Teams of Victoria Police’s most elite members swooped on Ballarat this week, helping local officers surround and arrest two dangerous suspects.
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Sources said investigators received intelligence that the two men could be armed with guns, prompting senior officers to call in the Special Operations Group from Melbourne.
The SOG, or Soggies as police call them, regularly respond to incidents in Ballarat, but details of the operations are not usually released to the public.
If general duties police are confronted with an incident that requires a response beyond their training then specialist teams are called in.
Ballarat’s Inspector Trevor Cornwill, who worked with the SOG when he was based in Melbourne, said the unit was highly trained in approaching dangerous offenders.
“They are held in high esteem obviously because of their training. But they’re held in high esteem not only by our police but by national and international police forces,” he said.
“When you think of tactical police you think of some burly, muscly bloke – but that’s actually not the case.
“They’re very fit and very strong, but they’re also agile, quick and well trained with a really even temperament.”
The two men were arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and the incidents were not believed to be related, with police wanting the suspects over a hit-run crash and a shooting.
The SOG presence comes after police executed a series of raids targeting underground gun manufacturing in Ballarat’s suburbs.
Inspector Cornwill said he had seen illegal gun manufacturing in Melbourne but not in Ballarat until this year.
“There is some sophistication to it, but certainly the firearms are crude, and they don’t have the same degree of safety measures that are imposed on gun manufacturers,” he said.
“It’s just someone producing them in their back shed with limited skills in fitting and turning or sheet metal. It’s obviously a lucrative business if people are making them.”
SOG members have guns with longer ranges than the handguns of general duties police, allowing them to handle incidents such as sieges.
They also have advanced medical training and are able to treat gunshot wounds of both victims and offenders.