Draft:SWAT (China)

The MPS leads and commands the public security bureaus who are responsible for civilian policing in China. The organizational hierarchy is descending:^[7][8][9]

• provincial/autonomous region/municipality - public security department or public security bureau
• prefectural - public security bureau
• county - public security bureau
• township - public security sub-bureau or police station

The vast majority of SWAT teams were formed in March 2005 following a nationwide direction by the MPS,^[1][10] including SWAT teams in 36 major cities.^[10]

SWAT teams that had been formed prior to the direction in 2005 include: the Xi'an Municipal Public Security Bureau's SWAT team in March 1991,^[11] the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau's SWAT team in June 1991,^[10] the Nanjing Municipal Public Security Bureau's SWAT team in 2002,^[12] and the Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau's SWAT team in November 2002.^[11]

By 2011, it was estimated that there was over 900 SWAT teams consisting of more than 48,000 officers.^[13]

The main tasks of SWAT teams are to respond to acts of terrorism and crimes involving extreme levels of violence.^[14] SWAT teams also often have extra duties such as riot control and disaster relief.^[15][16][4]

Many SWAT teams also perform duties of normal patrol officers when not responding to special incidents.^[17] In some smaller Public Security Bureaus, SWAT units are also used to handle police dogs,^[5] while in the Chongqing police [zh] the SWAT unit is also in charge of UAVs.^[18]

SWAT teams receive diverse training that can include rappelling, advanced driving, close-quarters battle, sniping, dog handling, hand-to-hand combat and explosive ordnance disposal to prevent violent criminal incidents and terrorist attacks.^[25][11][26]

The MPS has several specialized public security bureaus including Civil Aviation Administration, Railway and National Immigration Administration.^{[27][28][9][29]}

In 2009, the MPS and the National Counter-Terrorism Office designated the following SWAT teams as National Counter-Terrorism Commando Units (Chinese: 国家级反恐突击队)^[43] as China's primary non-military anti-terrorism units and also to assist with training SWAT units of smaller public security bureaus.^[11]

• Beijing SWAT 1st Detachment "Blue Sword Commando Unit" (Chinese: 蓝剑突击队) - Responsible for Beijing^[11]
• Kunming SWAT “Clouded Leopard Commando unit” (Chinese: 云豹突击队) - Responsible for Southwest China^[11]
• Shanghai SWAT [zh] "Riot control Commando Unit" (Chinese: 防暴突击队) - Responsible for Shanghai^[11]
• Chongqing Anti-Terrorism unit "Lightning Commando unit" (Chinese: 闪电突击队) - Responsible for Chongqing^[11]
• Shijiazhuang SWAT Anti-Terrorism Commando unit "Red Arrow Commando Unit" (Chinese: 红箭突击队) - Responsible for North China^[11]
• Nanjing SWAT "Dragon Tiger Commando unit" (Chinese: 龙虎突击队) - Responsible for East China^[11]
• Shenzhen SWAT "Anti-terrorism Commando team" (Chinese: 反恐突击大队) - Responsible for South China^[11]
• Wuhan SWAT "Anti-terrorism Commando team" (Chinese: 反恐突击大队) - Responsible for Central China^[11]
• Xi'an SWAT "9th Special Service team" (Chinese: 特勤九大队) - Responsible for West China^[11]
• Harbin SWAT "Black Panther commando unit" (Chinese: 黑豹突击队) - Responsible for Northeast China^[11]

In February 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wuhan Municipal Public Security Bureau established two specialized units, known as the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospital Anti-pandemic Commando Units(火神山医院抗疫突击队 and 雷神山医院抗疫突击队), who were responsible for the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals respectively. They consisted of officers who were transferred from standard SWAT units.^[44][45]

Their roles included providing law enforcement and security to their respective hospitals, along with assisting in transporting aid and traffic management in the hospital.^[45]

Both units each consisted of 40 fully armed SWAT officers.^[45][46][47]

After the closure of the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals in April, the units were disbanded, with their members returning to their normal positions.^[44]

Outside of Wuhan, many SWAT teams also participated in relief during the pandemic in aspects such as quarantine location protection, lockdown enforcement and aid transport, such as the Wuyishan Prison 110, Guangzhou SWAT and Shigatse SWAT.^[48][49][50]

• Police Story 2013 (2013)
• Operation Mekong (2016) - Based of actions of Kunming SWAT after Mekong River Massacre^[61]
• Extraordinary Mission (2017)^[68]