Whether or not Zetas are conducting paramilitary, police-impersonation operations here in the US, the incident in Houston is a watershed event indeed.
12/07/2011 – PoliceOne Senior Editor Doug Wyllie
The news out of Houston that a group of criminals is staging armed raids on illegal gaming rooms in that city contains a very important wrinkle for our consideration — these violators are also police impersonators, and by all indications in the video these thugs have stepped things up quite considerably in their tactics — and tactical training. We’ve reported extensively here on PoliceOne in recent months on the variety of issues related to police impersonators, but today’s news presents us with an array of additional considerations to contemplate — not the least of which is the idea that HPD investigators are considering the possibility that these perpetrators are Zetas.
The experts with whom I’ve spoken on this matter don’t feel that these men in the Houston incident were, in fact, Zetas. Regardless, this is a very significant episode, whether or not it is found out that Zetas are conducting these types of operations here in the Untied States. At best, these offenders are ‘frequent fliers’ who have witnessed firsthand the movements and procedures of a tactical team taking down a room. At worst, well, we’re seeing a watershed event indeed.
Lest we forget, the Zetas did not start out as an independent cartel — they began as hired guns for the OTHER cartels. Many of those who self-identified as Zetas were retired from various branches of the Mexican military — most notably the Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE) special forces soldiers who had received excellent tactical training and conducted extensive operations in which their combat experience refined their skills to very high levels of effectiveness.
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