Police Tactical Unit (Hong Kong)

The Police Tactical Unit (Abbreviation: PTU; ) is a paramilitary riot control unit of the Hong Kong Police Force. The Police Tactical Unit provides an immediate manpower reserve for use in any emergency, Unit companies are attached to all land Regions and are available for internal security, crowd control, anti-crime operations, disaster response and riot control throughout Hong Kong. The Police Tactical Unit is often referred as the 'Blue Berets', which is in reference to the blue berets worn as part of the uniform.

A subdivision of the PTU is the Special Duties Unit which specializes in counter-terrorism and hostage rescue.

Organisation
The Police Tactical Unit Base and training camp is located in Fanling.

This Unit is made up of eleven Companies, comprising in total about 2 thousand officers. Each company (under the command of a Superintendent) is made up of 4 platoons, each led by an Inspector or Senior Inspector. A platoon comprises 32 Officers with 1 Station Sergeant (senior NCO) and 8 Sergeants.

Firearms

 * Smith & Wesson Model 10- Standard issue sidearm, 6 shot .38 revolver.
 * Remington 870- Standard issue shotgun, loaded with less-than-lethal 12 Gauge bean-bag rounds.
 * Federal Model 201-Z Riot Gun - Standard issue anti-riot gun, loaded with less-than-lethal CS rounds.
 * AR-15- Standard issue rifle, loaded with 5.56x45 round magazines, only to be issued as a final resort when the situation encountered is uncontrollable or the target is far away from the PTU (400m or less).

Vehicles

 * Mercedes-Benz Vario
 * Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
 * Mercedes-Benz Unimog U5000 armoured personnel carrier.

In popular culture

 * The unit is portrayed in the 2003 film PTU, directed by Johnnie To.
 * 2007 TVB series On The First Beat
 * The unit is also portrayed in the 2009 film series Tactical Unit, directed by Johnnie To and with the same leading actors and actress of the 2003 film PTU.
 * The PTU also appear briefly in The Sniper 2009.