One Nation Under SWAT; Justice Dept Reviewing Police Tactics

One Nation Under SWAT. Originally SWAT teams were elite units intended only for things like active shooters or hostage situations. In 1984, about 26% of towns with populations between 25,000 and 50,000 had SWAT teams. By 2005, that number had soared to 80% and it’s still rising, though SWAT statistics are notoriously hard to come by. Every year now, there are approximately 50,000 SWAT raids in the United States: roughly 137 times a day a SWAT team assaults a home and plunges its inhabitants and the surrounding community into terror.

Justice Dep’t To Conduct Broad Review Of Police Tactics. The Justice Department is leading a broad review of police tactics, including the kind of deadly force that prompted recent protests in Missouri and New York, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday. The review is being conducted as the department weighs creating a national commission to provide new direction on such controversial issues. In addition to deadly force, the review is expected to examine law enforcement’s increasing encounters with the mentally ill, the application of emerging technologies such as body cameras, and police agencies’ expanding role in homeland security efforts since 9/11.