Special Police Unit

Special Police Unit
The standard arm patch of most of the Special Police Units.
Active	July 1982 - present
Country	People's Republic of China
Branch	People's Armed Police
Type	Specialized Law Enforcement
Role	Domestic Counter-Terrorism Law Enforcement Riot control
Size	810 officers
Part of	People's Armed Police
Nickname(s)	Various, the Guangzhou's SPU is the only unit to adopt Hong Kong's Special Duties Unit's Flying Tigers nickname

Special Police Units (Abbreviation: SPU; Simplified Chinese: 特警队) are SWAT units of the Chinese People's Armed Police at the provincial and municipal level. There is at least one of such unit in each Chinese province to offer their services when requested by the local police, or other law enforcement agencies such as the customs service and the regular police.

With the rise of global terrorism and increasing incidence of local aircraft hijackings in the 80's, came a need for a tactical armed response group to respond to both such local and international crises. With approval from the People's Liberation Army, a select group of elite officers was chosen and organized into the Anti-hijack Special Police Group (反劫机特种警察部队) on July 22, 1982, officially code-named Public Security Unit 722 (公安部警字722部队). They were officially inaugurated into the PLA in the capital of Beijing during a ceremony on the 28th.

The command of the unit was later transferred to the People's Armed Police in 1983, and renamed China People's Armed Police Special Police Force (中国人民武装警察部队特种警察大队), and they were to undertake new roles such as counter-terrorism and counter-riot. In accordance with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Security regulations, the unit was again renamed China People's Armed Police Special Police School (中国人民武装警察部队特种警察学校) in 1985. The unit went on a recruitment exercise and, took in its first batch of new cadets that September.

In 2002, with Central Military Commission approval the Special Police course was institutionalised into college studies of various disciplines. It was renamed People's Armed Police Special Police College, combining both combat and education roles.

Since its inauguration, the People's Armed Police has set up Special Police Units in 36 provinces nationwide.

The original Special Police Unit was set up in Beijing, but the increasing incidence of armed criminal activity throughout the whole of China has emphasized a need for such units within the individual states. The various units all answer directly to the Central government and enforce the same laws, however similar to such units in the United States they can only react to incidents within their own state of jurisdiction.