The concept of special weapons and tactic teams originated in the late 1960’s as a response to several sniping incidents against civilians and police forces throughout the The most notable incident being the Texas Tower Massacre. During this time LosAngeles experienced many problems of it’s own. Escalated violence toward police andcivilians became all too common. Realizing that an effective response to these dangeroussituations were virtually non-existent, LAPD officer John Nelson presented the specialweapons and tactics concept to Darryl F. Gates, a young police inspector. InspectorGates approved the concept and the formation of a small group of highly disciplinedoffices utilizing special weapons and tactics to cope with the new level of violence andunusual assaults. The first SWAT unit consisted of fifteen, four man teams. The memberswere volunteers from the various ranks of patrol and police assignments who had variousmilitary training. In 1971, SWAT was recognized as a full time unit with the MetropolitanDivision. The Metropolitan Division of the known as the tactical unit of the LAPD, wasorganized into ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ platoon, and was given the designation of ‘D’ platoon,and at the same time formally adopted the acronym SWAT. SWAT stands for SpecialWeapons and Tactics. Due to it’s high level of training and success rate, LAPD SWAT isconsidered to be the preeminent SWAT team in North America. SWAT regularly trainswith various police and military agencies, sharing their knowledge and honoring theirskills. STRUCTURESWAT, officially recognized as LAPD ‘D’ platoon, is comprised of 60 officers, 6sergeants, and 1 Lieutenant. The Lieutenant, refereed to as 10-David is designated theSWAT commander, responsible to the Chief of Police for the unit’s activities. The 6Sergeants report to the Lieutenant and according to seniority, are designate...
