Beredskapstroppen
Encyclopedia
Beredskapstroppen (English Contingency Platoon), call sign Delta, is a specialized police
unit situated in Oslo
, Norway
. It is the main public force
counter-terrorism
unit in Norway, trained to perform dangerous operations such as high-risk arrest
s and hostage situations
. The team members are recruited from the ordinary police force
.
Located in Oslo, the force has responsibility for the whole country, including oil installations in the North Sea
. Beredskapstroppen took part in the dramatic hostage situation
at Sandefjord Airport
on September 29, 1994. Delta is similar to FBI Hostage Rescue Team in the United States
. They have a wider variety of weapons than the ordinary police force, including Sig Sauer P226 pistols, MP5 submachine guns and Diemaco C8 rifles.
Beredskapstroppen spend 50 % of their time training and preparing for missions, and the rest of the time they normally work like ordinary law enforcement in Oslo. For training in close quarters combat they often use a specially built city inside Rena military camp close to Rena
which originally was built for training the Telemark Battalion
and other military special forces.
One of Beredskapstroppen's most dramatic missions was the Torp hostage crisis
, where an elderly couple and two police officers were taken hostages by two criminals. In the end of the two day drama, Beredskapstroppen executed a rescue operation rescuing all of the hostages and killing one hostage taker and arresting the other.
In the aftermath of the fatal NOKAS robbery
, Beredskapstroppen arrested many suspects involved with the robbery.
Since October 2006, Delta has focused their operations against gang crime in the capital of Oslo
and arrested many criminals and seized many weapons used by the gangs.
island and subsequently apprehended Anders Behring Breivik
, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks
in Oslo and Utøya
on 22 July 2011.
Deployment in Special Team Six
Members of the unit have been deployed in the multinational
police unit, Special Team Six
many times. Team Six has most notably served in Kosovo
. One of the unit's most important task was to arrest war criminals. According to one of the Delta operators, during a rescue mission, grenades and bullets flew over their heads while Team Six rescued 50-60 persons from furious Albanians
. This incident was a rescue of UN personnel trapped in a building. Team Six was commanded by a Norwegian
operator from Beredskapstroppen during this mission and during the period January-July 2004. Beredskapstroppen has had personnel deployed in Team Six ever since its foundation.
Vehicles
The unit frequently drove unmarked Mercedes Geländewagen
, marked and unmarked Chevrolet Suburban
s, Unmarked BMW X5
s and marked and unmarked Volvo V70
s.
Beredskapstroppen has recently started utilizing new 2009 Mercedes ML
s as a replacement for the older Volvo V70 and Chevrolet Suburban.
Beredskapstroppen has two Rigid-hulled inflatable boat
s. The type has three engines with a total of 675 HP.
For air transport Beredskapstroppen uses military Bell 412
SP from the RNoAF.
Other
The operators use a special type of visor
on their helmets which can withstand 9mm bullets. The French
GIGN
also reportedly use this visor
.
The unit uses a gas mask
with a closed system (rebreather
).
They use advanced equipment to determine the type of chemicals they are up against.
Their uniforms differ slightly from those normally worn by the men and women of the Norwegian Police Service; instead of the normal black pants and blue shirts they wear black jumpsuits.
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
unit situated in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. It is the main public force
Public Force
A Public Force is a force which has a legitimate and legalised use of physical force in order to serve the public interests.The term is broad and loosely defined...
counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
unit in Norway, trained to perform dangerous operations such as high-risk arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
s and hostage situations
Hostage crisis
A hostage crisis develops when one or more terrorists or criminals hold people against their will and try to hold off the authorities by force, threatening to kill the hostages if provoked or attacked....
. The team members are recruited from the ordinary police force
Norwegian Police Service
The Norwegian Police Service is the official police force in Norway which are run by the Minister of Justice and Police. The department consists of 27 regional areas and seven national special forces. The department has about 11,000 employees....
.
Located in Oslo, the force has responsibility for the whole country, including oil installations in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. Beredskapstroppen took part in the dramatic hostage situation
Torp hostage crisis
The Torp hostage crisis occurred on 28 September 1994 at Sandefjord Airport, Torp, Norway. Two Swedish robbers took two police officers and two pensioners as hostages. The police freed the hostages and killed one of the hostage takers...
at Sandefjord Airport
Sandefjord Airport
Sandefjord Airport, Torp is an international airport located northeast of Sandefjord, Norway and 118km south of Oslo, Norway. It serves both as regional airport for Vestfold and Telemark, and as a low-cost airport for Eastern Norway...
on September 29, 1994. Delta is similar to FBI Hostage Rescue Team in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. They have a wider variety of weapons than the ordinary police force, including Sig Sauer P226 pistols, MP5 submachine guns and Diemaco C8 rifles.
