Organisation
As the unit's commander, Eric Liévin, said, "a criminal dealing with the DSU, has a better chance of surviving than another; they try to use a minimal level of violence/force, and yet try to attain a maximum level of efficiency.".
The DSU consists of an intervention unit, observation unit and a technical unit all stationed in the Police caserne in Etterbeek, also the home of the Police Cavalry units and part of the general reserve. The unit believed to employ about 50 officers, all of which have a background as a sharpshooter.
Overall control of the DSU lies with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but depending on circumstances the unit can be deployed under operational control of the Ministry of Justice. Prior to 1994 the unit was commanded by the Ministry of Defense.
Two more specialised units also exist, one team has six trained police dogs for detecting the presence of explosive materials or ammunition, the other one is the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team, which was created in 1978 after the Los Alfaques Disaster.
Four decentralized DSU teams exist in Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liege; the so-called POSA (Protection, Observation, Support, Apprehension) units.
Read more about this topic: Federal Police Special Units
Famous quotes containing the word organisation:
“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)