Reinforced Regional Task Force ( sv, Förstärkt Regional Insatsstyrka), prior to 2015 officially known as Piketen (or Piketenheten) is a regional

special operations Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...

asset of the

Swedish Police Authority The Swedish Police Authority ( sv, Polismyndigheten) is the national police force (''Polisen'') of the Kingdom of Sweden. The first modern police force in Sweden was established in the mid-19th century, and the police remained in effect under lo ...

, similar to

SWAT In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

type units in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. RRTF is called upon when situations occur that are too dangerous for ordinary

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

to handle such as hostage situations, serving high-risk arrest warrants and confronting armed criminals. RRTF units are based in Stockholm, Gothenburg and

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...

History

The main responsibility of the RRTF is interventions in dangerous situations or dangerous environments, e.g. hostage situations and situations including armed dangerous suspects. Other duties are riot control, escorting VIP's/objects of value and serving high-risk arrest warrants etc. RRTF, formerly known as Piketen, has been active since 1979. Its creation was an answer to the events of the Norrmalmstorg robbery in 1973, where robber Jan-Erik "Janne" Olsson took four hostages at Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg ("Norrmalm's Square") in Stockholm. RRTF operators from

and Gothenburg have been deployed with the EULEX Intervention Group in Kosovo ( Special Team Six), tasked with high-risk operations such as hostage rescue and arresting armed criminals. In 2011, the RRTF officially opened up for any female officers who wish to serve in the unit though none have passed selection yet. Due to the major reorganization efforts of 2015, Piketen was reclassified as "Förstärkt Regional Insatsstyrka", or in English, "Reinforced Regional Task Force", RRTF.

Organization

The RRTFs are stationed in the three largest cities of Sweden: Stockholm, Gothenburg and

, providing a day round, year round tactical intervention capability in Police regions Stockholm, West and South. However the units can at request be put to use nationwide all over Sweden. The RRTFs are part of the National Intervention Concept (NIK). Launched in 2015, this concept standardized and regulated the employment, structure and capabilities of the Swedish polices tactical units. The NIK divides the various tactical units into three levels of capabilities: National capability: Provided by the NTF Reinforced regional capability: Provided by the RRTF (Piketen) in regions Stockholm,

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. General regional capability: Provided by regional tactical teams dispersed throughout their respective region. This capability exists in regions

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''no ...

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

, Mid and

Bergslagen Bergslagen is a historical, cultural, and linguistic region located north of Lake Mälaren in northern Svealand, Sweden, traditionally known as a mining district. In Bergslagen, the mining and metallurgic industries have been important since ...

Training

The RRTFs spend about 30% of their time on training, which is mainly focused on high-risk intervention. For example; one or multiple dangerous perpetrators in rural terrain or in an urban environment and perpetrators in houses or vehicles (also including hostage rescue). Such dangerous interventions require a lot of advanced tactical training. The units strives to resolve any given situation as calmly as possible to avoid injury or loss of life and uses highly trained negotiators when tactically possible. Circumstances dictate whether officers operate in uniform or civilian clothing. They mostly make use of unmarked civilian vehicles, primarily Toyota Land Cruisers and Volkswagen Multivans, or special assault vehicles. The unit's officers are well-trained in different methods of entry (MOE), such as

rappelling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...

and door breaching. They also receive training in close target reconnaissance, close quarters battle, TCCC, self-defense, and various weapon systems. Officers are then specially trained as medics, breachers, specialist drivers etc. To be eligible for RRTF selection an officer must have at least 18 months of service, but exceptions can be made if the applicant possesses skills or experiences valuable for the units. After a series of physical and psychological tests successful applicants progress to a final week long field exercise, commonly known as "hell week". Applicants who successfully complete "hell week" then progress to 6 months of training before claiming an operational slot with their unit. The selection and training process has an attrition rate of roughly 90%.

Gear

The main weapons of the RRTFs are the

Heckler & Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and als ...

MP5 and Heckler & Koch G36C, the latter having since been replaced by the

LWRC M6 The M6 is a series of carbines designed and manufactured by LWRC International. It is based on the M4 carbine, with which it shares 80% of its parts. The 'M' model name is not a US military designation. Like the HK416, it features a propriet ...

. The issued sidearm is the standard police issue SIG Sauer 226. The RRTFs did have sniper rifles on trial but the project was scrapped as the usage of both sniper rifles and EMOE (explosive breaching) was limited to the

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that Government, governments, law enforcement, business, and Intelligence agency, intellig ...

unit of the Swedish police, the National Task Force. As of late 2018, LWRC REPR rifles in 7.62 had been issued to the RRTFs, effectively reintroducing the sniper capability at the units. All operators are equipped with ballistic Ops Core helmets, plate carriers and flame retardant clothing. Both the NTF and RRTF's were equipped with Sandcats these vehicles have since been transferred to the Police EOD.

Similar units

* –

National Task Force The National Task Force ( sv, Nationella insatsstyrkan, ''NI''), formerly known as the National Task Force of the Swedish Civilian Police ( sv, Ordningspolisens nationella insatsstyrka), is a police tactical unit within the National Operations Depa ...

* – SEK * –

RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male colleg ...

* – FBI SWAT

Footnotes

Notes and references

* * * {{cite web, title=Piketen, url=https://polisen.se/Stockholms_lan/Om-polisen/Specialkompetenser/Piketen/, publisher=

, accessdate=4 August 2015, language=Swedish

External links

Efterlyst Special: Piketen
May–June, 2013 on TV3; 2x40 min. Swedish-language documentary series about the unit.