Summary

Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, teams stand at the forefront of modern law enforcement, merging daring, life-or-death tactics with cutting-edge police technology. These elite units conduct paramilitary operations in the full view of the media, performing missions ranging from hostage rescue and apprehension of violent felons to drug raids and natural disaster relief. SWAT Teams traces the history of special police teams worldwide, examining their techniques, tools, successes, and failures.

Key topics covered include:

• Organization and structure
• Training techniques
• History of police special response units
• The first SWAT team
• FBI's SWAT team
• Hostage negotiation
• Controversial cases
• SWAT teams around the world.

Specifications

Full-color and black-and-white photographs. Sidebars. Chronology. Endnotes. Bibliography. Further resources. Index.

About the Author(s)

Michael Newton has published more than 220 books since 1977. His history of the Florida Ku Klux Klan, The Invisible Empire, won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for "Best Book in Florida History," and his Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology was one of the American Library Association's Outstanding Reference Works in 2006. His nonfiction work includes more than 20 volumes for Facts On File and Chelsea House.