Police tactical groups, formerly known as "police assault groups", are part of the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n government's National Anti-Terrorism Plan which, since 1978, has required each state and territory police force to maintain a specialised counter-terrorist and hostage rescue

Hostage crisis

A hostage crisis develops when one or more terrorists or criminals hold people against their will and try to hold off the authorities by force, threatening to kill the hostages if provoked or attacked....

 unit jointly funded by the federal government and respective state/territory governments .

Establishment

The primary providers of law enforcement in Australia are the state and territories. PTGs are civilian-police SWAT

SWAT

A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...

 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. Aside from internal, inter-state and international training and couses the tactical assault group of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment

Australian Special Air Service Regiment

The Special Air Service Regiment, officially abbreviated SASR but commonly known as the SAS, is a special forces unit of the Australian Army...

 conducts annual training courses for PTG members from each state and territory .

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.

Training exercises

PTGs also participate in a number of national counter-terrorist exercises (NATEXs) each year, in which federal and state government agencies practise responses to potential terrorist threats and test the procedures and legislation for Australian Defence Force

Australian Defence Force

The Australian Defence Force is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy , Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and a number of 'tri-service' units...

 support to civilian authorities in the event of a terrorist attack .

Equipment

All Groups are jointly funded and equipped by both their respective State Police Force and the Federal Government. Federal Government funding allows purchases for more expensive equipment such as supplying all PTG's with Lenco BearCat

Lenco BearCat

The Lenco BearCat is a wheeled armored personnel carrier in use with numerous military and law enforcement agencies.-History:Since 1981 the Massachusetts based Lenco Industries, known as Lenco Armoured Vehicles has designed and manufactured armored vehicles for Law Enforcement, Military, Government...

 "Armoured Rescue Vehicles".

State, Territory and Federal units

Police tactical group Australian Federal Police

Australian Federal Police

The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...

- Operational Response Group

Operational Response Group

The Operational Response Group is a police tactical group of the Australian Federal Police and part of the AFP's International Deployment Group able to support the AFP in both National and International tactical operations..-History:...

 Australian Federal Police

Australian Federal Police

The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...

- Specialist Response and Security Team

Specialist Response and Security

The Specialist Response and Security Team is the Special Operations and Police Tactical Group of the Australian Federal Police having responsibility for tactical and specialist operations within the Australian Capital Territory...

•  New South Wales - Tactical Operations Unit
  State Protection Group
  The State Protection Group is part of the Specialist Operations division of the New South Wales Police Force, having been established in 1991 to deal with extraordinary policing responses. The SPG directly supports police in high-risk incidents such as sieges with specialised tactical,...
  
  
•  Northern Territory - Territory Response Group
  Territory Response Group
  The Territory Response Group is the Police Tactical Group of the Northern Territory Police. Part of the Territory Response Section the TRG is tasked to provide general and specialist support to other units of the Northern Territory Police...
  
  
•  Queensland - Special Emergency Response Team
  Special Emergency Response Team (Queensland)
  Special Emergency Response Team is the Police Tactical Group of the Queensland Police, Australia. SERT is part of the Specialist Response Branch within the Operations Support Command which incorporates the Explosive Operations Response Team and the Negotiator Coordination Unit...
  
  
•  South Australia - Special Tasks and Rescue Group
  Special Tasks and Rescue
  Special Tasks and Rescue is the Police Tactical Group of the South Australia Police.-History:Formed on 30 November 1978 the South Australian Police STAR Group was a rationalisation of specialist resources into one command/unit. Specialist units had existed prior to 1978 within SAPOL to deal with...
  
  
•  Tasmania - Special Operations Group
  Special Operations Group of the Tasmania Police
  The Special Operations Group is the Police Tactical Group of the Australian Tasmania Police. SOG is a highly trained group within the Tasmania Police Service, made up of current serving Tasmania Police members from varied sections and branches.-Mission:...
  
  
•  Victoria (Australia) - Special Operations Group
  Victoria Police Special Operations Group
  The Special Operations Group is the police tactical group of the Victoria Police.-History:The Special Operations Group was formed in 1977. Its main function was to provide a response to politically motivated and criminal terrorist activity. Today, this remains the number one priority for the...
  
  
•  Western Australia - Tactical Response Group

See also

• National Anti Terrorism Exercise
• Special Operations Command
  Special Operations Command (Australia)
  The Special Operations Command is a command within the Australian Defence Force . Special Operations Command was established in May 2003, to unite all of the ADF special forces units. As of 2007 Special Operations Command is fully operational. Australia's Special Operations Command is of...
  
  
  • Tactical assault group
• List of special response units