Reinforced Regional Task Force: Difference between revisions

Förstärkt Regional Insatsstyrka
Förstärkt Regional Insatsstyrka
Active	1979–present
Country	Sweden
Branch	Swedish Police Authority
Type	SWAT
Role	Hostage rescue; High-risk arrests; Riot control; Counter terrorism
Size	~200 operators
Garrison/HQ	Stockholm; Gothenburg; Malmö

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Revision as of 16:21, 31 March 2019

Reinforced Regional Task Force (Swedish: Förstärkt Regional Insatsstyrka),^[1] prior to 2015 officially known as Piketen (or Piketenheten)^{[note 1]} is a regional special operations asset of the Swedish Police Authority, similar to SWAT type units in the United States. RRTF is called upon when situations occur that are too dangerous for ordinary police to handle such as hostage situations, serving high-risk arrest warrants and confronting armed criminals. RRTF units are based in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

History

The main task of the RRTF is interventions in dangerous situations or dangerous environments, e.g. hostage situations and situations including armed dangerous suspects.^[2] Other tasks are riot control, escorting VIP's/objects of value and serving high-risk arrest warrants etc.

RRTF, formerly known as Piketen, has been active since 1979.^[2] Its creation was an answer to the events of the Norrmalmstorg robbery in 1973,^[2] where robber Jan-Erik "Janne" Olsson took four hostages at Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg ("Norrmalm's Square") in Stockholm.

RRTF operators from Malmö and Gothenburg have been deployed with the EULEX Intervention Group in Kosovo (Special Team Six), tasked with high-risk operations such as hostage rescue and arresting armed criminals.^[3]

In 2011, the RRTF officially opened up for any female officers who wish to serve in the unit though none have passed selection yet.^[4]

Due to the major reorganization efforts of 2015, Piketen was reclassified as "Förstärkt Regional Insatsstyrka", or in English, "Reinforced Regional Task Force", RRTF.

Organization

The RRTF:s are stationed in the three largest cities of Sweden: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, providing a day round, year round tactical intervention capability in Police regions Stockholm, West and South. However the units can at request be put to use nationwide all over Sweden.

The RRTF:s are part of the National Intervention Concept (NIK). Launched in 2015, this concept standardized and regulated the employment, structure and capabilities of the Swedish polices tactical units. The NIK divides the various tactical units into three levels of capabilities:^[5]

National capability: Provided by the NTF

Reinforced regional capability: Provided by the RRTF (Piketen) in regions Stockholm, West and South.

General regional capability: Provided by regional tactical teams dispersed throughout their respective region. This capability exists in regions North, East, Mid and Bergslagen.

File:FRI Väst STA MOUT.png

RRTF West operators training in an urban environment.

Training

The RRTF:s spend about 30% of their time on training, which is mainly focused on high-risk intervention. For example; one or multiple dangerous perpetrators in rural terrain or in an urban environment and perpetrators in houses or vehicles (also including hostage rescue). Such dangerous interventions require a lot of advanced tactical training. The units strives to resolve any given situation as calmly as possible to avoid injury or loss of life^[2] and uses highly trained negotiators when tactically possible. Circumstances dictate whether officers operate in uniform or civilian clothing. They mostly make use of unmarked civilian vehicles, primarily Toyota Land Cruisers and Volkswagen Multivans, or special assault vehicles.

The units officers are well-trained in different methods of entry (MOE), such as rappelling and door breaching. They also receive training in close target reconnaissance, close quarters battle, TCCC, self-defense, and various weapon systems. Officers are then specially trained as medics, breachers, specialist drivers etc.

File:FRI Syd övn Triari.png

RRTF South operators during training.

To be eligible for RRTF selection an officer must have at least 18 months of service, but exceptions can be made if the applicant possesses skills or experiences valuable for the units. After a series of physical and psychological tests successful applicants progress to a final week long field exercise, commonly known as "hell week". Applicants who successfully complete "hell week" then progress to 6 months of training before claiming an operational slot with their unit. The selection and training process has an attrition rate of roughly 90%.

