Northern Territory Police are conducting Active Armed Offender (AAO) Practical Training for frontline members of Darwin Command.
From 6:30pm until 10:00pm today, approximately 50 frontline uniform members will be taking part in an AAO Training at Casuarina Shopping Centre. This exercise involves blank rounds being fired which will sound like gunshots.
Over the last six months, NT Police have undergone contemporary training in Incident Management, the rollout of Police Patrol Rifles and Active Armed Offender response. AAO Training involves a challenging scenario, combining all aspects of the previous training, which will test our frontline officers to ensure they are prepared and equipped to respond to this type of incident.
Police training for armed offenders is evolving globally in response to changing environments and emerging threats. NT Police are proactively up-skilling officers and utilising a large public venue, like Casuarina Shopping Centre, provides a degree of authenticity outside of normal police training environments.
Affected areas of Casuarina shopping centre will be clearly identified and partitioned off from the public. Signs will further indicate that a police training exercise is occurring.
Members of the public should not be alarmed, however, if they have concern or are unsure whether an activity relates to the AAO training they are advised to contact police immediately on 131 444 or 000.
NT Police would like to thank the management of Casuarina Shopping Centre, members of the public and residents in the area for their co-operation.
