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Th0r · February 17, 2008, 06:34 PM

I think its a mix and match thing. The SWAT officer has to be agile enough to do his job effectively, but safe enough to complete the mission he's been assigned to do. And so that he can come home to Mrs. SWAT.

In a regular hostage situation most of the hostage takers are using 9 Millimetre weapons. Pistols and Sub-Machine guns. Very rarely do they carry high calibre assault rifles. In a hostage situation, where the use of SWAT first came into play, light weight armour would work well.

In the case of Mr.Lone Gunman he will probably have much more powerful weapons than the standard hostage takers. After killing a bunch of people and heading down the highway he's being pursued by SWAT, he stops his car and gets out.

Now if the SWAT have tactical shields they'll be able to defend themselves from the gail of bullets heading in their direction. It might take longer to eliminate Mr.Lone Gunman but at least they did it safely.

Another issue I have to raise is intelligence. The SWAT unit has to have good inteligence about the threat so that they dont make the mistake of sending their officers in blind. This could also be used by regular cops but I wont go there. What I mean is they dont go into a situation in bulky armour when theres just a cretin with a nine millimetre pistol shooting randomly.

Or they dont take bulky armour like tactical shields into a place where I guy is showing off his new AK to unfortunate members of the public.

Alot of SWAT units now get to locations where there help is needed by means of a van with a hell of a load of armour carried within. This means SWAT units can choose what armour they need for the situation they find themselves in.

February 17, 2008, 06:34 PM	#11
Th0r Member Join Date: January 15, 2008 Location: The Not So United Kingdom Posts: 55	I think its a mix and match thing. The SWAT officer has to be agile enough to do his job effectively, but safe enough to complete the mission he's been assigned to do. And so that he can come home to Mrs. SWAT. In a regular hostage situation most of the hostage takers are using 9 Millimetre weapons. Pistols and Sub-Machine guns. Very rarely do they carry high calibre assault rifles. In a hostage situation, where the use of SWAT first came into play, light weight armour would work well. In the case of Mr.Lone Gunman he will probably have much more powerful weapons than the standard hostage takers. After killing a bunch of people and heading down the highway he's being pursued by SWAT, he stops his car and gets out. Now if the SWAT have tactical shields they'll be able to defend themselves from the gail of bullets heading in their direction. It might take longer to eliminate Mr.Lone Gunman but at least they did it safely. Another issue I have to raise is intelligence. The SWAT unit has to have good inteligence about the threat so that they dont make the mistake of sending their officers in blind. This could also be used by regular cops but I wont go there. What I mean is they dont go into a situation in bulky armour when theres just a cretin with a nine millimetre pistol shooting randomly. Or they dont take bulky armour like tactical shields into a place where I guy is showing off his new AK to unfortunate members of the public. Alot of SWAT units now get to locations where there help is needed by means of a van with a hell of a load of armour carried within. This means SWAT units can choose what armour they need for the situation they find themselves in.