Best International Practices of Combating Terrorism and Organised Crime by Special Units and Law Enforcement Agencies

Abstract

Therefore, this unit as a component of the gendarmerie is built on the principle of a military unit. The gendarmerie, one of the few state institutions in France, has been in existence for over 200 years and has a status as DOI: 10.32370/IA_2021_03_07 a significant component of the country's armed forces and is an extremely important part of the police system. The gendarmerie is subordinated to the Ministry of Defense (on the authority of the Main Directorate), and on the ground - to the command of military districts. At the same time, the gendarmerie is at the operational disposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. Significant autonomy within the Armed Forces allows the gendarmerie to combine military functions with purely police and administrative ones. The difference between police and gendarmerie is that the police are civilian civil servants. They can wear civilian clothes and trade union and political freedoms. Gendarmes also have the status of servicemen and military ranks, always in uniform, not entitled to strike and are responsible for violations in accordance with military charters - from guardians to dismissal from service (for example, for the use of alcohol "in the performance of official duties" the gendarme is threatened arrest for up to 30 days). The need for the creation of the Austrian Special Forces was conditioned by the urgency of taking measures to ensure the safety of the flow of emigrants of Jewish nationality from the former USSR since in autumn 1973 against them was committed serious terrorist act. Special unit "Cobra" enters the warehouse of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and has got a double subordination: through direct combat engagement to the head of public safety, and in relation to personnel issues and logistics - the central command of the gendarmerie of the Austrian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Among the well-known British Special Political Service (Special Air Service, or SAS) is probably the best counterterrorism unit. Its component - Special Projects (SP) team - the main anti-terrorist squad. The Special Air Service and its Counter Revolutionary Warfare Squadron (CRW) unit, the Antirevolutionary Military Squadron, were founded in 1942. The feature of training SAS servicemen is to teach each soldier to possess all methods and means of combating terrorism. To achieve this, SAS trains all of its squadron through training cycles. Acquired skills are improved later in the SP-team's combat duties. The main thing in the work is the maximum approximation of training sessions to a real combat situation in the conduct of operations on the release of hostages, in the role of which are civilians. Anti-terrorist training of SAS and the development of practical measures for the release of hostages is facilitated by the fact that high-ranking members of the British Government, including the Prime Minister, are personally involved in it.