NCJ Number
174863
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 64 Issue: 3 Dated: March 1997 Pages: 34-38
Date Published
1997
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article reports some of the major findings of a national study of Tactical Operations Units (TOUs).
Abstract
As of 1995, 89 percent of law enforcement agencies serving populations of 50,000 or more had a Tactical Operations Unit TOU. In the early 1980s, a police department would deploy its TOU about once a month; today the average department deploys its unit weekly. Most call-outs were for conducting "high-risk warrant work," mostly drug raids. The average TOU housed in a small department trained fewer than 75 hours annually, while larger police agencies averaged 225 hours. Police departments are acquiring a variety of technologies with which to equip their TOUs for a substantially offensive posture. Acquisition of night vision and surveillance equipment and such military-style items as armored personnel carriers means that police can investigate a wider range of situations. However, displays of offensive power may be counterproductive to the idea of community policing. A police organization cannot expect to be successful when it attempts to empower a community on the one hand and, on the other, uses paramilitary-like units to patrol the community. Table, notes