by adam » 29 Oct 2015, 5:09 pm
OHS doesn't care about the public - it's only workplaces that it has the power with / where it's concerns lie or the public in a designated workplace.
If someone armed invades your house and you call the cops, do not expect them to get their quickly and break in like the movies. Firstly they will most likely organise a rendaivu place nearby to wait & meet with other units before all approaching your place for OH&S requirements. That's the way it is these days... Your house is private, so OH&S doesn't touch you there, however when the police come in, it's a workplace to them, and they have to abide by OH&S requirements.
You might disagree with this, but the issue's with the OH&S requirements, and that''ll be partly why they were ordered not to pursue.
In addition to that, the police can never win. If they pursued, and someone was killed. (Whether it be a innocent 3rd party with a car accident, or one of the police members), they'd once again be under attack from the general public for doing it wrong.
If they try and play it safe, they're still under attack. It's easy for people to have an opinion about how it should be done when they're not the ones responsible and whichever way it goes there's likely to be a post inquiry critisising every decision that was made.
The government has made it this way. People are now encouraged to do nothing, as it's generally harder to get into hot water for doing nothing than it is for doing something and it hitting the fan because then they're the ones to blame and not the crims.
On a separate note - do we know what the original warrant was for, before this escalated?