SOG-ies' anniversary well worth celebrating

The history of the SOG-ies, "The Officers in Black", is one of the protection of the Tasmanian community, often in the most extreme of circumstances.

The SOG motto is "Si Opus Sit" - or colloquially, "Where There Is Need."

Tasmania is the only jurisdiction without a full-time police tactical group. And the Police Association of Tasmania is having an ongoing discussion with government and all sides of politics about the need for a 20-person squad - 10 in the South and 10 in the North - to be fully-funded.

The SOG-ies in Tasmania at present are essentially volunteers, managing their day jobs and being called into action when required.

At the recent Trevallyn siege, which was resolved without injury to the two people involved, SOG members had a 20-second countdown to enter the house because of fears for the woman's life. Look at your watch ... watch 20 seconds tick by. It's not a long time to make a decision and risk your own lives to save someone else.

But that's what the members of the SOG do every day, although much of what they do goes unnoticed by the general Tasmanian community - which is as it should be - in terms of surveillance and other intelligence-gathering capabilities they have.

And in the Trevallyn incident, SOG members were reporting for duty having already worked 10 hours at their "regular" job.

The PAT nominated the SOG members involved in Trevallyn for a Police Federation of Australia Bravery Award, which is the only recognition they have received so far in Tasmania. The origin of the SOG-ies with one of the most heinous crimes or acts of terrorism in Australia's history - the Hilton bombing in 1978.

From this incident, a national body - the Standing Advisory Committee on Commonwealth and State Co-operation for Protection Against Violence was formed, which has since morphed into its current body, the Australia New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee.

Tasmania's major incident in this space was, of course, the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996, which was also an example of cross-jurisdictional cooperation, when Victoria sent SOG members to assist.

Tasmania has been involved in major national operations, like the 2007 APEC Conference, when four SOG members were on the massive security operation of 120 to protect President George W. Bush, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and regular CHOGM conferences.

What people do not realise is the commitment made by the existing part-time SOG-ies. They train for 45 days a year, often going to the Special Forces training centre in Holdsworthy Sydney or Swanbourne in Western Australia, for skills enhancement programs.

The landscape in which the SOG works has changed dramatically since 1996 and Port Arthur and most importantly since its inception 40 years ago

More specifically, it's a continually evolving workspace, with new threats facing the Tasmanian and Australian community.

We must now prepare daily for Active Armed Offenders and Hostile Vehicle Mitigation, the latter being when an offender uses a car or truck as a weapon against people or property. As previously mentioned, a lot of the SOG's work goes unnoticed, because superior, modern surveillance techniques and tactical methodologies enable the apprehension of offenders before incidents occur.

The difference between the SOG and police officers on general duties is that the latter will "contain" an incident, while the SOG will resolve the more dramatic situations, such as siege incidents or extreme violence. Further, the SOG have higher levels of training and equipment.

And another development has been the increase in "less-lethal" tactics and equipment, such as flexible baton rounds, chemical weapon deployment and tasers - to more safely and with the minimal amount of force arrest dangerous offenders.

The Special Operations Group will continue to do what it does every day - protecting Tasmanians and the community, just like Tasmania Police officers do every day.

Hopefully, into the future, we will be able to do that work even more professionally.