They typically attempt to catch offenders in the act after monitoring their activities, a technique that was first experimented with in the 1960s by the then-new Paris BRI.

It has been involved in the resolution of hostage crises from its beginnings in the early 1970s to the Porte de Vincennes siege in January 2015 and the "Bataclan" assault during the November 2015 Paris attacks.

The criminals would then be arrested - either just before the crime took place or soon after but never during the action itself - so that there would be enough evidence for prosecution while avoiding the risks of shoot-outs and innocent victims.

One of the better-known BRI successes was achieved in 1977 when the captors of banker Gérard Mallet, who had been under surveillance for more than four months,[5] were arrested less than four hours after they had committed their crime.

Command and coordination between the Paris BRI-PP and RAID in response to acts of terror, is entrusted to a task force called National Police Intervention Force, headed by the RAID commander, and which is only activated if a major crisis occurs.