Police officer shot in face says “I’ll be back at work tomorrow”

For 17 hours, the men in black with their heavy military-style equipment waited outside the cafe. When they finally acted, the end was swift.

THESE are the six words that say it all.

“I’ll be back at work tomorrow.”

The words came from the 39-year-old officer who received a minor injury due to a shotgun pellet grazing his face during the Martin Place siege. The officer left hospital this morning.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said she had met with the officer who was a little bit shaken but otherwise ready to report for duty.

“I’ve spoken to him this morning,” DC Burn said. “He was on his way home actually, and his only words to me were ‘I’ll be back at work tomorrow’.”

DCOP Burn has confirmed she's spoken to the police officer injured, who is going well under the circumstances. #MartinPlace

— NSW Police (@nswpolice) December 16, 2014

RELATED: Inside the siege: ‘If someone moves, someone dies’

RELATED: Faces of the Martin Place siege

Throughout this ordeal, NSW police have excelled themselves with their calm and competence.

Heavily armed police take aim outside the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place. Picture: Don Arnold/Getty Images

Often it can be hollow when police praise their own, but when NSW Commissioner Andrew Scipione today publicly commended the work of his troops, the praise was clearly justified.

His deputy has been brilliant and unflappable in her role as the public face of this tragedy. DC Burn has done three things remarkably well for well over 24 hours now with barely a break.

First, she has not lapsed into police-ese, preferring instead to use a little-used dialect (by police spokespeople) known as English. For example, she has used words like “cafe” instead of “premises” and “people” instead of “persons”. She even used the tragic but commonplace word “died” rather than the horribly cold “deceased”.

Dignity and professionalism … NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn. Picture: Joosep Martinson/Getty Images

Second, DC Burn has answered as many questions as she can openly and without obfuscation. Obviously there has been some things she can’t comment on, but she’s given all she can.

Third, the Deputy Commissioner has emphasised the proactive nature of NSW policing. Again and again, she has stressed that NSW police officers have been working with the Islamic community and other community groups. She clearly understands that good policing is about relationship-building, not just a game of goodies and baddies, cops and robbers.

But for all the fine work of those in public relations, the real heroes of this awful situation have been the law enforcement officers including the Australian Federal Police and local NSW Police officers as well as members of the state Public Order Riot Squad, Dog Unit, Negotiators, Aviation Support Branch and elite Tactical Operations Unit.

Police officers visit the flower memorial in Martin Place after the siege ended overnight. Picture: Bradley Hunter

For 17 hours, the men in black with their heavy military-style equipment waited outside the cafe. When they finally acted, the end was swift.

The NSW Police Tactical Operations Unit has been described by former member Rory Ford as “probably more aligned to a military unit by the very nature of the tactics we use, the firearms and equipment we use, the training, and the orders and preparation for jobs that we go through”.

“The officers that are attached to the Tactical Operations Unit would be classed as elite because they’ve shown that they’ll go the extra mile, perform under duress, under fatigue, and in difficult circumstances,” he told Australian Story in 2005.

Elite squad … An armed police officer in action during yesterday’s standoff. Picture: AP Photo/Rob Griffith

Post by NSW Police Force.

In the same report, former tactical officer Tim Leonard described the unit as “the best NSW Police have to offer … There’s no one left to turn to after us. Every job you go to, someone generally is trying to kill you, they’ve killed someone else or they intend to kill themselves”.

NSW Police negotiators also received praise. Peter Nunan, a former NSW Police Area Commander, said that “Our negotiators are trained to work with another person in trying to negotiate a more peaceful settlement of a situation rather than a hard-line confrontation situation. They’ll sit there and talk to these people for hours on end if they have to, and under a great deal of duress and trauma”.

That gives you an idea of the calibre of individual we saw in action overnight.

A hostage runs to armed tactical response police officers for safety after she escaped from a cafe under siege at Martin Place. Picture: AP Photo/Rob Griffith

As to whether the gunshots were a trigger for the officers to move in just after 2am, Deputy Commissioner Burn would only say: “The only point of clarification I can make is that we had in place an emergency action plan and that plan was activated at a particular point in time. My understanding is that gunshots were heard and an emergency action plan was activated.”

She would not comment on whether the gunman grappled with police, however she said these and other facts would emerge in ongoing investigations.

We’ve contacted a security expert for more information on the Tactical Operations Unit and will continue to update this story throughout the afternoon.