on the

Counterterrorism

Counter terrorist tactical units

Counter-terrorist units, by country

See also

Government

Definitions

Forms of government

Theories

Greed and oppression

Order and tradition

Natural rights

Social contract

Operations

Enforcement of power

Territory

Scale of government

See also

Relevant lists

Military

Meaning of the word

Military procurement

Military transport

Military Justice

Military strength

Military Force

Military history

Military reserve

Military science

Specific militaries

Military Alliances

See also

Reference

Police

History

Multiple levels of police agencies

Australia

Brazil

Canada

France

Germany

India

Interpol

Japan

United Kingdom

The United States of America

Police armament and equipment

In specific countries

India

Ireland

United Kingdom

United States

Restrictions upon the power of the police

Difficult issues

Policing structures

See also

Police roles

Ethical issues related to police

Related concepts

Notable historical police personalities

Notable police officers better known in other walks of life

Army

National land forces

Formations

See also

Stealth

EOD

Sayeret Matkal

Recruitment and training

Notable (former) Sayeret Matkal figures

Known operations

See also

SWAT

History