| Spezialeinsatzkommando | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1974–present |
| Country |  Germany |
| Agency | Landespolizei (State police) |
| Type | Police tactical unit |
| Role | Counter-terrorism Law enforcement |
| Abbreviation | SEK |
Spezialeinsatzkommando (SEK, "Special Task Force") are police tactical units of each of the 16 German State Police forces. Along with the Mobiles Einsatzkommando (MEK), Personenschutzkommando[1] (bodyguards), and the Verhandlungsgruppe (negotiation teams in some states), they are part of the police Spezialeinheiten of each state.[2]
Mainly unrecognized by the media and public, the main missions of SEK units are to serve high-risk arrest warrants and to deal with barricaded suspects. Hostage sieges, kidnappings, and raids also belong to their missions as well as other scenarios like personal security details for VIPs or witnesses. Since the 1970s, each SEK has handled several thousand deployments. The front-runner is the SEK of the Berlin Police with up to 500 deployments a year, an average of 1.4 deployments a day.
The comparable unit of the German Federal Police is the GSG 9.
- ^ REICHENBACH, VON JENS. "Die Schattenmänner". Nw.de. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
- ^ "Aufgabenspektrum der Spezialeinheiten". Polizei Brandenburg (in German). 11 November 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2020.