Karhuryhmä

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The Karhuryhmä (Bear Squad) (officially called Valmiusyksikkö - Readiness Unit) is the SWAT-equivalent unit of the Finnish police. It was formed after the Munich massacre in 1972 to provide security for the CSCE Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe of 1975 which was held in Helsinki.

Karhu operates under the authority of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior and is headquartered in Helsinki. Its members are all volunteers and alternate between normal policework and SWAT duties. The group had a strength of about 70 police officers in 2006.

Karhu's weaponry consists almost entirely of standard Finnish police weapons. It uses the H&K MP5 as its primary submachinegun and the Remington 870 as shotgun. The only significant difference is the use of H&K USP as personal pistol. TAK-85 and TRG-42 sniper rifles are supplied by the Finnish military.

Legislation enables the group to request any weapon system necessary to accomplish its mission from the military. The Finnish police is also currently testing the SIG 552 as a new carbine to be issued for Karhu and normal police forces.

The colloquial name for the group is Karhukopla, i.e. Beagle Boys, characters from Walt Disney comics.

A picture of a member from the group can be seen on the