Not Their Finest Hour !

Nineteen months ago the Lindt Cafe siege brought terror to the streets of Sydney.    An inquest into that event has been slowly and methodically examining how the response was put in place by the New South Wales Police who were tasked with bringing it to an end.

It is now clear that the snipers and the assault team carried out their duties in difficult circumstances bravely and to the best of their abilities, but that the Police command structure was little more than a shambles, lacking clear lines of authority and were totally unprepared for such an event.   It must be clear to all who have closely followed this inquest that this was  " not their finest hour "  !

The very purpose of an inquest is to identify weaknesses and bring improvements so that we are better prepared should a similar event strike this city.   Judging by the spread of terror across the western world that seems to be more a matter of " when " rather than " if "  and one striking need seems to be sitting in limbo and receiving scant attention.

Early in this inquest it was noted that New South Wales was the only state lacking a police mobile command centre.   Because of this, the first three hours of the siege saw the response tasked from a four wheel drive utility vehicle before being moved into a small room with a single working phone connection in a Leagues club.   As a result, hostages were often unable to communicate vital intelligence to the police on their mobile phones and general communications were at best - patchy.

The Federal government had donated a fully equipped mobile command centre to each of the states and each of these contained multiple communications and whiteboards and similar equipment to enable response planning.   It seems that the New South Wales vehicle suffered a lightning strike in 2011 and spent until 2014 sitting in a garage unrepaired.    Eventually, it was sent to auction - and not replaced.

The early days of the inquest highlighted how the lack of a dedicated command centre adversely affected police siege planning and it was expected that this would be immediately remedied.   It seems that it took until March 2015 for a new mobile command vehicle to be even ordered and today its chassis is awaiting fitting out sitting on the wharf at Port Kembla.

Even if replacing this essential vehicle gets top priority it is going to take many more months for the fitting out to be completed and this state again have a mobile command vehicle ready to roll into  position the moment terrorists strike.   Considering how this lack affected the Lindt siege it seems the height of absurdity that the police command structure took so long to rectify what was a glaring omission in police readiness.

What is clearly emerging from this inquest is dysfunction in the upper echelon of the police command structure.   The Police Commissioner has delayed his retirement and there seems to be heated contention amongst those who have reason to be considered for elevation to the top post.  Manoeuvring for position seems to be pitting senior officers against one another rather than delivering the certainty we expect from the Police.

The delay in replacing that essential mobile command vehicle is symptomatic of the inertia affecting police morale !