Going back to one of the negative experiences my mate had with the Tactical Response Group (this was during the early 1990s in Perth, West. Aus.)
While he was still a general duties officer my mate was based at a station in a neighbourhood that had a pretty bad reputation in Perth. There were blocks of flats full of government housing tenants next to the police station and one of those residents decided to get pissy with his wife and threatened to kill her.
She nicks off down to the cop shop with the kids, which was in line of sight of their particular flat and reports the incident. Apparently hubby watched from the balcony.
So my mate (who was in normal police uniform at the time - important for later) and a senior officer who I believe was doing an inspection of the station at the time, go up to talk to the man in question.
Now the senior officer was a switched on fella and obviously quite experienced, he told my mate not to stand in the doorway when they knocked on the door and other such useful tactical tips. Keep in mind that this senior officer had been a general duties copper and not in TRG.
The suspect answers the knock with a blast of buckshot so my mate and the senior officer beat a retreat and call for backup.
Terribly Rough Guys show up and as my mate is giving cover to the senior officer so the senior can get to safety, one of the Terribly Rough Guys starts yelling at my mate that the TRG are here and taking control and then orders my mate to run towards him and away from the building... you know, over open ground... in line of sight of the bloke with a shotgun and an attitude who at any time, can look over his balcony several floors up and see anyone trying to cross that wide open patch of grass.
My mate says basically, "No way in hell" to which the TRG prat tells my mate to leave the area on authority of the police, i.e. I'm police and I'm telling you to leave.
My mate, who is, you know, a uniformed copper in uniform at the time, tells the TRG prat to fully fuck off and stays put where he has a good couple of floors of multi-storey building giving him concealment and
a tad more importantly, cover (and where he can also control one of the entry points to the block of flats).
Seems that in his excitement, the Tactical Response Group prat didn't fully appreciate the "tactical" part of his unit name.
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