Karhu-ryhmä

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=Karhuryhmä


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dates=1972 – Present
country=Finland
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size= 90
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nickname= "Karhukopla" (trans. "The Beagle Boys")
motto= " "
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The Karhu-ryhmä (literally "Bear Squad"), officially called Helsingin kihlakunnan poliisilaitoksen valmiusyksikkö (literally "Readiness Unit of Helsinki district police department"), in Swedish Karhu-gruppen or Beredskapsenheten, is the special unit of the Finnish police, equivalent to the SWAT in the United States. It was formed after the Munich massacre in 1972 to provide security for the OSCE Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe of 1975 which was held in Helsinki.

Along the leadership and training groups the readiness unit also includes a direct action-, technical-, dog (K9)- and an explosive disposal group. It can also be reinforced with a negotiation group for hostage situations.

Karhu operates under the authority of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior and is headquartered in Helsinki. Its members are all volunteers and alternate between normal policework and SWAT duties. The group had a strength of about 90 police officers in 2008.

Karhu's weaponry consists almost entirely of standard Finnish police weapons. It uses the H&K MP5 as its primary submachinegun and the Remington 870 as shotgun. The only significant difference is the use of H&K USP as personal pistol. TAK-85, TRG-21 and TRG-42 sniper rifles are supplied by the Finnish military.Fact|date=December 2007 The Finnish police is also currently testing the SIG 552 as a new carbine to be issued for Karhu and normal police forces. Fact|date=December 2007

The colloquial name for the group is Karhukopla, i.e. Beagle Boys, characters from Walt Disney comics.

External links

* [http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/periodic.nsf/vwDocuments/51E0AAE77AA0F321C2256EA6004C8807 A picture of a squad member] , Finnish Police Force's homepage