The Original Swat Team

It is a common misconception that the concept of Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) was first introduced by the Los Angeles police department (L.A.P.D.) in the late 1960's to deal with dangerous situations regular police officer couldn't handle. While the L.A.P.D. should be praised for their fine work expanding and maintaining the concept it was William E. Fairbairn, and the Shanghai Municipal Police (S.M.P.) who originally pioneered the Special Weapons and Tactics concept back in 1920's.

The Shanghai Municipal Police established the Reserve Unit under Fairbairn's command to deal with riots, urban guerrillas, and terrorists in Shanghai. While many know about Fairbairn's work with Special Forces units in World War II he was first and foremost a cop who used his knowledge of close combat martial arts to fight the war on crime.

During the 1920's Shanghai was the most dangerous city in the world. The Green Gang, a secret society similar to the Sicilian mafia controlled all the crime in the coastal city. They were brutal enforcers who had no problem killing civilians or police officers. Murders became such a common occurrence that they stopped being front page of the news, and kidnapping for profit became was its own industry. When rioters even attacked a police station, but after lethal force was used the Shanghai Municipal Council ordered the police force to improve how they handled street fights.

The new unit was called the Reserve Unit or Riot Squad, because it was held in reserve until high risk incident occurred. Over its thirty year history the new unit would be the first group to use equipment like automatic weapons, carbines, and high-powered rifles. They were also the first to use chemical agents, body armor, and forcible entry tools and even used Harley-Davidson motorcycles with machine guns mounted on the sidecars.

As a training aid Fairbairn built a model city named "Wee-Burg," so he could better plan dangerous operations in built-up areas. Reserve officer Eric Anthony Sykes who worked as an agent for Remington and Colt in China would form the first counter-sniper teams for urban warfare. And again, Fairbairn as an expert in several martial arts, taught his men jujutsu-based hand-to-hand combat techniques that proved so effective that they would eventually be taught to every member of the police force.

Today special weapons and tactics units are everywhere, and even street cops are being trained and equipped so they can immediately respond to threats. The L.A.P.D.'s SWAT team enjoys an almost mythical status now thanks to media and films, but they are not the only heroes, and they certainly weren't the first. The first special weapons and tactics unit was developed by the S.M.P., and the lessons learned in bloody gun battles and brutal street fights helped countless police officers and soldiers in WWII and beyond.

The next time you sit down to watch an episode of Dallas Swat or put Samuel L. Jackson's S.W.A.T. in the DVD player, remember that it all started with a polite man who looked like a school master and fought like a tiger. Fairbairn understood how to combine not only close combat and martial arts, but many standard procedures today were his innovations also. With warfare and terrorism in densely populated areas only increasing, it is time to start rereading history, and learn from Fairbairn's career in the world's most dangerous city.