Urban sniper

An 'urban sniper' is a term applied to a specialist or marksman operating in an urban area or city setting with an assigned role of, most commonly, providing over watch for law enforcement SWAT teams.

Snipers often operate alone or in two man teams (a sniper/spotter team) often for long period and at long range. In the case of law enforcement, sometimes allowing the sniper/spotter team to be seen, might be used as a deterrent or to prevent an escalation.

Camouflage

Instead of trying to break up the outline of the human body by using something like a ghillie suit an urban sniper attempts to blend into the cityscape's angles and straight lines. Another difference is the choice of camouflage clothing. Traditional snipers are generally wearing clothes that are earth tones whereas urban snipers prefer greys and black shades to take better advantage of the shadows.

When the urban sniper takes a position, they often want to choose a place that does not stand out. For example they would not want to sit on the roof of the only yellow house in the neighbourhood or hide behind a bright red sports car. Often the urban sniper will take advantage of, or create holes in walls, through sheer curtains on windows, etc near where they are operating to confuse anyone searching for them and their location.

Angle of attack

Another piece of the camouflage element is cover and concealment. Urban snipers, when deciding where to set up choose in advance whether they want a ground level shot or a high-angle shot. In choosing ground level, they will find a large and solid object to take cover behind. If they choose a high-angle shot they will want to choose a position on a rooftop, in an upper story window or in an attic, etc.

Equipment and Weaponry

In some cases weapons used by snipers work in an urban area however in "many" cases they do not. One of the dangers of urban sniping, especially law enforcement sniping, is that they may miss, the bullet may penetrate the target and exit the target, and hit an innocent bystander or hostage. Thus weapons used by military snipers like the M82 Barrett rifle with armor piercing rounds, would not be suitable for taking use on a soft target in a city from distances close to or closer than 100 meters.

The .223 caliber semi auto rifles (such as an AR-15) are often used by law enforcement sharpshooters due to the low probability of over penetration and accidental injury to hostages or by-standers.

The .308 caliber semi auto and bolt action rifles(such as the AR-10, M14 AR-30M and Remington Model 700LE) also work well in urban environments. While over penetration can be a concern a properly trained shooter will have no problems operating with a .308 in the urban operational envelope.

Tactics

When shooting from a window an urban sniper will consider several things. The first of which is that if there is the possibility of multiple targets or return fire. If they're shooting out of a hole in the wall or a hole in a boarded up window they will put multiple holes in the window and in the surrounding windows as well.

Misconceptions

The news media often incorrectly classifies any person shooting with a rifle as a sniper. A perfect example of this is the media dubbing the shooters involved shootings as the Beltway Sniper, etc.

External links

[http://www.optacinternational.com/training/florida/urbansniper2.htm Law enforcement course]