AS-SWAT

AS-SWAT (anti-super special weapons and tactics) teams are non-powered law enforcement units specialising in combat against powered individuals. They are also referred to in some states as RCUs (Rogue Counter Units). They are usually part of local or state police forces, though some federal agencies and Private Military Companies employ them as well.

Equipment

RCUs are equipped with both military-grade weaponry and equipment, as well as special tools, weapons and gadgets meant to aid in fighting and containing super threats specifically. Much of this special equipment is Tinker-desgined tech that has been successfully serialised and/or been deployed on a large scale.
Common equipment of RCUs in the United States includes, but is not limited to:

• Sleeping gas grenades
• Electrified nets and other electricity-based restraints
• "Brute anchors": Looking like large boxes, these tools can drill up to one metre into the ground and anchors themselves there. The top part of the box opens to release long ropes made from mass-produced "tinkerfiber", which offers a tensile strength close to that of spider silk. The ropes can be retracted at any point to put them under high tension. Attachments such as grappling hooks or superglues can be applied to the end of the rope. Used to restrain brute-type supers.
• protective suits with integrated biometric measurement systems: used to detect potential influencing from Master-type supers
• Tranquiliser guns
• Tracking systems with attachment bugs

Deployment

RCUs are only allowed to deploy against supers of a sufficiently low established or estimated Threat Level (below Lambda under TRS, below 6 on CTAD), unless confrontation can not be avoided or is time-critical with no assistance by Sanctioned supers being within reach. It is also rare for RCUs to be deployed against more than two supers at once, due to increasing complications from dealing with multiple powers at once.

Controversy

While explicitly made legal under the Human/Superman Regulations Act and later confirmed by the Supreme Court, their legal status has been repeatedly called into question by multiple parties. Human rights activists claim that RCUs blur the line between civilians and combatants. While against low-powered supers they can be considered equal threats that a super should be able to retaliate against like any other powered opponent, against high-powered supers they are counted amongst civilians. This ambiguity could lead to rogues accepting civilian injury and even death. The often lacking visual distinction between a normal SWAT team and an AS-SWAT team has also been criticised. Many laywers of Rogues have also argued that whether they are allowed to fight AS-SWATs or not is based on threat ratings they themselves have no access to, making it impossible for them to tell whether they are commiting a violation of the HSHRA.
Police unions have called into question whether the deployment of AS-SWATs does not pose an undue risk to the officers' lifes as they themselves are not allowed to retaliate with lethal force either unless their opponent deploys it first. This, so the argument, puts the already weaker units at an even bigger disadvantage.
Conversely, many politicians have also spoken out against the high costs these units often incur. Usually only police forces in larger cities or on a state level can bear the costs. As most of these already have established Sanctioned Super presence to defend themselves, while many rural areas where the units would be more needed but can not be afforded, the entire concept has often been dismissed as a waste of money.

Structure

RCUs are usually under the command of either city or state police forces, and usually are deployed at their discretion. As with normal SWAT teams, the officers serving in them are usually part of the normal police force when not operating as part of the team.

Type

Government, Law Enforcement

Alternative Names

RCU, "Ass-wats"

Training Level

Professional

Veterancy Level

Experienced