Gear

The main weapons of the RRTF:s are the Heckler & Koch MP5 and Heckler & Koch G36C,^[6] the latter having since been replaced by the LWRC M6.^[7] The issued sidearm is the standard police issue SIG Sauer 226. The RRTF:s did have sniper rifles on trial but the project was scrapped as the usage of both sniper rifles and EMOE (explosive breaching) was limited to the counter-terrorism unit of the Swedish police, the National Task Force. As of late 2018, LWRC REPR rifles in 7.62 had been issued to the RRTF:s, effectively reintroducing the sniper capability at the units.

All operators are equipped with ballistic Ops Core helmets, plate carriers and flame retardant clothing.

Both the NTF and RRTF's were equipped with Sandcats^[8] these vehicles have since been transferred to the Police EOD.

Similar units

Footnotes

^ From Swedish piket (borrowed from French: piquet) meaning "task force", and enheten meaning "the unit", i.e. Piketen = The Task Force, Piketenheten = The Task Force Unit.

Notes and references

^ Helander, Magnus (19 November 2015). "Polisen vässar insatsstyrkor". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2016-11-14.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Piketen". www.polisen.se (in Swedish). Polisen (Swedish Police Authority). Retrieved 2016-10-04.
^ Hjort, Anna (2013-09-05). "Känsligt uppdrag i Kosovo". Polistidningen (in Swedish). Retrieved 2016-11-14.
^ "Piketenheten först med kvinnliga poliser". P4 Stockholm (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
^ Creator. "Region Öst övar det nationella insatskonceptet | Polismyndigheten". polisen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-03-31.
^ http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/04/21/lwrci-swedish-police/
^ "LWRC IC-A5s Now in Use by Swedish LE - The Firearm Blog". The Firearm Blog. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
^ Stenberg, Göran (4 May 2013). "En vanlig dag på jobbet". Helsingborgs Dagblad (in Swedish). Retrieved 4 April 2017.

"Efterlyst". Efterlyst Special. Season 2. Episode 1 (in Swedish). 2013-05-28. TV3. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
"Efterlyst". Efterlyst Special. Season 2. Episode 2 (in Swedish). 2013-06-04. TV3. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
"Piketen" (in Swedish). Swedish Police Authority. Retrieved 4 August 2015.

External links

Efterlyst Special: Piketen May–June, 2013 on TV3; 2x40 min. Swedish-language documentary series about the unit.

