John Nelson

Who is John Nelson?

John G. Nelson was an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department who is considered to be the founding father of the SWAT concept. His idea was presented to LAPD chief William Parker in the 1960s and he gained approval to create a special weapons and tactics group to deal with unusual and difficult situations.

After the Watts riots, Sgt. John G. Nelson personally approached LAPD chief Bill Parker with his proposal for a SWAT unit. Nelson had served in a USMC elite Force Recon unit during WWII and based the SWAT concept on the Recon units, believing that a small squad of highly trained police officers armed with special weapons would be more effective in a riotous situation than a massive police response.

Chief Parker liked the proposal and presented it to his command staff. He asked for a volunteer to form the SWAT unit. Fearing a political backlash, no one on his command staff was willing to volunteer, including Daryl Gates. Parker then told Nelson to go ahead and form the SWAT unit himself, which he did.