Although the term Active Armed Offender (AAO) is relatively new in its definition, incidents involving an AAO are not.

In recent years, particularly since the Al Qaeda led terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, terrorists have engaged in active armed offender attacks globally. Most people relate the term terrorism to Islamic fundamentalism because of the global attacks, however, terrorism as defined in Australia relates to an act or threat which is intended to advance a political, ideological, or religious cause (www.aph.gov.au) so it’s not confined to religious extremism only.

When reflecting on examples of AAO attacks in Australia they don’t always emanate from a violent extremist ideology but may also involve an individual with a serious fixation and/or serious mental health issue or motivated by hatred, revenge or criminal intent (www.police.wa.gov.au) such as the ‘Hoddle Street massacre (1987)’ in Victoria which saw 7 people killed and 19 injured, or the ‘Port Arthur massacre (1996)’ in Tasmania which saw 35 people killed and 23 injured, and more recently the ‘Bondi Junction attack’ which resulted in the death of 6 people. Although AAO attacks are not always related to violent extremist ideology, the impact on the community is just as significant.

In 1996 following the Port Arthur massacre the then Prime Minister John Howard introduced reforms to Australia’s gun laws to improve public safety, which included the banning of military-style firearms and a buyback program for unregistered, illegal, and unwanted firearms and more recently in Western Australia, the ‘WA Firearms Act Reform Voluntary Buyback Scheme (2024)’ has an allocated $64 million dollars in funding to compensate firearm licence holders for voluntarily surrendering firearms. Although these initiatives contribute towards a reduction in the use of firearms in violent incidents, including AAO attacks, it does not discount their availability and use. The increasing use of edged weapons in AAO attacks is noticeable with the recent Boni Junction attacks but also within, or outside shopping centres across the country. Knives or edged weapons are easily accessible and can be as simple but effective as a kitchen knife.

In 2017 the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee released guidelines (‘Active Armed Offender Guidelines for Crowded Places’) designed to assist owners and operators of crowded places to be more alive to the threat posed by AAO’s, whilst also providing a degree of guidance on measures to mitigate the risk. One critical component of the guidelines for those responsible for the safety and protection of places of mass gathering is the ‘Prevent, Preparedness, Response and Recovery (PPRR)’ which provides guidance on what measures can be implemented to  minimise the offender’s access to potential victims whilst contact with police is made. Associations such as the National Retail Association (www.nationalretail.org.au) along with other associations and organisations have reinforced the national guidelines through their own set of guidelines which are relative to their work or operating environment, and generally capture the ‘Escape’ ‘Hide’ ‘Tell’ principles:

• Escape: Move quickly and quietly away from danger
• Hide: Stay out of sight and silence your phones
• Tell: Call the police by dialing 000 when it is safe.

So, what else should owners and operators of places of mass gathering be considering as part of their responsibility from a PPRR perspective to protect life? It all starts with a healthy security culture. It is important that from the executive team down, all employees (including contractors visiting or working on-site) promote a culture where security is viewed and respected as an important value. Encouraging employees to be vigilant and consider security within their day-to-day business and movement will contribute positively to how prepared the organisation or business is to prevent or respond to an AAO attack or security incident in general.

A healthy security culture also includes the existence of security operational plans, policies and procedures which are regularly validated to ensure they are contemporary and relevant – desktop and/or discussion exercises can be employed to assist this process. The engagement of external subject matter expertise to support the validation process is an appropriate consideration to support and complement any internal teams such as security or internal audit to ensure a robust set of plans, policies, procedures and training is employed or validated. The security response plans should incorporate how security teams and other employees (for instance retail staff working within the confines of a shopping centre or precinct) are to respond to the notification or identification of an AAO, which should include steps to save lives and minimise risk of further injury and ensure Police are informed (open line ideally) of the AAO location and movement so it assists Police in isolating and engaging the AAO as effectively as possible.

To reflect on where your organisation currently sits in the space of readiness to Prevent, Prepare, Response and Recover to an AAO attack, questions to consider are:

• How prominent, if at all, is security listed in your organisations values?
• Are there security plans (including response procedures to AAO) in place and if so when were they last reviewed?
• Are your employees provided awareness training relative to AAO’s and security in general?