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 The RRTF:s are stationed in the three largest cities of [[Sweden]]: [[Stockholm]], [[Gothenburg]] and [[Malmö]], providing a day round, year round tactical intervention capability in Police regions Stockholm, West and South. However the units can at request be put to use nationwide all over Sweden.
+The RRTF:s are part of the National Intervention Concept (NIK). Launched in 2015, this concept standardized and regulated the employment, structure and capabilities of the Swedish polices tactical units. The NIK divides the various tactical units into three levels of capabilities:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://polisen.se/link/aec54e22f41445a98ab6c5b652133060|title=Region Öst övar det nationella insatskonceptet {{!}} Polismyndigheten|last=Creator|website=polisen.se|language=sv|access-date=2019-03-31}}</ref>
-[[File:FRI Väst STA MOUT.png|thumb|RRTF West operators training in an urban environment.|306x306px]]
+National capability: Provided by the [[National Task Force|NTF]]
-Regional Task Forces with tactical training and tasks somewhat akin to the RRTF:s are available in police regions Bergslagen, Mid, East and North. These units have teams based in various cities within their respective region. Officers in these units normally don't operate in the intervention capacity full-time, and do normal patrolling on a daily basis.
+Reinforced regional capability: Provided by the RRTF (Piketen) in regions [[Stockholm]], [[Västra Götaland County|West]] and [[Scania|South]].
+General regional capability: Provided by regional tactical teams dispersed throughout their respective region. This capability exists in regions [[Norrland|North]], [[Östergötland|East]], [[Uppland|Mid]] and [[Bergslagen]].[[File:FRI Väst STA MOUT.png|thumb|RRTF West operators training in an urban environment.|306x306px]]
 == Training ==
-The RRTF spends about 30% of its time on training, which is mainly focused on high-risk intervention. For example; one or multiple dangerous perpetrators in rural terrain or in an urban environment and perpetrators in houses or vehicles (also including hostage rescue). Such dangerous interventions require a lot of advanced tactical training. The unit strives to resolve any given situation as calmly as possible to avoid injury or loss of life<ref name=":0" /> and uses highly trained negotiators when tactically possible. Circumstances dictate whether officers operate in uniform or civilian clothing. They mostly make use of unmarked civilian vehicles or special assault vehicles.
+The RRTF:s spend about 30% of their time on training, which is mainly focused on high-risk intervention. For example; one or multiple dangerous perpetrators in rural terrain or in an urban environment and perpetrators in houses or vehicles (also including hostage rescue). Such dangerous interventions require a lot of advanced tactical training. The units strives to resolve any given situation as calmly as possible to avoid injury or loss of life<ref name=":0" /> and uses highly trained negotiators when tactically possible. Circumstances dictate whether officers operate in uniform or civilian clothing. They mostly make use of unmarked civilian vehicles, primarily [[Toyota Land Cruiser|Toyota Land Cruisers]] and [[Volkswagen Transporter|Volkswagen Multivans]], or special assault vehicles.
-The units officers are well-trained in different methods of entry (MOE), such as [[rappelling]] and door breaching. They also receive training in close target reconnaissance, close quarters battle, [[Tactical combat casualty care|TCCC]], self-defense, and various weapon systems. Officers are then specially trained as medics, breachers, specialist driver etc.
+The units officers are well-trained in different methods of entry (MOE), such as [[rappelling]] and door breaching. They also receive training in close target reconnaissance, close quarters battle, [[Tactical combat casualty care|TCCC]], self-defense, and various weapon systems. Officers are then specially trained as medics, breachers, specialist drivers etc.
 [[File:FRI Syd övn Triari.png|thumb|RRTF South operators during training. |306x306px]]
@@ Line 61: / Line 65: @@
 == Gear==
-The main weapons of the RRTF:s are the [[Heckler & Koch]] [[MP5]] and [[Heckler & Koch]] [[G36C]],<ref>http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/04/21/lwrci-swedish-police/</ref> the latter having since been replaced by the [[LWRC M6]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/04/12/lwrc-ic-a5s-now-use-swedish-le/|title=LWRC IC-A5s Now in Use by Swedish LE - The Firearm Blog|date=2017-04-12|work=The Firearm Blog|access-date=2017-07-21|language=en-US}}</ref> The issued [[sidearm]] is the standard police issue [[SIG P226|SIG Sauer 226]]. The RRTF:s did have sniper rifles on trial but the project was scrapped as the usage of both sniper rifles and EMOE (explosive breaching) was limited to the [[counter-terrorism]] unit of the Swedish police, [[National Task Force|the National Task Force]].
+The main weapons of the RRTF:s are the [[Heckler & Koch]] [[MP5]] and [[Heckler & Koch]] [[G36C]],<ref>http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/04/21/lwrci-swedish-police/</ref> the latter having since been replaced by the [[LWRC M6]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/04/12/lwrc-ic-a5s-now-use-swedish-le/|title=LWRC IC-A5s Now in Use by Swedish LE - The Firearm Blog|date=2017-04-12|work=The Firearm Blog|access-date=2017-07-21|language=en-US}}</ref> The issued [[sidearm]] is the standard police issue [[SIG P226|SIG Sauer 226]]. The RRTF:s did have sniper rifles on trial but the project was scrapped as the usage of both sniper rifles and EMOE (explosive breaching) was limited to the [[counter-terrorism]] unit of the Swedish police, [[National Task Force|the National Task Force]]. As of late 2018, LWRC REPR rifles in 7.62 had been issued to the RRTF:s, effectively reintroducing the [[sniper]] capability at the units.
-All operators are equipped with ballistic Ops Core helmets, plate carriers and special flame retardant clothing.
+All operators are equipped with ballistic Ops Core helmets, plate carriers and flame retardant clothing.
 Both the NTF and RRTF's were equipped with [[Plasan Sand Cat|Sandcats]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hd.se/2013-05-04/en-vanlig-dag-pa-jobbet |newspaper=[[Helsingborgs Dagblad]] |title=En vanlig dag på jobbet |date=4 May 2013 |first=Göran |last=Stenberg |access-date=4 April 2017 |language=Swedish}}</ref> these vehicles have since been transferred to the Police EOD.