Articles - SWAT

More than 60 officers attended an Active Shooter Panel discussion at TREXPO East, participating in a lively discussion of how to respond to lone gunmen, coordinated attacks, and even terrorist incidents.

A tactical law enforcement trade show like TREXPO East tends to attract some fairly innovative tools. Walking the aisles, you could see the latest tactical vehicles, weapons, communications, and apparel. Here's a quick look at some of the things that caught our attention.

With its military pedigree, Reeves' Incident Command Post (ICP) is built to meet military standard requirements for rain, wind, temperature, durability, blackout, and snowload. This generator-powered towed trailer pops out into a soft-walled shelter to serve as a portable command center on the fly.

One of the problems that military warfighters share with law enforcement officers is how to carry their tools of the trade so that everything is accessible and distributed in a way to ensure mobility and maximum comfort. The military developed MOLLE attachments to accomplish this, and that technology is assuming a role in street law enforcement.

POLICE Magazine editor David Griffith recently spoke with "Columbine" author Dave Cullen about the psychology of Eric Harris, law enforcement response the day of the massacre, the investigation, and how school shootings can be prevented.

The use of headsets is prevalent in all law enforcement operations. And whether the needs are tactical or administrative, cops all want the same things from a  headset: clear communications, comfort, and durability.

Dave Smith recounts his LAPD SWAT training, when he was "in the midst of a training scenario requiring a Spiderman-like trip from the top of a very tall building to a window on the sixth floor ... With only the hookers and cabbies of downtown Los Angeles to bear witness, I stepped backward into space 14 stories above the street."

Many attendees at the 2009 edition of TREXPO West in Long Beach, Calif., put their minds and bodies to work advancing their tactical and technical skills.

What are you going to do when they come and close down your range? That's a question many firearms trainers are asking themselves all across this country.

Four officers murdered. A fifth wounded. One suspect dead. A police department in shock. Not since the 1970 Newhall shooting has an officer-involved shooting reverberated so strongly throughout the law enforcement community.

Ever since it arrived months ago for testing, I've been putting the 556 SWAT SIG through its paces. The rifle has been everything I hoped for.

You wouldn't know it if you saw Richard "Mack" Machowicz hosting his Discovery Channel show "FutureWeapons" or leading one of his martial arts classes at the Los Angeles-based Bukido Institute, but this former Navy SEAL studied to be a Zen Buddhist priest.

There were law enforcement exhibits in the lobby, in the hallways, in the meeting rooms from one end of the rambling convention center to the other. And they had a lot of great products on display. Here's a look at our favorites from this year's SHOT.

Imagine one item that can be deployed as a bomb blanket, a ballistic shield, and a litter for moving the wounded, just for starters. Protective Products International's Multi-Functional Armor Blanket (MFAB) does all this and more.

Advances in thermal imaging and night vision equipment are making these great law enforcement tools less expensive and easier to use.

Last year—40 years after the creation of SWAT teams—the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) established the first-ever national SWAT standards. That's something that many SWAT practitioners and observers consider long overdue.

Read about the newest BDUs, tacpants, and jumpsuits for law enforcement.

The truth is that the state of American law enforcement is a very fluid thing.

For two years the Alameda County (Calif.) Sheriff’s Department has organized and hosted Urban Shield, the nation’s largest SWAT exercise. The 48-hour competition involves 25 tactical teams working 24 realistic scenarios. This year’s event was held Sept. 12–15, and POLICE editor David Griffith was on the scene.

In the last few years UA has introduced product lines in such diverse areas as hunting, working out, and casual wear. Now Under Armour also has a line of tactical wear, which includes the Generation II Tactical Pants.