Victoria Police conducted a training exercise at Bayside Shopping Centre on Tuesday 20 October.
The shopping centre was closed overnight for the routine training exercise, which tested the response capabilities of Victoria Police and other agencies to an emergency management incident to ensure they are prepared in the event of a real-life event.
Victoria Police will continue to work alongside centre management for future exercises that are aimed at keeping the community safe.
Quotes attributable to Frankston Police Senior Sergeant Tim Walker:
“Police regularly undertake specialised training to ensure we are well prepared to respond to high-risk incidents, including armed offenders.
“Police are often faced with dangerous and unpredictable incidents. Training reinforces our operational readiness in the event of a high-risk incident.
“We not only want to maintain the skills we already have, but build on them, and apply those in realistic situations to ensure our decision-making and response will keep the community safe.”
The location of the exercise was not based off any local intelligence to suggest something like this would occur, just that Victoria Police is well-prepared in case of an event of this nature in the future, anywhere in the state.
It also coincides with increased PSO and police patrols as part Operation Pulse.