SWAT

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

 OED has 19 July 1968.

Secret Program to Put Down Riots Drafted by L.A. Police
JOHN DREYFUSS
Los Angeles Times; Feb 15, 1968; pg. A1

" "We have a SWAT team," he said.  "That's our Special Weapons and
Tactics team which breaks into four-man groups -- a rifleman whose
weapon has telescopic sights, a spotter and two officers with shotguns
and handguns to provide cover fire." "

The term may be a couple of years older.  Glenn Reynolds just wrote in
Popular Mechanics
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4203345.html (28
Nov 2006):
"In 1965 Los Angeles inspector Daryl Gates, who later became police
chief, signed off on the formation of a specially trained and equipped
unit that he wanted to call the Special Weapons Attack Team. (The name
was changed to the more palatable Special Weapons and Tactics). "

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org