The importance of context: re-examining the ‘deployments’ of SWAT teams in Canada

ABSTRACT

Based on an analysis of data released through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, Canadian researchers have suggested that Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams are no longer exclusively deployed to resolve high-risk incidents but now frequently respond to routine calls that do not necessitate their involvement. Given concerns about these conclusions, we submitted the same FOI requests to the 14 police agencies examined by Roziere and Walby [2020. Special weapons and tactics teams in Canadian policing: legal, institutional, and economic dimensions. Policing and society, 30 (6), 704–719] and worked with the FOI analyst from each agency to ensure that the data were being interpreted correctly. Based on our re-analysis of the FOI-released data, we report on two problems with the conclusions reached by Roziere and Walby: the conflation of incidents where any SWAT officer responds to calls with full SWAT team deployments and the masking of potential risk factors in calls when relying on call type categories. Our findings illustrate the value of police agencies disclosing relevant contextual information to researchers when possible and they reinforce the necessity of collaborating with FOI analysts to better understand the data being released.

KEYWORDS:

• Special weapons and tactics
• tactical teams
• police militarisation
• freedom of information
• police data

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 SWAT teams are also commonly referred to as: Emergency Response Teams (ERT), Special Response Units (SRU), Tactical Teams, Police Paramilitary Units (PPU), Tactical Action Group (TAG), and other related identifiers. While there might be minor differences in operational scope from one term to another, or variations from agency to agency, the names represent similar roles. This paper will use the term SWAT team when referring to specialised policing units designed to respond to situations that exceed the capabilities of general patrol officers.

2 In the US, the Department of Defence (DoD) 1033 permits the Sectary of Defense to transfer ownership and use of excess DoD supplies/equipment to state, county, and local law enforcement agencies (Defense Logistics Agency n.d.).

3 Under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), individuals are able request information from certain public sector institutions by submitting an FOI request. When submitting the request, the individual must identify what records they are hoping to receive, identify the implicated institution(s), and submit a FOI request online or by mail to any institution under FIPPA or MFIPPA (Government of Ontario 2014).

4 It should be noted that SWAT officers’ association with a call is a nebulous term used to capture a variety of instances. It can include cases where at least one SWAT officer was assigned to a call and therefore associated with the occurrence but was not actively involved in the resolution of the incident, while also including cases where SWAT members attend a call to support patrol officers.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council: [Grant Number 892-2022-1036].