("Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence"), commonly abbreviated RAID (; French: ), is an elite tactical unit of the French National Police. It is headquartered in Bièvres, Essonne, approximately 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of Paris. This is an elite police unit founded in 1985. RAID is the National Police counterpart of the National Gendarmerie's GIGN. Both units share responsibility for the French territory. Since 2009, RAID and the Paris Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI), a separate National Police unit reporting directly into the Paris Police Prefecture (), have formed a task force called National Police Intervention Force () or FIPN. When activated, the task force is headed by the RAID commander. Thirteen regional units of the National Police, previously known as National Police Intervention Groups (GIPNs), have been created or permanently integrated into RAID and re-designated as "RAID branches" () between 2015 and 2019. Missions Among the main missions of RAID are: Counter-terrorism in coordination with UCLAT, the co-ordination unit for the fight against terrorism (). Hostage recovery situations Close protection of VIPs Protection of some of the French embassies in war-torn countries (a mission shared with the Gendarmerie's GIGN) Site protection during special events Resolution of prison riots Assistance to other police departments fighting against organized crime Surveillance and arrest of high-profile criminals Arrest of dangerous deranged persons Training and assistance to foreign police forces Assessment of new equipment and techniques. RAID reports to the director general of the National Police (DGPN), himself a direct report of the minister of the interior. History Before the creation of RAID, the National Police did not have a national unit comparable to the Gendarmerie's GIGN and relied instead on regional units: BRI in Paris and the GIPNs in the provinces. Minister of the Interior Pierre Joxe was the key decision maker who authorized the creation of the unit. RAID was founded by then-commissaires Robert Broussard and Ange Mancini in 1985. Broussard, one of the best known Police commissaires at the time, was one of the advisers who pushed the project. Mancini was chosen to be the unit's first commander. RAID's first mission - a hostage situation in a Nantes tribunal, took place soon afterwards in December 1985. In 1987 RAID arrested the leaders of the terrorist group Action Directe in their Vitry-aux-Loges hideout. In May 1993, RAID solved a delicate hostage situation when a man named Erick Schmitt, calling himself "HB" (for "Human