Officer who shot alleged offender in Hindley St praised for ‘calm and rational’ decision to save victims

POLICE officers need “immense courage” to shoot an alleged offender and nothing can prepare them to make the difficult decision, the police association says.

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POLICE officers need “immense courage” to shoot an alleged offender and nothing can prepare them to make the difficult decision, the police association says.

President Mark Carroll praised the “calm and rational” actions of the officer who shot the man accused of assaulting his pregnant former partner, before abducting her and their two children at gunpoint and leading police on a pursuit, which ended in Hindley St.

Police at the scene of the shooting in Hindley St. Picture: Scott Oates

“By all reports the police officer who fired the shot made a calm and rational decision to save a young child from harm and protect the community from criminal action,” he said.

“Our STAR officers undergo extensive training for these types of situations but nothing can really prepare an officer for incidents like this.

“It takes immense courage — in the face of all the distractions — to decide to shoot an offender.”

Mr Carroll said officers confronted with such a situation must take decisive action while contending with their own adrenaline and hyper-vigilance.

“They must remain calm, rational and stable and put the community’s safety ahead of their own,” he said.

“They then have to justify their actions. Using a firearm is not a decision any officer takes lightly.

“Police hope that they never have to use their firearm, but in some unfortunate situations — when faced with a violent offender who chooses to put innocent lives at risk — it is their only option.”

After the incident, Assistant Commissioner Paul Dickson described the situation as difficult for both the victims, and police.

“It’s a terrible incident for both the people involved — because you couldn’t imagine how horrific it would have been for the young mother and two children — and also it’s a very difficult incident for the police to manage,” he said.

“You’ve got three people in the car but you’ve also for the offender so we don’t want anything to happen to those people.

“We’ve got the vehicle which he was driving at some parts at reasonably high speed so that limits our tactics into what we can do.”