A new training facility at Goulburn Police Academy will provide world-class training to police for active armed offender scenarios.
The $8 million facility was officially opened by the Commissioner of Police, Michael Fuller, and Deputy Commissioner Corporate Services, Malcolm Lanyon, last Thursday (13 August 2020).
Commissioner Fuller said the new training facility will be used to provide police with the specialised skills and techniques to manage dangerous and highly volatile active armed offender incidents.
“This state-of-the-art structure enhances the NSW Police Force capability to respond to active armed offender incidents and other high-risk events,” Commissioner Fuller said.
“The purpose-built facility is designed with both internal and external training areas to allow scenario and reality-based training for all types of situations.
“Police will receive specialist training to deal with armed offenders in a number of different scenarios, ranging from domestic violence to counter terrorism incidents,” Commissioner Fuller said.
Active armed offender training was adopted in NSW in November 2015 and is based on the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT), as used by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
Commander of Corporate Services, Deputy Commissioner Malcolm Lanyon, said our active armed offender training is in line with the world’s best practice but modified to Australian standards.
“Since adopted in 2015, all police officers have undertaken the training and it is now incorporated into our ongoing training regime.
“This innovative facility will help us to better equip our officers with the additional skills they need when first on the scene at a terrorism or high-risk incident,” he said.
The new training venue features relocatable walls; a steel, observation gantry with CCTV that can be used in operational safety assessments; and outdoor capabilities to allow police to practice rapid vehicle response strategies.
The building works commenced in May 2019 and were finished by March 2020, with training at the facility commencing in early April 2020.
This facility will be used as a design template for future NSW Police Force operational training venues.
