Until July 2012 the Specialist Response and Security Team (SRS) was a

Police Tactical Group Police tactical group (PTG) is the generic term used to refer to highly trained Australian and New Zealand police tactical units that tactically manage and resolve high-risk incidents, including sieges, armed-offender situations and terrorist incid ...

of the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...

(AFP) having responsibility for tactical and specialist operations within the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

. The

Operational Response Group The Operational Response Group (ORG) was a former police tactical group of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) part of the AFP's International Deployment Group (IDG) that was established in 2005 to support the AFP in variety of national and inter ...

(ORG) had responsibility for AFP National and International tactical operations. In July 2012 the SRS was merged with the ORG to create the

Specialist Response Group The Specialist Protective Services (SPS) (formerly Specialist Response Group (SRG)) is a highly trained police unit of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) consisting of a range of teams capable of deploying at short notice in order to undertake ...

History

The SRS formed part of the Australian Government's National Anti-Terrorism Plan which required each State/Territory Police Force to maintain a specialist

counter-terrorist Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to com ...

and

hostage rescue A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

unit with specialist capabilities. The SRS fulfilled that role within the Australian Capital Territory, until the formation of the SRG. In 1964 the AFP created the "Armed Offenders Squad" after officers attended a

New South Wales Police Force The New South Wales Police Force is a law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia, established in 1862. With more than 17,000 police officers, it is the largest police organisation in Australia, policing an area of 801,60 ...

"Emergency Squad" training course. This unit was under the control of Detectives and worked on a part-time as needed basis. As a result of SACPAV recommendations after the 1978 Sydney Hilton bombing several members of the Army's elite

Special Air Service Regiment The Special Air Service Regiment, officially abbreviated SASR though commonly known as the SAS, is a special forces unit of the Australian Army. Formed in 1957 as a company, it was modelled on the British SAS with which it shares the motto, ...

(SASR) were employed as Commonwealth Police in order to create the "Commonwealth Police Counter Terrorist Operations Section" which was dissolved in 1981 after the CHOGM meeting held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. In 1983, the "Special Operations Team" (SOT) was formed. In 2002, following

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

the SOT underwent significant changes. In March 2003, the SOT was renamed to the Specialist Response and Security section. In October 1998, the SOT participated in Operation ''Linnet'', a land and sea operation off

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

that resulted in the seizure of 390 kg of heroin. The SOT boarded the

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

-registered freighter ''Uniana'' suspected of smuggling the heroin to Australia from south-east Asia. Specialist Response and Security (SRS) section of ACT Policing provided a full-time tactical operations unit who also performed

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

and

riot control Riot control is a form of public order policing used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to social control, control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful Demonstration (people), demonstration ...

duties, a K9 role and

bomb squad Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are disabled or otherwise rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated fun ...

. The unit also commanded the AFP's Police Negotiation Team, Water Police, Police Divers and Major Events Planning Team. In 2011 SRS took delivery of

Lenco BearCat The Lenco BearCat is a wheeled SWAT vehicle designed for military and law enforcement use. It is in use by numerous military forces and law enforcement agencies around the world. History Since 1981 the Massachusetts-based Lenco Industries, known ...

armoured rescue vehicle for high risk tactical operations.

Role

SRS officers undertook the following duties within the ACT: *Resolving

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

and

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

situations, as well as armed offender situations; *Providing a

negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties to resolve points of difference, gain an advantage for an individual or Collective bargaining, collective, or craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. The parties aspire to agree on m ...

service in high risk and critical situations; *Undertaking searches of premises in high risk situations; *The arrest of armed and dangerous offenders; *Escorting and securing dangerous prisoners in high risk situations; *Providing support services for major operations;ACT Policing Annual Report 2004-2005
/ref> *

Rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, removal from danger, liberation from restraint, or the urgent treatment of injury, injuries after an incident. It may be facilitated by a range of tools and equipm ...

and

bomb disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are disabled or otherwise rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated fun ...

operations; *

Counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

and hijacking operations; *The escort and security of VIPs, internationally protected persons,

Heads of State A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

; *Testing and evaluation of specialist

less than lethal Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than conventiona ...

weapons/devices; On occasion, SRS officers also provided support to international AFP deployments overseas prior to the formation of the

reviously known as the Operational Response Team (ORT) Their role on such operations included: * effect high risk searches, search warrants and arrests * support to public order policing remote rural patrols * protection of people in high risk situationsRoyal visit to Canberra – AFP
/ref> * support to the security of members deployed to mission.

Units

The section consisted of a number of units including: * Water operations team * Canine (K9) operations team * Bomb response team * Tactical Response Team (SRS-TR) The section also provided close personal protection to important dignitaries and heads of state visiting Australia.

Unit Closure

The SRS merged with

as part of a major restructuring process that was designed to reduce the duplication between specialist AFP and ACT Policing units and national AFP assets into one command and located in Canberra. The Specialist Response Group commenced operations on 1 July 2012.Elite police super group http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/elite-police-super-group-20120202-1t8fa.html

References

{{Aust PTG Police units of Australia Police tactical units Australian Federal Police 1978 establishments in Australia 2012 disestablishments in Australia

History

Role

Units

Unit Closure

See also

References