Beredskapstroppen spend 50 % of their time training and preparing for missions, and the rest of the time they normally work like ordinary law enforcement in Oslo. For training in close quarters combat they often use a specially built city inside Rena military camp close to Rena
Rena, Norway
Rena is a small town in eastern Norway. It is the administrative centre of Åmot municipality in the Norwegian county of Hedmark. Rena is a rather rural but picturesque town, and is situated at the meeting point of Glomma and Rena rivers . The latter is one of the best for fishing in Norway.Its...
which originally was built for training the Telemark Battalion
Telemark Battalion
The Telemark Bataljon is a mechanised infantry unit of the Norwegian Army. It was established in 1993, and is a part of Brigade Nord and stationed at Rena, Hedmark...
and other military special forces.
Operations
According to Beredskapstroppen's web site, they conduct in average almost one armed operation every day. In 2004, for instance, they conducted 422 armed missions and only fired their weapons twice.One of Beredskapstroppen's most dramatic missions was the Torp hostage crisis
Torp hostage crisis
The Torp hostage crisis occurred on 28 September 1994 at Sandefjord Airport, Torp, Norway. Two Swedish robbers took two police officers and two pensioners as hostages. The police freed the hostages and killed one of the hostage takers...
, where an elderly couple and two police officers were taken hostages by two criminals. In the end of the two day drama, Beredskapstroppen executed a rescue operation rescuing all of the hostages and killing one hostage taker and arresting the other.
In the aftermath of the fatal NOKAS robbery
NOKAS robbery
NOKAS robbery is the commonly used name for the robbery of a Nokas Cash Handling cash counting center in Kongensgate in Stavanger, Norway, on 5 April 2004, at approximately 8am....
, Beredskapstroppen arrested many suspects involved with the robbery.
Since October 2006, Delta has focused their operations against gang crime in the capital of Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and arrested many criminals and seized many weapons used by the gangs.
2011 Oslo / Utøya attacks
Beredskapstroppen was called to UtøyaUtøya
Utøya is a small island in the Tyrifjorden lake in Hole municipality, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. The island is , situated off the shore, by the E16 road, driving distance north-west of Oslo city centre.-Overview:...
island and subsequently apprehended Anders Behring Breivik
Anders Behring Breivik
Anders Behring Breivik is a Norwegian terrorist, paranoid schizophrenic and the confessed perpetrator of the Norway attacks on 22 July 2011: the bombing of government buildings in Oslo that resulted in eight deaths, and the mass shooting at a camp of the Workers' Youth League of the Labour Party...
, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks
2011 Norway attacks
The 2011 Norway attacks were two sequential terrorist attacks against the government, the civilian population and a summer camp in Norway on 22 July 2011....
in Oslo and Utøya
Utøya
Utøya is a small island in the Tyrifjorden lake in Hole municipality, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. The island is , situated off the shore, by the E16 road, driving distance north-west of Oslo city centre.-Overview:...
on 22 July 2011.
Deployment in Special Team SixSpecial Team SixSpecial Team 6 is a multinational police force formed after the Kosovo conflict. The unit forms a part of the UN police and every country member of UN, can apply personnel to the unit. Their main task is simply to be police officers and handle dangerous situations caused by Albanian and Serb ethnic...
Members of the unit have been deployed in the multinationalInternational
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
police unit, Special Team Six
Special Team Six
Special Team 6 is a multinational police force formed after the Kosovo conflict. The unit forms a part of the UN police and every country member of UN, can apply personnel to the unit. Their main task is simply to be police officers and handle dangerous situations caused by Albanian and Serb ethnic...
many times. Team Six has most notably served in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
. One of the unit's most important task was to arrest war criminals. According to one of the Delta operators, during a rescue mission, grenades and bullets flew over their heads while Team Six rescued 50-60 persons from furious Albanians
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
. This incident was a rescue of UN personnel trapped in a building. Team Six was commanded by a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
operator from Beredskapstroppen during this mission and during the period January-July 2004. Beredskapstroppen has had personnel deployed in Team Six ever since its foundation.
