The Tactical Medical Liaison Unit (TAMELU) is a specialist unit that focuses on facilitating emergency medical assistance in a police tactical context, providing the link between the two worlds. The TAMELU unit provides 24/7 security for the entire country.
| For example: on 17 May 2021, a manhunt was launched in the Haute Campine national park. Jürgen Conings, a radicalised soldier with close ties to far-right circles, took refuge in the forest with firearms stolen from the Leopoldsburg barracks. A large-scale operation was launched. A Liaison Officer from the TAMELU unit was dispatched to coordinate between the emergency medical assistance resources and the special unit command of the federal police. |
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A member of this unit is called a liaison officer for discipline 2 (or LO D2) which covers medical, sanitary and psychosocial assistance. Theseare federal civil servants with a professional profile as a nurse specialised in emergency care. They have also had additional training in disaster management and have a certificate of competence as director of the operational command post.
The liaison officers are attached to the special units of the federal police. There is not currently any link with the specialist assistance teams of the local police.
In practical terms, the liaison officer joins the special units of the federal police in the field as soon as there is a potential or actual need for medical support. The action of the TAMELU unit focuses on coordination missions and not on performing medical actions. The liaison officer is the point of contact for the special units of the federal police, the ambulances, PIT or MUG/SMUR on site, the Medical Director and their deputies and the federal health inspector. The mission of the liaison officer involves facilitating the safe and effective evacuation of victims from the dangerous area so that they can enter the medical care chain as soon as possible, in order to increase their survival chances.
This support mission concerns the preparation and execution of scheduled operations, such as arrests or enhanced searches but also crisis situations such as a Fort Chabrol[1], a criminal or terrorist hostage situation, AMOK incidents[2], the seizure of a plane, the seizure of a ship (piracy) or any other means of transport or a terrorist attack.
[1]A situation where a person, generally armed, hides in a building surrounded by law enforcement agencies. The expression Fort Chabrol comes from a news story that took place from 12 August to 20 September 1899 on Rue Chabrol in Paris.
[2]The Malaysian AMOK concept describes a situation during which one or more individuals attack the people present and try to cause as many casualties as possible, without seeking to retreat or take hostages.