NCJ Number
47334
Journal
Police Journal Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Dated: (JANUARY/MARCH 1978) Pages: 55-51
Date Published
1978
Length
7 pages
Annotation
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPECIAL UNIT CONCEPT OF CRISIS RESPONSE TO URBAN LAWLESSNESS IS TRACED TO ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN SHANGHAI, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA BETWEEN 1925 AND 1940.
Abstract
THE WIDELY HELD BELIEF THAT THE LOS ANGELES (CALIF.) POLICE DEPARTMENT'S SPECIAL WEAPONS AND TACTICS (S.W.A.T.) PROGRAM WAS THE FIRST USE OF THE CONCEPT IN RESPONSE TO URBAN PROBLEMS IS MISTAKEN. THE FIRST SUCH PROGRAMS WERE DEVELOPED IN PRE-WORLD WAR II SHANGHAI, WITH ONLY LIMITED AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT. MUCH OF THE INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PROGRAMS HAS BEEN (AND IN SOME CASES STILL IS) HIGHLY CLASSIFIED. THE SHANGHAI PROGRAMS, WHICH WERE LARGELY THE WORK OF WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF THE SHANGHAI MUNICIPAL POLICE, ENCOMPASSED THE CREATION AND REFINEMENT OF MODERN POLICE CONCEPTS OF RIOT CONTROL AND SPECIALLY EQUIPPED COUNTERSNIPER UNITS; THE FIRST MODERN POLICE EXPERIENCE WITH THE PROBLEMS OF URBAN GUERILLA WARFARE AND TERRORISM; THE FIRST MODERN POLICE USE OF ARMOR, CHEMICAL SMOKE, IRRITATING AGENTS, GRENADES, AUTOMATIC WEAPONS, AND BULLET IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUES IN URBAN SIEGE CONDITIONS; AND THE FIRST EXPERIMENTS WITH HOSTAGE NEGOTIATION AND ANTIKIDNAPPING MEASURES. INDIRECTLY, THE SHANGHAI EXPERIMENTS FORMED A BASIC PART OF THE FUNDAMENTAL URBAN COMBAT DOCTRINES DEVELOPED BY THE BRITISH AND U.S. ARMIES AND BY THE U.S. MARINE CORPS. THE CLIMATE IN WHICH THESE EXPERIMENTS TOOK PLACE IS DESCRIBED, AND SOME OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE SHANGHAI RIOT SQUAD AND ANTISNIPER UNIT ARE RECOUNTED. (LKM)