Better to storm Lindt cafe: Advisor

It would have been preferable for officers to storm the Lindt cafe on their own terms, the inquest has heard.

The police Tactical Advisor during the Lindt Cafe siege has told an inquest it would have been preferable for heavily-armed officers to storm the cafe on their own terms before gunman Man Haron Monis shot one of his hostages.

The issue of whether police should have initiated a ‘Direct Action’ and forced their way into the cafe earlier, or relied on an ‘Emergency Action’ plan to do so only after the hostages were harmed, has become one of the most central issues before the inquest.

The 2014 siege ended when Monis shot and killed the cafe’s manager, Tori Johnson, provoking police to storm the building at 2.14am on December 16. The gunman, as well as another hostage, barrister Katrina Dawson, were killed by police bullets in the exchange of fire that followed.

Giving evidence this morning, the Tactical Advisor — who cannot be named — said “in terms of the world of tactical approaches, you’d rather commit a DA on your terms rather than on the terms of the hostage taker.

“You do it at a time of your choosing ... you would hope to see the best outcome, the best result, seek dominance in the stronghold and eliminate the threat,” he said.

The Emergency Action “is the least preferred plan of the two plans in a tactical sense,” the Tactical Advisor told the inquest.

Based in the Police Operations Centre, which oversaw the force’s response to the siege, the Tactical Advisor said plans for an Emergency Action were drawn up within hours of the siege beginning.

A Direct Action plan was also quickly established and ADF commandos were asked to do a walk-through of the proposed operation using a mock-up of the Lindt Cafe, before reporting back on its effectiveness to police, he said.

For most of this time, police were working on the basis that the building, a former bank, had bulletproof windows, the inquest heard, which would have effected their choice of tactics, including the use of three snipers who had been deployed.

Around 4pm, roughly seven hours into the siege, police received information that the glass “was primarily not of any ballistic nature,” the Tactical Advisor said, although it has not been made clear to the inquest whether or not this actually was the case.