red baron wrote on Jul 17
th, 2017 at 2:16pm:
Malcolm Turnbull has just done something extremely meaningful
He is authorising the Army to takeover managing terrorist sieges
Nothing whatsoever against the Police team who broke the Man Monis siege but management wise it was a debacle Ex Commissioner Scipione and Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn should hang their heads shame at the coroner's finding on the Man Monis siege
Now the Army's S.A.S. will likely be involved in such a scenario and those blokes don't f...k around
This is a great turn of events and will make our Nation much more secure
Let the Police stick to Policing and let expert groups like the S.A.S. manage sieges, it's what they're good at
PS The Police on the ground did a brilliant job when they were finally allowed to do it from hapless masters
Oh, dearie, dearie, me. The Police are trained to control people and where possible, save lives. The SASR are trained to kill people. There is quite a difference. The first assumes that everybody is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The second assumes that the people in the siege are all guilty until proven innocent.
Is this a good thing? No. The Police should always control a siege situation. Doesn't matter what forces they use, it should be the police in control. The Army are only another tool in their chest which they can bring out when and if the matter requires it.
In the UK, the Police control the situation, the Army are only called in if necessary. If they are called in, martial law is declared. That enables the military to shoot to kill if necessary. Once the siege is resolved, all members of the Army unit involved are then arrested and placed on trial for manslaughter. Their use of force is examined by the Courts and usually declared lawful and they are acquitted.
Before this announcement, the Army was always available to help the Police. The Police however were unsure of their legal position and how they could use the Army. The Army always kept a Squadron of the SASR trained in counter-terrorism tactics. However, they were in Perth. With the 2000 Olympics and other special events, the Counter-Terrorism Squadron was deployed to where the event was occurring, "just in case". What this announcement will require is the stationing in each state a detachment from the Counter-Terrorism Squadron in order that response times can be shortened. It will also require changes to the laws of accountability.
Is this a good thing? I don't believe so. The Police will become sidelined and all their skills at negotiation and management will be ignored in the normal military option that all problems look like a nail when you only have a hammer to deal with them. I have no desire to see Australia become the military's shooting gallery.