Tactical Aid Unit

The primary role of the Tactical Aid Unit (TAU) is conducting warrants which involve gaining entry to properties (either by force or consent) and then subsequently conducting the search of that property and the detention or arrest of persons within. 

All TAU officers are required to pass the counter-terrorism licensed search officer course once appointed, which is an intense one-week course. They also have to maintain a search record detailing the searches they have conducted and attend a two-day refresher annually. 

If officers wish to specialise further within the search world, there are several avenues open to them in relation to Rapiscan and X-ray.

All TAU officers will be trained to at least the standard of a Level 2 MOE officer which means they have the skills to get into properties, which includes glass entries. A further pool of officers will also undergo training in the use of a Reciprocating saw. 

Furthermore, after a period on the unit, officers can express an interest to attend the 9-day Level 1 MOE planners’ course, which gives officers the skills to plan both single entries and multiple entries to properties.

The TAU are the primary responders to incidents involving protestors who have locked onto either street furniture or available structures. All TAU officers will be expected to attend the one-week protestor removal course which teaches officers how to use tools, including power tools, and other means to remove protestors safely. 

A small pool of officers will receive further training to deal with protestors protesting at height, which often includes standing on oil tankers, pallet towers and other structures. This is a far more specialised facet of protestor removal, and as such officers will need to undergo suitability training and then intensive training if successful. The working at height skills are called upon for dealing with suicides and for retrieval of evidence.

TAU officers will provide a secondary response to CBRN(e) incidents and are trained in the use of the NXGEN kit. Officers with a further interest in this field will have the chance to become an accredited tactical advisor. Tactical Aid officers will also be utilised in the dismantling of illicit drug labs.

TAU officers are the primary responders to incidents of serious disorder, whether this is civil unrest ad happens at a sporting or general event. TAU officers are the sole officers that are trained to Level One standard and have a skillset above that of other officers and can work effectively as a unit. 

Tactical Aid officers are also used extensively for violent detainees in custody in relation to control and restraint techniques and are trained in the use of body cuffs.

Opportunities are available for officers in the Tactical Aid Unit to develop their public order or method of entry skills further to become trainers in these disciplines. 

This allows them to provide further training to the officers on the unit and beyond and assists in any career progressions should they move on into the force training department.