Police Tactical Group

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PTG officers from the Victorian police Special Operations Group during a training exercise in Victoria 2003

Police Tactical Groups, formerly known as "Police Assault Groups", are part of the Australian government's National Anti-Terrorism Plan ^[1] which, since 1978, has required each state and territory police force to maintain a specialised counter-terrorist and hostage rescue unit jointly funded by the federal government and respective state/territory governments ^[2].

1 Establishment
2 Training Exercises
3 Police Tactical Groups
4 References
5 See also

[edit] Establishment

PTGs are civilian-police SWAT units established to respond to high-risk situations which are beyond the scope or capacity of everyday policing. PTG officers directly support operational police in incidents such as sieges with specialist tactical, negotiation, intelligence and command support services.The Tactical Assault Group of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment conducts annual training courses for PTG members from each state and territory ^[3].

Each year as part of the National Counter-Terrorist Committee Skills Enhancement Course, each state and territory sends up to three members of its PTG to participate in a concentrated three-week course to strengthen standards of policing in urban counter-terrorist tactics and ensure all states are training consistently to the same codes and standards of counter-terrorism.

[edit] Training Exercises

PTGs also participate in a number of national counter-terrorist exercises (NATEXs) each year, in which Commonwealth and state government agencies practise responses to potential terrorist threats and test the procedures and legislation for Australian Defence Force support to civilian authorities in the event of a terrorist attack ^[4].