Next Program: October 20th-23rd
Garden Grove, California

Hosted by GARDEN GROVE POLICE DEPARTMENT

Sponsored by:


"Great course, great instructor! We all appreciated the exposure to the new tactics!" - Brian McElhaney, Anaheim Police Dept

Course Overview

Introduction 

No one knows for sure, when the first act of violence by a group against a State took place nor exactly who thought of the concept of the asymmetrical and irregular warfare. It is thought that the first suicide attack occurred in the Old Testament when Sampson died destroying the Philistine’s main temple. Low intensity conflicts have always been present but in the years following World War II, these have increased all. The combination of a low intensity conflict being fought asymmetrically, by a motivated group or individual that includes acts of violence aimed at a civilian population, with a view to influencing that population, is known as Terrorism.

Probably the primary concern for US Homeland Security forces are attacks by individuals or groups that belong to a loosely formed, horizontally networked Global Jihad – or Radicalized Islamic threat. The motives of this global attack by both Shia and Sunni radicals is beyond the scope of this introduction but it should be noted that individuals and cells have been assisted by states; (trained, equipped, and tasked) and must be considered an extremely dangerous threat.

Additional threats may come from domestic groups/ individuals without formal affiliation to these terror groups but committed to mimic their successes. These may come from a number of groups and sources and share similar operational characteristics to recognized terror groups.

Emotionally Disturbed Persons can also pose a similar threat to the above mentioned.

A Terror Incident versus a Criminal Interdiction (e.g. A High Risk Warrant)

In a high risk warrant situation, there are generally two categories 1) narcotics 2) other felonies such as immigration issues, robbery or even murder. Suspects in a building form a serious threat to a SWAT team and may shoot from within the building adding to the danger.

However, in each tactical evolution, it is the presumption of the SWAT team that the perpetrators want to escape and remain alive. When suicide is part of the equation, it is often a last-ditch attempt to avoid incarceration. With the exception of groups like the Davidians at Waco, Texas, that died committing suicide in a final blaze, the general modus operandi of the suspect is to survive the situation. This is taken into account in planning the SWAT operation.

This important distinction is critical to understanding a terror incident and the threat it poses to a SWAT team. The team may have been trained in Dynamic Entry techniques that are not always appropriate when terrorists are: waiting for a breach, and using motion detectors in hallways to set-off explosive devices powerful enough to destroy the entire building. From the Terrorist point of view, killing members of a SWAT team may be a better objective than the mission they were planning to execute. There are examples from around the world of terrorists who have deliberately attempted to lure an entry team into one of their locations for the purpose of ambush even when this prevents escaping themselves (Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Chechnya etc.).