Víkingasveitin
| Sérsveit Ríkislögreglustjórans | |
|---|---|
| Active | 19 October 1982 – present |
| Country |
 Iceland
|
| Type | Law enforcement, Special forces |
| Role | Security of the state and state officials, Security of foreign dignitaries, Counter-Terrorism and Law Enforcement |
| Size | About 50 |
| Nickname(s) | Víkingasveitin ("The Viking squad") |
| Motto(s) | ("The land shall be built by laws" Alternative translation: "With laws shall this country be established") |
| Engagements |
Yugoslav wars, Operation Enduring Freedom |
Víkingasveitin (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈviːkiŋkaˌsveitɪn], The Viking Squad), officially Sérsveit ríkislögreglustjórans (Special Unit of the National Police Commissioner), is Iceland's elite counter-terrorism unit, specializing in various types of armed and unarmed infantry combat. It is in many ways modeled on the Norwegian Emergency Response Unit counter-terrorist unit with which it conducts many exercises, both in Norway and Iceland. The Viking squad has about 50 police officers. The National Police Commissioner has published that the squad will be fully manned at 55 police officers by 2010. Iceland has no standing regular military, thus some functions performed by military forces in other nations may be performed in Iceland by units such as Víkingasveitin.
The unit is tasked with several duties, including but not limited to:
Additionally, the unit is designated to protect important installations in wartime, and it is often involved in exercises with Norwegian and Danish military special forces. During the stay of the U.S. military forces in Iceland, it conducted anti-special forces training operations and was responsible for its defences against terrorism.
The Viking Squad has five main squads:
Although the first Icelandic law enforcement officers, the nightwatchmen of Reykjavík in the 18th century, were heavily armed with Morning stars, the armed capabilities of early 20th century police were very limited. However the threat of a communist revolution and later invasion by foreign militaries forced the Icelandic government to rethink its position on police weaponry.
As a response to the forming of an illegal communist paramilitary unit the Icelandic police acquired Krag-Jørgensen rifles, Royal MM34 and Royal 7.65 mm pistols and in late 1939 officers of the Capital Police were to form the officer corps of an Icelandic military defence force. This rearming was spearheaded by Hermann Jónasson prime minister and former police chief and Agnar Kofoed Hansen Chief of Capital Police and Officer graduate from the Danish Army. This military force never went from the training grounds as it was still training on 10 May 1940, the day 740 Royal Marines invaded Iceland.
...
Wikipedia