SYDNEY, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- For the first time, highly trained specialist officers will patrol the Sydney metropolitan area armed with military style machine guns.
Back in June, New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the plan to upgrade the state's tactical weaponry as a response to the findings handed down from a coroner's inquest into the 2014 Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney in which a gunman took multiple hostages in a terrorist incident.
Since then Public Order and Riot Squad members have been extensively trained on how to operate the newly acquired firearms. Local media on Wednesday reported that the process had now been complete.
Once NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller signs off on the order, four teams with rapid response capabilities will begin carrying the American made M4 Colt carbine assault rifles with the process likely to get underway before the end of the year.
As part of the heightened security measures, all NSW police officers are now required to take part in the state's Active Armed Offender training program.
"We have a new normal, we have a new normal around the world, and we need to adapt our training," NSW Counter Terrorism, Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson told local media.
