Training

To maintain the SDU's high standards, recruitment exercises are not open to the general public. To even qualify for the recruitment, one must have a minimum two years service in the Hong Kong Police, and to be both a non-smoker and non-drinker. The selection process is very stringent, with a high drop-out rate; only about 100 are selected to enlist in the SDU.

The officers in the unit maintain a high degree of secrecy and only the closest family members know their true identity.

Interestingly, the SDU does not enforce a retirement age, due to the unit's emphasis on overall personal capability rather than physical prowess alone; an officer only retires when he wishes to resign or has become incapable of fulfilling his duties.

The officers in SDU enjoy a comparatively high salary, a typical officer can expect to afford an expensive car or other luxuries in his first year of service. At their retirement, they are paid a lump sum of Hong Kong Dollars (HK) $2,000,000 and still receive a monthly pay-check.

To be a SDU officer, one must first completed the Police Tactical Unit (PTU) training, which includes crowd-control, advanced tactics and sliding down from helicopters. The SDU is open for all officers to apply who have completed the PTU trainings, those with short-sights can also apply by wearing contact-lens. Candidates who successfully complete the pre-selection process, medical examination and a four-day selection program will then attend a six-week Specialist Unit Basic Training (SUBT) course covering a range of topics including physical fitness training, weapons training, tactics and Close Quarter Containment. Upon completion of SUBT, candidates may choose to attend either ASU Advanced Training or SDU Advanced Selection. Officers who can pass the 7-day long SDU Advanced Selection will then attend its 5-months Advanced Counter-Terrorism (ACT) training and then join its operational teams, either team A or team B.

Officers who completed the ACT courses will then attend the combat diving courses, which last for 3 months. Officers will then be assigned to the land operation team, marine team or the sniper team according to their strengths. It takes at least 2 to 3 years before an officer can completely master all the CT skills required.

The medic team has received not only ACT training, but also field medics specially designed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hospital and Health Bureau of Hong Kong. This team is also trained by the British SAS and US Delta Force.

The SDU has frequent exchange programs with foreign CT units such as the US Navy SEALs and Delta Force, British SAS and SBS, French GIGN and Singapore Police's STAR. The SDU also involves in the creation and trainings of Singapore Police's STAR counter terrorism unit.

Specialist Unit Basic Training (SUBT):

The SUBT training consists of materials that are not taught in any other programs offered by the Hong Kong Police, not in the PTU training nor in the EU training. These materials include martial art, basic urban warfare, basic rural warfare, usage and maintenance of weapons, field navigation and Close Quarter Containment (CQC). The martial art taught in SUBT is a mixture of Judo and Thai boxing, and the use of knives. In the basic urban warfare, officers are taught about dynamic entries, team covering, fast rappelling from buildings and helicopters (slow rappelling is taught in PTU training); in basic rural warfare training, officers are taught to find covers, ambush points and team works. Officers in SUBT can also learn to fire fully automatic MP5 SMG (PTU only teaches to fire fully automatic AR-15/M-16A2, shotgun and single-fire MP5-A2-SF) and the maintenance of it. The CQC will teach officers the correct way in indoor, room-to-room fighting. Field navigation course including the use of map and stars to locate the current positions.

Counter Terrorism Trainings:

The counter terrorism (CT) trainings of the SDU has its origin from the British 22nd Special Air Services (SAS). The SAS is widely regarded as the world best special operation unit in the world. The SAS uses the term Counter Revolutionary Warfare Squadron (CRW) to dedicate its efforts to fight against terrorism. The Special Projects (SP) team inside the SAS is in charge of counter terrorism missions in the world, of which this team is also regarded by the world as the most experienced and best trained counter terrorist outfit. 80 soldiers from the SAS are selected every six months to station in the SP team. During the first six weeks of the rotation, SAS troopers will receive close quarter containment trainings in their kill houses to further refine their already high proficiency in firearms. During these six weeks the SAS troopers fire over 2,000 rounds of trainings.

The ACT course for the SDU is different from the trainings of the SAS, however, because the police officers joining the SDU did not receive special operation trainings before, therefore, the ACT has to train SDU trainees not only CQC techniques, but also other aspects necessary for the officers to become counter-terrorism capable. These includes physical fitness, hand-to-hand combats which include the use of knives, deployment trainings with various vehicles including helicopters, and various military tactics and strategies which are essential for the police officers to carryout CT missions successfully.

