Histalian Action Rapide Paramilitaire

The Histalian Action Rapide Paramilitaire or H.A.R.P is a paramilitary force in Histalpol which reports directly to the Department of Infrastructure in which the Ministry of Defence also exists.

They perform and assist in actions that are usually for events of high-risk that fall outside of the capabilities of regular, uniformed police. HARP's duties include and are not limited to confronting heavily armed criminals, performing hostage rescue, counter-terrorism operations, entering armoured or barricaded buildings, riot-control and crowd control at major events. They also assist in disaster relief such as floods, fires, air crashes and another disasters both man-made and natural, including evacuation and large scale operations.

Role
The main role of this unit is to disperse illegal assembly, riot suppression and to carry out other functions relating to Public Order. They also perform actions such as manhunts, confronting heavily armed criminals, be it active-shooters. They can also be called in to replace regular police officers or to add onto their forces and can be assigned to assist the Chief of Police, County Police ,Criminal Investigation Division and Special Branch by the Commanding Officer in roles that include and are not limited to:


 * Crime prevention as special patrol in addition to regular patrol units or patrols in an area of high crime frequency.


 * Disaster relief from natural disasters by flood, snowstorm, bush-fires and others, and from man-made disasters such as air crashes, collapses of structure, structural fires etc. They also can be tasked for evacuation and large scale operations from either disaster or from crime.


 * Safeguarding VIP visitors, events, parades, assemblies and others. This follows the Travel Status Ratings set by the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Relations; with HARP being active in category 5, 4, 3 and /1.


 * Protection of the Royal Family and the Monarch of Histalpol
 * customs and ports of entry control
 * Airport Security
 * Security of border areas
 * Police deployments abroad (embassies, meetings and major culture and sporting events involving Histalpol)
 * Police and military training abroad

Specialised units
The only specialised unit in the Histalian Action Rapide Paramilitaire is the Paramilitaire Elite, which perform counter-terrorism and hostage rescue. They're roles are further described below.


 * Bomb squad and explosives
 * Counter terrorism
 * Entering armoured or barricaded buildings; This can be separated into 2 roles from this which are;
 * Confronting heavily armed criminals which could involve doing raids on premices or stopping criminals on the way to commit the crime.
 * Performing hostage rescue, either to release the captive or to capture the criminal/s.
 * Coast guard

History
The unit was created in the aftermath of WW2 in 1946, but was unofficially in action since 1942, a year after island Histalpol was captured by Axis forces, in order to protect the public in the rush to bomb-shelters and also to patrol streets during the many blackouts to impede on crimes and to assist in people stuck outside during air-raids. At the end of the war, the government created this unit to give alternatives to the soldiers in WW2 who still wanted to be in the army, also giving an alternative to the many organised crime groups starting from the same WW2 soldiers.

The tasks of hostage rescuing, counter-terrorism and man-hunts only was taken up by HARP in the 1980s during the Decades of Suspension when a separate paramilitary unit of Histalpol, the now defunct Crimson Civilian Guards (often known just as the Crimson Guards), who were tasked with those roles were merged with HARP to provide more man power to the unit to go against the terrorist organised crime syndicates. The Crimson Guards were officially stopped with the Forstole Agreement, 21st of August 1992 when a ceasefire was decided and and Crimson Guards disbanded into HARP and the tasks they performed being added onto the list of the tasks HARP provides.

Uniforms
On most casual occasions when seen in public on-duty and patrolling or other non-dangerous roles, or occasionally in parades, a HARP member can be distinguished by their pale blue shirt with Sillitoe Tartan on their shoulders, they also adorn a pale green beret on patrols and parades. They are always worn with dark grey trousers.

A wide range of different clothing is worn according to the nature of the duties being performed as listed above. In parades and ceremonies, HARP usually wear the historic dark red and navy blue uniform that will be warn while protecting the royal family of Histalpol at their residencies, either on horseback or on foot.

Requirements
The requirements needed to become a member of HARP are;


 * To have been a Histalian citizen for more than 5 years,
 * To be able to have a good standard or native use of the English language or French language,
 * To have served in Cadets at 16 and/or have served in the Histalian armed forces between 18 and 31 years of age,
 * Having obtained a secondary education and further education degree in English, Maths and Science,
 * No record of chronic illness and general good health
 * To be able to swim and/or drive

Weapons
due to the many varying and diverse roles that HARP performs, the service provides for the use of various types of weapons that are divided into "standard" and "special" weapons and supplied to all staff as follows:

Standard arms

 * Pistol: Beretta 92
 * Submachine gun: Heckler & Koch MP5
 * Assault rifle: Beretta AR70/90
 * Light machine gun: Heckler & Koch MG4

Special arms

 * Submachine gun: Heckler & Koch MP7

Tactical vehicles

 * Lenco BearCat
 * Mowag Duro III
 * Converted Iveco Daily
 * ATF Dingo

Notable Actions

 * 2005 Assistance in the capture of the lone wolf terrorist in the 2005 Renné Stadium bomb plot in a raid of his house.
 * 2010 Performing raids on Righteous Independence Legion cell which committed the 2010 Bastilia International Airport bombing that killed 16 people.
 * 2013 The man-hunt for an individual member of the Righteous Independence Legion who committed the 2013 Dilbwood Bombing which killed 17 people