A History of Bravery and Conflict Essay

Although many protest against the hit teams use of force, invoice shows how vital it is for SWAT teams to wield more(prenominal) power than standard natural law officers. SWAT officers have captured and killed criminals who could non be stopped by schematic methods. Without them, incidents such as the Texas Tower Massacre might occur with more frequency and with a greater number of casualties. Therefore, the SWAT team ought to be applauded for its power of protection and not hampered in its duties.?Although many note that narrow down weapons and tactic were used as early as the time of the civilian war, special SWAT teams were not created until much later. Chris Pizzo cites William E. Fairbain as the creator of the inaugural SWAT team. Fairbain organized his specialized teams, the Shanghai Municipal Police Force, to tolerate against riots, guerilla attacks and terrorists in the 1920s. Fairbains men were the first police force base to use automatic weapons, carbines and high-powered rifles. They also used body armor, fortify motorcycles, and chemicals to repel attackers.They countered snipers, used martial arts, and excelled at hand-to-hand combat. While Fairbains men originally worked in Shanghai, they brought their methods back to the United States (Pizzo, 2007). In Los Angeles, the demand for teams with specialized weapons and tactics was made evident in 1965, when Marquette Frye, a stark man, was arrested for driving while intoxicated. His mother tried to stop the arrest, and drew a crowd. The event sparked anger and rioting against policemen in Los Angeles. According to Lee W. Minikus, the rioters threw rocks and grand pieces of concrete at patrol officers.The officers were armed only with eleven shotguns hotshot per car, and batons. After being attacked, they used their batons on the rioters to defend themselves. According to Minikus, They were not rioters, as far as Im concerned, they were gangsters. The officers neighbors, some whit e, some Latino, defended his wife and children, holding rifles on their front porches. The riots left wing 25 blacks and nine whites dead. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 others were injured. Rioters burnt businesses to ash and damaged more than 600 properties. Ironically, Minikus and Marquette remained friends after the incident (Reitman & Landsberg, 2005).In the summer of 1966, Americas ask for SWAT teams became even clearer when a tragedy struck Texas. A nauseous engineering student and former marine, Charles Whitman, killed his wife and parents, then climbed to a dominate on the University of Austins campus and began shooting down students. Whitman allowed others to get come together enough to aid the wounded victims, and then shot the would-be rescuers as well. He even shot an eight months pregnant woman in the stomach, killing her baby. When police arrived on the scene, they had to plan to reach Whitman or to assist the victims.Some tried to bring him down with an airplane, b ut were repelled by his gunfire. Eventually, the officers were adequate to bring Whitman down by using an underground tunnel. When they reached Whitman, he fired on them. They returned fire and finally ended Whitmans attack (Snow, 1996). The hulk massacre lead police to the realization that they needed to be more prepared for such attacks. Meanwhile, after the Watts riots, several snipers shot innocent civilians and police were not able to respond efficiently to such disasters. The Los Angeles Police subdivision was the first to find a way to respond (LAPD, 2008).Officer behind Nelson, supported by inspector Darryl Gates, came up with a special weapons and tactics squad, which would enlist a small group of extremely disciplined officers to bring off the most challenging and unusual problems faced by the force. The original LAPD SWAT team consisted of fifteen men, who had both police and military experience. They operated once a month, or when they were actually needed. By the 1970s, however, SWAT teams operated on a full-time basis in larger cities. In 1971, they officially adopted the lift of SWAT (Snow, 1996).