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Police with assault rifles begin Sydney patrols in wake of Bondi attack
The Jerusalem Post • • world
Key Points:
- New South Wales has launched the Armed Response Command (ARC), a 250-officer police unit equipped with military assault rifles, to patrol major events and crowded public spaces in Sydney, marking the first such deployment in Australia.
- The A$94 million initiative was established in response to the December Bondi Beach attack, where two men killed 15 people in an antisemitic shooting linked to Islamic State ideology.
- ARC aims to provide high-visibility patrols with highly trained officers ready to respond rapidly to armed threats, according to Detective Superintendent Andrew Evans.
- The introduction of heavily armed police has sparked concerns from Amnesty International Australia about the militarisation of policing and the potential impact on human rights protections.
