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Germany unveiled its new counter-terrorism police unit composed of up to 250 agents 41712154.
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Defence & Security News - Germany
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| Germany unveiled its new counter-terrorism police unit composed of up to 250 agents | |||
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Germany is introducing a new police unit in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris that officials say will be better armed and trained to deal with terrorism. Some 250 more officers will be added to the national police force's special arrest units, known as the BFE, and based at five locations around the country.
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 German special police unit (Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters) |
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There will be fifty agents assigned to the first team, which will start work at the federal police’s Blumenberg base near Berlin immediately. Another four teams will be added later, each one consisting of 50 agents. The additional teams will be spread out throughout the country and placed only in those locations where the national police have access to helicopters, in order to speed up response times. Unlike the country's elite GSG9 SWAT teams that are only deployed as emergency response units, the so-called BFE+ police will also be involved in day-to-day operations. The new unit has been named the Beweissicherungs- und Festnahmeeinheit plus (“Evidence collection and arrest unit plus”), also referred as “BFE+,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has announced. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere is presenting the first group of 50 BFE+ police later Wednesday. Police union spokesman Rainer Wendt says additional specially trained officers are "money well spent" but told the dpa news agency ordinary patrol officers also must be properly equipped to deal with terrorism. |
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