Equipment
Weapons- Heckler & Koch P30Heckler & Koch P30The Heckler & Koch P30 is a polymer framed semi-automatic handgun. The P30 represents an evolutionary advancement of the technology involved in the Heckler & Koch P2000 and Heckler & Koch USP Compact pistols. Early prototypes of the P30 were referred to as the P3000...
semi-automatic pistol - Sig Sauer P226 semi-automatic pistol
- Heckler & Koch MP5Heckler & Koch MP5The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a 9mm submachine gun of German design, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH of Oberndorf am Neckar....
submachine gunSubmachine gunA submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were... - Diemaco C8 assault rifleAssault rifleAn assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
- Benelli M3 Super 90 shotgunShotgunA shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
- SIG-Sauer SSG 3000SIG-Sauer SSG 3000The SIG-Sauer SSG 3000 is a bolt-action, magazine fed rifle. It was developed in Switzerland and Germany. It is a common law enforcement sniper rifle in both Europe and the United States. The SSG 3000 was developed by SIG Sauer and is well renowned for its high quality.-Users:-External links:**...
sniper rifleSniper rifleIn military and law enforcement terminology, a sniper rifle is a precision-rifle used to ensure more accurate placement of bullets at longer ranges than other small arms. A typical sniper rifle is built for optimal levels of accuracy, fitted with a telescopic sight and chambered for a military... - ARWEN 37ARWEN 37The ARWEN 37 is a non-lethal launcher which fires 37 mm non-lethal rounds designed for riot control. It has a 5-round rotary drum magazine. "ARWEN" is an acronym for "Anti Riot Weapon ENfield"....
less-lethal weaponLess-lethal weaponNon-lethal weapons, also called less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than are conventional weapons...
Vehicles
The unit frequently drove unmarked Mercedes Geländewagen
Mercedes-Benz G-Class
The original 460-series Geländewagen went on sale for civilian buyers in 1979, after having debuted in February of that year. It was offered with two wheelbases, a short wheelbase of 2,400 mm and a long one of 2,850 mm. One could choose between three body styles: A two-door short...
, marked and unmarked Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet offered a station wagon body, built on the 1/2 ton truck frame. This model was specifically built for National Guard units and Civilian Conservation Corps units. Much of the body was constructed from wood, and could seat up to eight occupants....
s, Unmarked BMW X5
BMW X5
The BMW X5 is a luxury crossover SUV introduced in 1999 as the first generation E53. It was BMW's first SUV also known as "Four-by-Four" in the UK. It features all-wheel drive which is branded as the "X" drive system and is available with either manual or automatic transmission...
s and marked and unmarked Volvo V70
Volvo V70
The Volvo V70 is a mid-size five-door estate car / station wagon manufactured by Volvo Cars since 2000. It is closely related to the S70, S60 and S80 saloons, as well as the four-wheel drive Cross Country and XC70....
s.
Beredskapstroppen has recently started utilizing new 2009 Mercedes ML
Mercedes-Benz M-Class
The Mercedes-Benz M-Class is a luxury mid-size sport utility vehicle , first offered in 1997 as a 1998 model, and built by the German automaker Mercedes-Benz. Gradually, the M-Class became a sales success in the United States and Mexico. In terms of size, it is slotted in between the smaller...
s as a replacement for the older Volvo V70 and Chevrolet Suburban.
Beredskapstroppen has two Rigid-hulled inflatable boat
Rigid-hulled inflatable boat
A rigid-hulled inflatable boat, or rigid-inflatable boat is a light-weight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a solid, shaped hull and flexible tubes at the gunwale. The design is stable and seaworthy...
s. The type has three engines with a total of 675 HP.
For air transport Beredskapstroppen uses military Bell 412
Bell 412
The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212 model, the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor.-Design and development:...
SP from the RNoAF.
Other
The operators use a special type of visor
Visor
A visor is a surface that protects the eyes, such as shading them from the sun or other bright light or protecting them from objects....
on their helmets which can withstand 9mm bullets. The French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
GIGN
Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale
The National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, commonly abbreviated GIGN , is a special operations unit of the French Armed Forces. It is part of the National Gendarmerie and is trained to perform counter-terrorist and hostage rescue missions in France or anywhere else in the world.The GIGN was...
also reportedly use this visor
Visor
A visor is a surface that protects the eyes, such as shading them from the sun or other bright light or protecting them from objects....
.
The unit uses a gas mask
Gas mask
A gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...
with a closed system (rebreather
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...
).
They use advanced equipment to determine the type of chemicals they are up against.
Their uniforms differ slightly from those normally worn by the men and women of the Norwegian Police Service; instead of the normal black pants and blue shirts they wear black jumpsuits.