Causing a siege is not a crime under Tasmanian law, but former Northern Commander Ivan Dean wants to see that changed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“It needs to be a crime and it needs to be attended to now,” he said.
Mr Dean’s comments come after two sieges in Launceston in the past month – one at Prospect and the other at Trevallyn.
Police and special forces were held at bay for 17 hours during a siege at Trevallyn that started on Friday afternoon and ended when the house two people had barricaded themselves in was stormed by officers.
A 24-year-old man and 40-year-old woman were held up inside a house on New World Avenue armed with a small calibre gun from about 4.30pm on Friday.
Despite at least 40 shots being fired from the house, police continued to negotiate with the two people inside.
RELATED
The decision to storm the property was made after police learned the woman’s life was in danger, with officers entering about 9.45am on Saturday.
Mr Dean dealt with many sieges during his time in the force and he said it was necessary for it to be a standalone, extremely significant crime with harsh penalties.
“A siege situation is an extremely difficult one for police to manage: Not only do they have the safety of their own people, they have the safety of the public around them and the safety of the people in the house where the siege is occurring,” he said.
Sieges are “extremely” difficult for police, but Mr Dean said he’d received very positive feedback about all those involved in the operation.
“I just take my hat off to police in this situation,” he said.
“It is very pleasing it turned out they way it did for everybody. I think it speaks very much to the expertise of Tasmania Police.”
Assistant Commissioner Operations Richard Cowling said high level of training and the capacity of the SOG was reflected in the successful resolution of this particular incident.
“These type of events are disruptive and do consume a significant amount of police resources,” he said.
“However, as always, the safety of members of the public and our responding officers is our top priority and we will continue to use whatever resources necessary to resolve the situation as safely as possible.
“The continued training and exercising of senior police personnel to manage a complex and fast-moving scenario allows us to respond and manage these incidents as effectively as possible.”
Tasmania Police Commissioner Darren Hine also praised all the officers involved in the Trevallyn siege.
“The safe resolution of this incident is a credit to the commitment and training of everyone involved,” he said.