The special weapons and tactics concept originated in the late 1960s as a result of several sniping incidents against civilians and police officers around the country. Many of these incidents occurred in Los Angeles during and after the Watts Riot. 

Upon critical examination of how each incident was managed by police, the leadership of the LAPD realized that an effective response to these dangerous situations was virtually non-existent. Officer John Nelson presented the special weapons and tactics concept to a young inspector by the name of Darryl F. Gates. Inspector Gates concurred and approved the concept of a small group of highly disciplined officers utilizing special weapons and tactics to cope with these unusual and difficult attacks. 

The first Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) Unit consisted of 15 four-man teams. Members of each team, who volunteered from the ranks of patrol and other police assignments, had specialized experience and prior military service. Each unit was activated for monthly training or when the need for special weapons personnel actually arose. These units, known as "station defense teams," provided security for police facilities during civil unrest.

In 1971, the SWAT personnel were assigned on a full-time basis to Metropolitan Division to respond to continuing action by subversive groups, the rising crime rate and the continuing difficulty of mustering a team response in a timely manner. Metropolitan Division, which had a long-established reputation as the tactical unit of the Department, was organized into "A", "B" and "C" Platoons. The Special Weapons And Tactics Unit was given the designation of "D" Platoon, and at the same time formally adopted the acronym SWAT.

Challenges Faced by SWAT

The first challenge to these pioneers in the field of special weapons and tactics came in 1969. On December 9th, search warrants for illegal weapons were served at the Black Panther Headquarters at 41st and Central Streets. The Black Panthers resisted and attempted to shoot it out with 40 members of the SWAT Team. 

In the ensuing four-hour siege, thousands of rounds of ammunition were fired, resulting in the wounding of three Panthers and three police officers. The Panthers finally surrendered to SWAT officers, whose first mission was now an indelible part of history.


On the afternoon of May 17, 1974, the SWAT Team took on one of its most significant challenges. The Simbianese Liberation Army (SLA), a group of heavily armed fugitive terrorists, barricaded themselves in a residence on East 54th Street at Compton Avenue. The event was witnessed by millions via television and radio and read about in the world press for days after. 

Appeals to surrender were made to the barricaded suspects on 26 separate occasions, 18 preceding the introduction of tear gas, and 10 during the ensuing confrontation. Not a single round was fired by police until their initial appeals had been answered by repeated volleys of semi-automatic and fully automatic gunfire. 

Despite the firing of 3,772 rounds by the SLA, no uninvolved citizens or police officers sustained injury from gunfire. The fate of the suspects, however, was somewhat different. During the gun battle, a fire erupted inside the residence. The cause of the fire is officially unknown, but it was speculated that an errant round ignited one of the suspect’s Molotov cocktails. All six of the suspects suffered multiple gunshot wounds and perished in the ensuing blaze.

In 1983, the Department sent three SWAT supervisors to Europe to evaluate and develop the techniques employed by military groups such as the German GSG-9, French GIGN and the legendary British 22nd SAS. A rigorous and difficult training program was implemented with one objective -- to develop a true hostage rescue capability within the LA PD SWAT Team.

The next major challenge for SWAT came in 1984. With the Summer Olympic Games coming to Los Angeles and terrorism proliferating around the world, Los Angeles was a probable target. The leaders of the Department and the SWAT Team again recognized a need and began to work diligently to develop a skill that did not yet exist within the LAPD SWAT Team or any other SWAT Team throughout the nation.

Over 2,000 hours of training, per officer, was invested in each operator in order to make this new concept a reality. In the 19 days of the 1984 Summer Games, SWAT officers worked a grueling 24 hours on and 24 hours off in a full-time training mode to polish those skills. The Los Angeles Summer Games came and went without an incident, but the counter-terrorism skills developed during that time raised the team to a new level.

Since the advent of the domestic hostage rescue skill, the LAPD SWAT Team has rescued dozens of hostages and currently handles approximately 80 barricaded suspect incidents and 50 high-risk warrants a year.