Despite of these differences, the CQC trainings are essentially identical for the SAS and the SDU in the ACT course, which is much more vigorous and demanding than the CQC trainings in the SUBT. The SDU adopts the room-clearing techniques from the SAS, their tactics and equipment. As seen from various documentary videos of the SAS and the SDU, both units perform vigorous room-clearing actions, like clearing a room of terrorists after the detonation of the flashbang within 2 seconds, and firing multiple rounds of fires to the heads of the terrorists to inflict maximum damages to them within the shortest period of time.

With the availability of world-class training facilities, equipment, sufficient supply of resources, as well as the various opportunities of cross training with other famous CT units in the world, the Special Duties Unit has established its reputation and respect throughout the world as a world-class counter terrorism unit.

SDU vs ASU:

The Airport Security Unit is a counter terrorism unit designated to patrol the Hong Kong International Airport in a high-profile manner to deter terrorists from attacking the airport as well as attempting to hijack aircraft within the jurisdiction of Hong Kong. Officers of ASU receive 5 months of counter terrorism trainings after completion of the SUBT training. Even though on many occasion Superintendent Danko Au Yeung has dismissed claims that the ASU is inferior to the SDU, nevertheless, from the selection criteria, trainings to the scope of missions capable to carry out, the SDU is apparently much more superior than the ASU.

Selections:

Since 2000, the recruitment procedures of the SDU and ASU are merged together. Police officers who wish to join the SDU or ASU have to first complete a four-days selection, and attend the six-week SUBT training. For officers who have completed the SUBT can immediately choose to attend the ASU's advanced counter terrorism course. Nevertheless, if those officers who have completed the SUBT wish to join the SDU, they have to first complete the SDU seven-days selection before allowing to take part in the ACT training, and for those officers who failed the seven-days selection can choose to attend the ASU's advanced counter terrorism course without any further selection procedures. This indicates that, to become a SDU member, one must be better performed than what the ASU requires its officers to do. Thus, the SDU is superior in terms of the quality of people admitted.

Trainings:

Both units, after passing the SUBT training, would provide their own five-months counter terrorism trainings. Nevertheless, the intensities of trainings in the ASU's and the ACT are not the same.

During the five-months counter terrorism training, each ASU officer would fire in excess of 1,000 rounds of cartridges, while each SDU officers would fire in excess of 4,000 rounds, which is 4 times as intensive as the ASU does. Secondly, the ASU's course, including its CQC course, emphasizes more on barricading high-risk suspects --- even the hand-to-hand combat of the ASU is aimed to allow its officers to be elite in barricading suspects, other than the SDU's ACT course emphasize on "shoot-to-kill" doctrine just like its predecessor, the British SAS does. Even the SDU's hand-to-hand combat course emphasizes on performing lethal, or close to lethal, attacks on the terrorists, other than barricade them. Thirdly, the SDU course covers not only marksmanship on MP5 SMG 9-mm pistols and deployment strategies and tactics, but also in medium to long-range engagements, explosives as well as other specialist fields. Therefore, the SDU's ACT course is much more intensive and complete than the ASU's advanced training course in terms of counter terrorism tactics.

Furthermore, after the completion of the ACT, every SDU officers are required to attend the three-months long combat diving courses, which are originated from the British SBS --- a unit which is more elite than the SAS in terms of maritime CT. Officers will than be equipped with skills and techniques to perform maritime CT missions as well as maritime infiltrations, of which the ASU simply could not do.

Missions:

Lastly, the differences between the type of missions that the SDU and ASU officers can perform have also shown that the SDU is superior than the ASU. The SDU does not only specialize in terms of CQC, but also in anti-hijackings and hostage rescue missions and barricading of high-risk suspects and criminals. Even though the ASU has a anti-hijacking unit which is rotated every month, and its members have to receive anti-hijacking techniques, during various exercises and actual deployments, it were the SDU that actually asked to perform anti-hijacking missions. Therefore, the SDU is superior in terms of its readiness, reliability, as well as its diversity in terms of the types of missions capable to perform.