Organisation
RAID has a strength of around 180 men and is divided into three main sections with about 60 members each:
- First Section - The first section deals with the usual tasks of special forces: intervention, monitoring, protection.
- Second Section - The second section is the Research and Development unit of the RAID. It studies techniques and collects information. This section is divided into three groups:
- Intelligence Group
- Technical Group
- Weaponry Group
- Third section - The Third section deals with the psychological aspects of the interventions. It is in charge of negotiations and crisis management. It also provides psychological support for the policemen in the unit and in the whole French Police. It is composed of forensic experts, a psychologist and physicians.
The Negotiation group is on permanent alert. It deals with suicides, violent crises, mental disorders, hostage crises and other major troubles, independently from the rest of the RAID. It assesses the dangers of the situation, suggests possible solutions, and helps with the negotiations and the resolution of the crises. If the whole RAID has to intervene, the Negotiations section is used as a reconnaissance unit, and prepares the intervention of the other sections. To join the unit, an officer needs five years duty within the Police Nationale and after passing a thorough test he will serve in the RAID for five years. With a commendation he can expand it further five years. All members must leave the tactical unit after ten years. Officers over forty cannot make an application.
Read more about this topic: Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion
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“It is because the body is a machine that education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial organisation upon the natural organisation of the body.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)