How the Hide has changed
You toss that word around a lot lately. "Tier this, tier that". In your opinion, how many tiers of LE special weapons and tactics are there and can you delineate the difference between each?
The word 'tier' is not being "tossed", the references are specific.
Military: Tier status denotes mission capabilities.
Tier one - lead agency for highest priority and covert missions. CT/CE/CP/Recovery and elimination of high value targets. Example: SFOD/Delta.
Tier two - Perform larger scale and clandestine operations. They maintain operational groups within their respective units. Example: Rangers.
Tier three - Also larger scale ops, including classified ops. Example: SEAL teams (other than team Six).
Law Enforcement:
Tier one SWAT teams have the budget, manpower and expertise to handle large scale events and have fully developed objective standards of selection, training and retention.
Tier one members train about 25% of their on duty time and teams are comprised of officers who have spent a considerable amount of time achieving the training and experience necessary to develop the skills required for a position on the team. Appointment is by competition.
Tier two: Like tier one, except its members have other shared responsibilities within the department.
Tier three: Well meaning but untrained, inexperienced, and all too often incompetent teams that assemble between ten and fourteen times a year and get called out six to ten times a year.
There is some debate about what constitutes Tier four, or even if there is one, but if there is, Tier four are the courtesy-appointment teams for which no skill set and no objective standards are required, and where no reputable outside training is given.
Most of the legal, ethical and public relations disasters involving SWAT-type units have been caused by Tiers three and four: Untrained, inexperienced and incompetent teams which should probably be disbanded before they unlawfully injure someone or get a fellow team member killed.
All of these teams can lay claim to having 'snipers'.