It has been about a week of #EndSARS protests across major cities in Nigeria and the youths are not showing signs of relenting, not after the government announced a new police outfit SWAT, to replace the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

Nigerians in a large number, including those who joined across the world, are calling for an end to police brutality that has seen extortion, maltreatment, as well as the loss of lives at the hands of those charged with the duty of protecting lives in the country, yes the police.

After days of protests and killings of innocent protesters as well as bystanders, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu on Tuesday, announced that the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) will replace SARS.

The move has not been accepted by Nigerians with many claiming that the government just did a change of name, giving the rise to the trend #EndSWAT.

As the protests go on, here are the important things that you should know about the SWAT unit and what their duties are.

Before going into details, let’s look at where the term SWAT originated from:

The special weapons and tactics concept originated in the late 1960s in Los Angeles, United States of America, as a result of political and social turmoil which bred several sniping incidents against civilians and police officers around the country during and after the Watts Riot.

About SWAT Units:

A SWAT team is a group of highly trained police officers who deal with very dangerous criminals. SWAT officers act as paramilitary units that tackle situations beyond the capability of conventional police forces. 

Their weapons of SWAT officers: 

SWAT officers carry weapons of a higher calibre than most police officers do, such as;

• machine guns,
• shotguns, and
• sniper rifles.
• rappelling ropes, 
• nightvision goggles, 
• thermalvision goggles,
• a tactical shield, 
• flashbang,
• smoke grenades, etc

Situations SWAT teams should be used for:

• To catch people who sell illegal drugs
• To save lives during hostage situations
• They also respond to serious crimes like bank robberies when normal police officers cannot control the criminals.
• Counterterrorism operations
• The apprehension of armed and barricaded suspects
• Suicide intervention
• Warrant service under fire
• Protection of visiting dignitaries
• High-risk search and seizure
• Covert and undercover operations
• Crowd and riot control
• Fugitive tracking in rural environments