K-Commando () is a police tactical unit of the Estonian

Police and Border Guard Board The Police and Border Guard Board () is a unified national governmental agency within the Estonian Ministry of Interior and is responsible for law enforcement and internal security in the Republic of Estonia. The main tasks of the agency are to ...

(PBGB), created in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

to perform tasks requiring special training.

History

Formation

The unit was founded in 1991 under the name Police Reserve Special Unit by Henn Kask. The unit got its current name in 1993 after the group's commanding officer at that time, Lembit Kolk (retired).

Training

K-Commando was originally trained by the

FBI Special Weapons and Tactics Teams FBI Special Weapons and Tactics (FBI SWAT) Teams are specialized part-time SWAT teams of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI maintains SWAT teams at each of its 55 field offices throughout the United States. Each team is composed ...

(FBI SWAT) in the United States, the German

GSG 9 , formerly , is the police tactical unit of the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei). The unit is responsible for combatting terrorism and violent crime, including organized crime. In addition to its headquarters location in Sankt Augustin-H ...

and the French's

RAID RAID (; redundant array of inexpensive disks or redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical Computer data storage, data storage components into one or more logical units for th ...

, among others. K-Commando is known for its fearsome reputation and high level of professionalism. Recruitment involves rigorous testing and requires the approval of all current team members. Only when a consensus has been reached will the candidate be accepted into the unit. As in other special police units, applicants must have a long

service record A service record is a collection of either electronic or printed material which provides a documentary history of a person's activities and accomplishments while serving as a member of a given organization. Service records are most often associa ...

Duties

K-Commando operates under the command of the Central Criminal Police of Estonia (). K-Commando's areas of activity include the apprehension of armed and dangerous

criminals In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Cane ...

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

crisis management,

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

and other tasks requiring special training. The number of members of the unit has never been made public by the police and the identity of the members is classified. There are no known casualties thus far. K-Commando is part of ATLAS, the European Union's network of special intervention units.

Known operations

Bronze Night The Bronze Night (), also known as the April Unrest (') and April Events ('), was a number of riots in Estonia surrounding the controversial 2007 relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet World War II memorial in Tallinn. Many ethni ...

riot control * Exchange of fire at the 2011 Estonian Ministry of Defence attack, the only operation to date to result in the death of a perpetrator. * Arrest of

Asso Kommer Asso Kommer (born 17 July 1966, in Pärnu) is a former Estonian soldier and a politician. In 1993, Kommer led a voluntary formation of the Estonian army, the ''Läänemaa Vabatahtlik Jäägrikompanii''. The formation was ordered to requarter fro ...

on 26 November 1993, when a firefight took place in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, during which Kommer wounded a policeman. On the same day, Kommer was taken into custody. * Arrest of Raimi Puusepp on 13 May 1997, in

Rapla County Rapla County ( or ''Raplamaa'') is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in the north-western part of the country and borders Järva County to the east, Pärnu County to the south, Lääne County to the west, and Harju County to ...

. Puusepp killed his eight-year-old son during the attack. * Arrest of the Voitka brothers on 29 February 2000 in

Viljandi County Viljandi County ( or ''Viljandimaa''; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in southern Estonia bordering Pärnu, Järva, Jõgeva, Tartu and Valga counties as well as Latvia. History Viljandimaa, under the German name of ''Krei ...

. * Estonian-Russian football match on 27 March 2002 in Tallinn.https://kuku.postimees.ee/podcast/k-komando-30 (26:00-28:50)

Equipment

References

{{Reflist ATLAS Network Law enforcement agencies of Estonia Police tactical units 1991 establishments in Estonia Special forces of Estonia