User:Dantrico/Bijzonder Bijstandsteam (BBT)

Bijzonder Bijstandsteam (BBT)

The Bijzonder Bijstandsteam (BBT) (English: Specialized Support Team) is the special intervention unit of the Antwerp local police department. In a country where high profile hostage rescue and counter terrorist operations are handled by the Federal Police's Direction of Special Units (CGSU), the BBT is one of only a few special tactical teams attached to local police zones. It is also the only such local team in which members are permanently attached to the unit, are on 24/7 standby and are capable of autonomously resolving hostage situations. Therefore, the Antwerp Police Zone (PZ Antwerpen), the largest of Belgium's 196 police zones, is the only zone to have a highly trained team on a 30 minute response time, 24/7, to provide support against armed aggression or hostage situations.

History
Like many European police forces, the Antwerp police department began exploring the concept of specialized intervention teams in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. While this event had already led to the creation of a specialized intervention team at the national level (the Groupe Diane, a highly trained tactical team under the Gendarmerie), a series of events in subsequent years convinced (BBthe Antwerp municipal government of the need for an autonomous intervention capability. These events included a series of a attacks by a Belgian left wing terrorist movement, the CCC, as well as s spree of high profile, violent robberies by the heavily armed Bende van Nijvel. Closer to home, notable events included the continued targeting of jewish citizens in Antwerp's diamond quarter, culminating in a bomb attack in 1982, as well as an increase in Eastern European organised crime around the port of Antwerp.

In 1982, the antwerp municipal police took the first steps towards the creation of a specialised unit to deal with highly dangerous situations. Since there were no such teams in the Belgian police landscape, the Antwerp police sent an officer on a four month traineeship with the Dutch Arrestatieteams. Upon his return, his training was supplemented with several courses give by instructors of the Para-Commando's, Belgium's elite airborne commando regiment.

1987 saw the official creation of the new unit, to be named the Bijzondere Interventie (BI) (English: Special Intervention). The BI was placed under the command of the former Mobiele Eenheid (ME), (English: Mobile Unit), a division of the police used in case of riots and manifestations. The first class of the BI consisted of 30 officers that passed the selection procedure. They went on to face an intensive training which combined shooting, tactical house searches, offensive driving and forcible arrest procedures.

In 1993, budgetting constraints and a thorough evaluation of needs and capabilities resulted in the several BI teams being joined into one team, the Bijzonder Bijstandsteam (BBT). The unit was placed under the command of a single officer and was relocated to the large police barracks at the Luchtbal, in northern Antwerp. The patrol role of the former BI teams was relinquished to free up more time for training, and ensure a permanent readiness to respond to any emergency.

Duties
The duties assigned to the men of the BBT include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Arresting highly dangerous or armed suspect

- Intervening in potentially complex or dangerous tactical situations

- Protection of persons or objects under specific threat (VIP protection)

- Rescue operations

- Barricaded suspects

- Hostage situations

Equipment
During interventions, the BBT wear black Nomex overalls, introduced in 2003. These overalls are fire resistant and have Kevlar reinforced elbows, knees and shoulders. They also wear TIG brand ballistic helmets. These are worn together with fire resistant three-hole balaclava ski masks, to safeguard their identity. The Adidas GSG9 boots they wear has given the unit their nickname de bottinekes (Antwerp dialect, diminutive term for boots).

Though details about the weaponry the BBT uses are not revealed to the public, it is known that they use, among others: Glock 19 pistols, Benelli shotguns, Heckler & Koch G36C assault rifles and the ubiquitous MP5 sub machine gun, with aimpoint, laser and flashlight.

Their arsenal is rounded out by a panoply of equipment typical for a tactical intervention team: non-lethal grenades, battering rams, breaching tools, night vision equipment, climbing gear, radios, ballistic shields, ghillie suits etc...