FRoM CoMMissioneR ATKinson - Queensland Police Service ...

When the
Despite their tough image, the Special
Emergency Response Team find time to
delight sick children at the Royal Children’s
Hospital with their gravity defying skills.
In August 2008 the Negotiator
Coordination Unit, Special
Emergency Response Team
and Explosive Ordnance
Response Team separated
from Specialist Services
Branch, and the new Specialist
Response Branch was born
within Operations Support
Command.
Under the command of a
Superintendent, the three
units travel statewide to assist
all areas of the Queensland
Police Service (QPS) with
high risk situations, terrorist
incidents and low risk
matters that require specialist
equipment, skills or tactics.
The Australian and
Queensland Governments
have developed policies
stating that negotiation
is the preferred option to
resolve high-risk incidents
and terrorist situations. The
Negotiator Coordination Unit
(NCU) manages the training
and operational deployment
of 112 police negotiators
who, apart from three NCU
members, perform the role
in a part-time capacity in all
regions of the state.
Police negotiators respond
to 150 incidents per year on
average, including suicide
intervention, hostage
situations and barricaded
offenders, as well as incidents
of kidnapping and extortion.
Negotiators can also be
deployed to low risk incidents
where they can assist officers
in the performance of
their duties, for example,
by providing a liaison
function during protests and
demonstrations.
As well as responding to
domestic incidents, the
QPS maintains a counterterrorism
negotiator response
through participation in the
National Counter Terrorism
Committee’s Counter
Terrorism Negotiator Course.
The QPS currently has 27
qualified negotiators who
have attended this course.
The Special Emergency
Response Team (SERT)
provides Queensland with a
tactical response to incidents
exceeding the capabilities of
general duties police. SERT
assistance may be requested
for planned incidents such
as execution of high risk
searches or arrest warrants, or
for spontaneously occurring
incidents such as sieges
involving weapons.
SERT supports negotiators
and other police on the
scene of high risk incidents,
providing a safe environment
for negotiations to occur, as
well as containing threats and
providing emergency tactical
intervention as required. SERT
also provides assistance to all
areas of the Service requiring
specialist equipment and skills
for low risk operations such
as rural drug searches or a
specialist roping capability.
The Explosive Ordnance
Response Team (EORT)
attends to incidents involving
the presence or threatened
use of improvised explosive
devices, home made
explosives, booby traps or
other explosive devices, as
well as chemical, biological
and radiological incidents.
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