Special Weapons and Tactics operations: Examining the effects of differential police training on hostage rescue effectiveness

The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of differential police training on hostage rescue effectiveness. More specifically, this study looks at the types of police trainings that are the most effective in preparing Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officers in dealing with hostage rescue situations.

This study employs a cross-sectional design. The analyses are based on a national sample of 341 law enforcement agencies, which employed at least 50 sworn officers.

To improve the SWAT response effectiveness in hostage rescue situations, this study shows that two factors play a significant role, namely, the training for hostage rescue situations and an increase in the average training hours per month. Among the types of trainings that were thought to be effective but did not show a significant effect in this present study were training for crowd control/civil unrest, having military training, and training for building searches.

Increased training hours specifically designed to address hostage situations increases the likelihood of successful hostage extractions. Thus, police departments should have specific training hours set aside for hostage situations.

This study attempts to identify specific types of police trainings that have a positive effect on improving SWAT effectiveness in dealing with hostage situations. There is a very limited number of research works on SWAT operations. This study, therefore, adds to this very limited research area of policing.