When SWAT teams, or their non-US equivalents, are shown in the media they are often wearing ski masks (e.g. hereduring the current hostage situation in Australia, or here and herefrom Google image search on “SWAT team”)
Why on earth would they do that? I realize actual Military special forces have to key their identity secret, and in unstable parts of the world police have to as well. But surely for a civilian police officer in a Western democracy. Whatever advantage ski masks may have in terms of camouflage and intimidation are vastly outweighed by the practical problems of trying to do your job (a difficult physical one where quick communication is a matter of life and death) in a ski mask. The current hostage crisis in Sidney is happening in the middle of an Australian summer, so wearing a ski mask can’t be much fun.
This cop forum says it’s for minor face protection: they’re flame-retardant and might help prevent exposure to hot gases and burning things. They also simply look cool, apparently. (I don’t disagree!)
They’re made of nomax which is flame retardant. Short barreled SMGs (like H&K MP4s and MP5s) put out a lot of muzzle blast. Flash burns can be an issue. And if you cut it too close with a flash bang also. And there’s the psychological intimidation factor also. But I think the latter came about only after the identity hiding (Really useful for the SAS during the N. Ireland troubles) and the flash protection.
I’m pretty sure that protecting the identity of the SWAT officers does indeed play a roll: There are terrorist groups or traditional criminal organizations who will attempt to harm or intimidate individual officers or their relatives before, during or after an incident.
I’m not aware that the members of SWAT teams identities are kept particularly secret. Since they’re public employees, terrorists could probably just identify them by looking them up. Or just asking them.
I found a German court case which dealt with this issue.
This was about an incident in 2007 when SWAT officers in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, had to accompany a prison inmate who happened to be associated with the “Russian Mafia” to an eye clinic were he received treatment. The officers were plain-clothed (and obviously not wearing ski masks). The intention was to keep the whole thing as low profile as possible and get it over with as fast as possible. By pure chance, a local journalist and a photographer stumbled onto the scene and approached the police officers (i. e. SWAT team members). The officers requested the photographer not to take any pictures to which he complied. Later, the publishing company sued the police. During the lawsuit, the police claimed that the Russian Mafia targeting individual officers once they were identified was indeed a major concern.
As far as I can tell from various references, “balaclava” and “ski mask” are exactly the same thing. I guess SWAT team members wear a “tactical” ski mask, and not a “practical” ski mask.
It had been my understanding that a ski mask has an individual hole for each eye, (and one for the mouth), and a balaclava has a single goggle-shaped opening for both eyes, and usually no opening for the mouth (the wearer could either breathe through the fabric, or take advantage of its elasticity and pull the viewing hole open wide enough to reveal the entire face).
This appears to be too restrictive for Google Images, though.
FWIW I actually thought the term balaclava was a Britishism, hence why I didn’t use it in the OP.
The anonymity reasoning doesn’t pass the sniff test to me. Uniformed civilian police officers are not meant to anonymous in democracies (I know in the UK they are required to provide their “warrant card” when asked).
My 2 cents is they wear them because the military special forces, which SWAT tactics are based on, wear them, and their police counter parts (who I am sure want to be them very much) just copied them.
Okay, let’s call it a “Tactical Balaclava”. It’s got one opening. One can either wear protective goggles (low-light or no) or one can pull the opening down and wear a “gas mask” with it.
I remember the whole para-military thing from the first season of Breaking Bad - it’s usually portrayed at night when you can’t appreciate the climate.
Showing the whole apparatus in bright morning sunlight - a bunch of slightly excited, overweight provincial police dressed in para-military kit busting into a suburban bungalow - was quite interesting.
Can’t recall if Ride of the Valkyries was actually playing or whether it was just in my head.
Might it not also have to do with blacking out the face (for white guys) so it doesn’t stand out in the dark and make a target? Also for cover/concealment during a stealthy approach.
Since except for very large urban departments SWAT teams are an additional duty and not their main job, the teams often have members that also act as undercover officers in their day to day duties. That is certainly not true for all but it is the case for some. That is not a guess. Many of the other answers are also correct.
.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSWAT&h=683&w=1020&tbnid=eXj4tRO8ABiTaM%3A&zoom=1&docid=NEyS84eYUvRy0M&ei=qIiOVNC4Coe4ogTRkoH4Cw&tbm=isch&ved=0CDMQMygAMAA&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=311&page=1&start=0&ndsp=35){kind=link}