Aussies give our police officers course on bombs

National

TEN participants from the three PNG disciplined forces have returned to the country after attending a bomb training course in Australia.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Sergeant Michael Cooper said participants from the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Correctional Services and police completed a bomb appraisal officer’s (BAO) course conducted by the AFP bomb-response team (BRT) in Canberra.
“The training assistance is the on-going commitment from the Australian government through the Papua New Guinea-Australian policing partnership programme in preparation for the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (Apec) meeting,” he said.
Cooper said the BAO course was  challenging, requiring strong leadership, knowledge and technical skills in order to lead search teams and conduct BAO technical analysis of X-rays using first world technologies.
“The course participants were required to build improvised explosive devices  creating an improvised switch,” he said. “Thinking like a terrorist not being a terrorist was part of the training.”
Cooper said  all the course participants  passed the theory and practical assessments resulting in 10 more Papua New Guinea-based BAOs for Apec 2018, adding to the previous eight who qualified earlier.
The Bomb Search Unit has just moved into their new offices at McGregor Barracks.