In part 1 of the series, commander of the unit, Christian Krettels, introduced the various sub-branches of the force, ranging from specialists dealing with hostage situations, snipers, surveillance experts, demining specialists and personal bodyguards, such as for the Grand Ducal family.
In part 2 of the series, snipers and hostage negotiators shared more insights into their work, and we joined the unit on the shooting range.
Dan Wiroth of RTL has been waiting for years to be able to interview the force, a part of public law enforcement that is largely kept in the dark. The police officers do their work away from the spotlight.
In the final part of this series, the unit executes a joint exercise, simulating a hostage-taking at an old factory.
Watch episode 1 here:
Watch episode 2 here:
It is early morning on a former steelworks site. In the night, a robbery took place in an office building. 3 criminals tried to blow up a safe. However, the explosion was so loud that it rattled the neighbourhood and police were alerted. When the first patrol approached, 2 of the 3 perpetrators fled on foot. The third perpetrator took the porter of the office building hostage and barricaded himself inside the old factory.
“We try to get the whole unit together once a month for the so-called United Exercise. Here we try to coordinate the deployment between the different sections, as if we were experiencing a real big attack,” explains Christian Krettels, commander of the unit.
An emergency unit is the first to arrive at the scene. Either they go on the offensive if there is no harm to innocent lives and take down the attacker, or they prevent the criminal from escaping as backup arrives, as is the case in this mission.
Progressively, more sections of the special units arrive. The mobile command post is the centre of the operation from which everything is coordinated. To get an overview of the terrain, a drone is launched, which transmits live images of the outside situation to the mobile centre.
Life of the hostage is absolute priority.
“It is extremely important that we get the information directly from the field to one place, very centrally,” says Krettels. “We have a chief PC sitting here, as well as one person who is constantly ‘thinking ahead’ and staying reactive, to ensure we get ahead of the situation and possibly even impose our will on the perpetrator more.”
“There is a so-called protocol, every order that goes out and every piece of information that comes in is recorded.”
In the meantime, two snipers have gone into place further away. Negotiators are the first who try to establish contact with the other party.
In this exercise, an explosive device is found between a door. The unit has different means to neutralise the explosive device. For observations they have drones, remote controlled cars and robots, as well as a strong and large demining robot that can even climb stairs and other obstacles. It can be equipped with smart accessories such as an infrared camera or a demining pump gun.
Two teams are active simultaneously. As one team enters the building through the blown door, another team clears the perimeter and moves around the building. They are aware of one attacker, but there could always be more.
While these attacks are merely a simulation, the unit operates as it would in real life. As the commander adds:
“We are not an island here. A crisis situation could occur here too, as it has already happened in other European countries. And it is only reasonable, I think, if Luxembourg has also adequately prepared for it.”
