Police Commissioner responds to fatal shooting

The Advocate

Tasmania Police Commissioner Donna Adams spoke following the fatal shooting of Constable Keith Anthony Smith at a North Motton property on Monday, June 16.

Transcript

00:00I've been a police officer for 38 years and I've never seen an incident like this.

00:05It's a tragic and devastating day for Tasmania Police and the family of one of our own who lost

00:12their life in a tragic incident in Northmonton this morning. I want to convey my heartfelt

00:19condolences and support to the family and also the colleagues of this police officer who was

00:27well known in the Alberston area having worked there for the past five years. I stand united with

00:34the Police Association President Mr Shane Tilley as all Tasmanian police officers stand together

00:41in shock and in grief as we try to process what's happened this morning. The safety of our officers

00:50is our number one priority and to see an officer tragically killed in these circumstances is

00:56truly shocking. He was a genuine dependable police officer who served the Tasmanian community

01:02well for the past 25 years. There are a number of first responders, police and other services

01:10who attended this incident. The trauma for each of those officers attending in a critical response

01:19when one of their own has been killed. I can't imagine the grief they are feeling at the moment and

01:25that's why we stand together in support of each of those officers. I also want to thank our special

01:35operations group members who were there in what we call a first-line response capacity who provided a

01:43professional response in arresting the offender after this tragic incident. Now given that the investigation

01:51has only, it's only in its early stages, I'm limited in what I can provide in terms of detail but I'll do my best

02:00to give you an understanding of what occurred today. So we had a uniform response officers attending a residence

02:08in Allison Road in Northmonton. The officers were there to serve a court-approved warrant to repossess a home.

02:19The occupant of the resident was present at the time that police arrived and some time between the police

02:30police officer leaving his police vehicle and making his way towards the front of the residence. He was fatally shot.

02:41We had a number of other officers who have responded once they heard the shots and as I said the

02:50profession of the special operations group responded in a frontline response. They were also threatened by the offender

02:59and they shot the offender in the hand before making an arrest. Our professional standards command has

03:08commenced an investigation and they will work with the western district investigators to swiftly put together

03:17what we think has occurred in the days leading up to this incident but also the circumstances

03:22surrounding a police officer being fatally killed. The investigation will be overseen by the coroner

03:30and as part of our normal protocols we've also advised the integrity commission who have a oversight role

03:37in terms of any incident where there has been a police shooting. Again I just want to convey my sympathy

03:45and condolences to the family and to every police officer we know that policing can be risky but we expect

03:54every officer to finish their shift and come home back to their families and to see an incident like this occur.

04:03I'm struggling to give you the information because I've been a police officer for 38 years

04:10and I've never seen an incident like this that's resulted in the loss of a life of one of our colleagues and friends.

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