History
After a hostage siege at the Israeli embassy on 28 April 1975 which became known as the Fox Street Siege the South African government decided to establish a special police unit to deal with situations such as hostage situations.
In 1976 the Task force was activated. The Task Force falls under operational control of the Division: Operational Response Services and is responsible for dealing with all high-risk operations, such as hostage situations on land, sea and air, including rescue-related operations.
Read more about this topic: South African Police Service Special Task Force
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional passing flicker of horror or indignation.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)