RENEA

The Department of Neutralization of Armed Elements () commonly known by its acronym RENEA, is the main Albanian counter-terrorist and critical incident response unit. The force was constituted in the early 1990s in response to the growing crime levels in the country after the fall of communism. RENEA's responsibilities are rescue operations, hostage situations, counter-terrorism and response to particularly violent forms of crime. Since 1990, the unit has lost four men in action and more than forty wounded. Their skills are highly regarded and well thought-of inside Albania and in the West, they are reported to have one of the highest OPTEMPOs (frequency of deployments) in all of Europe and they have been trained by GSG 9.

==Background== Following the emergence of capitalism in Albania after 1990 and in order to eradicate all semblances to and associations with the communist state, many investigators, attorneys and police officers were simply dismissed. This confused situation soon allowed organized and individual crime to flourish to the point that it soon became the norm of everyday life. Kidnapping, extortion, drug-related crime, murder and human trafficking were at an all-time high, and the Albanian fledgling democracy did not have the legal, administrative and organizational experience to combat these problems — in fact its infrastructure was almost non-existent. During communism, the force that was entrusted with CT and other special missions was Unit 326, but because of its role in suppressing public unrest during the popular uprising against communism, it had been neglected.