[Scan-DC] Police drill sparks panic Fears of gunman spread

[Alan Henney]

Hobart Mercury (Australia)

July 15, 2009 Wednesday 
1 - Edition

Police drill sparks panic Fears of gunman spread

BYLINE: LINDA SMITH

SECTION: Pg. 3

LENGTH: 355 words

A POLICE training exercise involving a gunman in a suburban Hobart shopping centre sparked widespread public panic yesterday.

And Glenorchy police stormed the Northgate Shopping Centre, apparently unaware there was a training exercise under way and the gunman did not exist. 

People flooded police and Mercury switchboards with calls, believing an armed man was on the loose in the shopping centre at Glenorchy after they overheard transmissions on a police radio channel.

The calls began about 10.45am with reports there was an armed man in Main Rd, Glenorchy, but by lunchtime concern grew as callers reported three people had been shot at Northgate.

The police media department initially told media outlets that reports of a gunman were a false alarm. But about 1pm police issued a media release reassuring Tasmanians that a police training exercise was under way and there was no need to panic.

Inspector Robert Bonde said a number of transmissions were made on a police radio channel as part of a training exercise at the Tasmania Police Academy at Rokeby.

He said the transmissions were not related to any real events.

``Some transmissions were overheard by members of the public who weren't aware they related to a training exercise,'' Insp Bonde said.

``This resulted in a number of phone calls by concerned members of the public to the police communications section.

``Tasmania Police would like to reassure the public that the radio transmissions were part of a training exercise and were not connected to any real events.''

Police did not respond to requests for more details about the Northgate incident or the nature of the training exercise.

It is not known how so many Tasmanians heard about the apparent gunman in such a short time.

However, the incident raises question about the number of Tasmanians who use police scanners to eavesdrop on police operations.

Word about the gunman spread quickly across Hobart, with concerned people who heard the news phoning and texting their family and friends to warn them of possible danger.

By yesterday afternoon, details of the incident even appeared on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.