The enquiry into the Lindt Cafe siege is tippy toeing through the minefield of whether the police or the ADF should have ultimate authority to make decisions in this type of crime situation. It is fast developing into a " Turf Battle ". Unfortunately, world events indicate that we may see more of these armed intrusions onto the civilian domain as Islamic State and al Qaeda settle in to bring their ideology war to the streets of western cities.
That siege in a cafe in inner Sydney was both unexpected and deadly efficient. A man with a backpack suddenly produced a gun in a crowded coffee shop and in declaring a siege threatened customers with the news that he had a bomb in his backpack and more were scattered about the city. The police acted quickly, clearing pedestrians and setting up a command centre. It became evident that terrorism was involved when Man Monis ordered an IS flag to be displayed in the cafe window.
The police are trained to handle sieges. Special negotiators try and calm the situation and well oiled procedures slip into place, but most of the cases police encounter are based on the alcohol or drug culture, the breakdown of family relationships or cornering a felon who refuses to surrender. This was entirely different. Monis expected to end his own life and take a great number of victims with him.
Police snipers were put in place and it was encouraging that groups of hostages were managing to escape. There were shortcomings in police communications and there is controversy over when the decision to end the siege was made. Shots were fired at escaping customers and many think that was the time for an armed intrusion. That only happened later, when one of the hostages was brutally murdered.
There is no doubt that the police raiding party was brave. They went in with superior fire power, but with the prospect that a bomb was in the cafe with the capacity to kill everybody involved. In the shoot out that followed, Man Monis was killed, but unfortunately one of the hostages also died from a police richocet.
Now we learn that under the siege protocols in place the ADF had liason officers at the forward police command post and early in the siege special forces had constructed a mock-up of the cafe at an army base to sharpen any intrusion team on the best tactics to use.
There is also contention over the police use of assault rifles for the siege take down. The army warned that 5.6 mm rounds are likely to shatter on impact and exacerbate casualties - and that is precisely what happened. Man Monis was armed with a twelve gauge shotgun with a five round magazine and twenty-two police bullets were fired during the assault on the cafe.
The ADF special forces employ different weapons for different situations. In such sieges they are likely to use a Heckler and Koch nine mm MP7 and they are famous for their noted " double tap " of placing just two hits on the target. The purpose of this enquiry is to establish a clear command structure and determine what protocols are put in place whenever a similar situation arises in the future.
In the past, the civilian scene was clearly the domain of the police and the Army was our force to serve on overseas battlefields. Today - events are not so clear. We are facing a declared war from a stateless armed identity seeking to recruit a " Fifth Column " from within our ranks by using social media. We can no longer tolerate turf battles over command rights. It is important that the lines of command are clear and that whoever is best suited to achieve a successful conclusion to whatever we are facing is employed to do that task.
That should be the outcome whenever this enquiry ends !
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