Page 6 - April 2017

BOSAR

Down UnDer

In October, 2015, Superintendent Graham activity. Since that time, the MSP version of this training
Coleman of the Queensland, Australia Police Service has continued to evolve, with topics added to reflect
traveled to Massachusetts to familiarize himself with the recent terrorist/criminal events and trends. Additionally,
Department’s Behavioral Observation and Suspicious the MSP BOSAR program has expanded the practical
Activity Recognition (BOSAR) training program. The element of the course, to offer a comprehensive, real
Queensland Police Service (QPS), which employs 11,000 world context to the classroom material students
officers, is the law enforcement agency responsible receive.
for policing the Australian state of Queensland.
Superintendent Coleman was tasked with developing On February 27, 2017, MSP Lieutenant Daniel
a security plan Wells, along with
for the 2018 Troopers Michael
Commonwealth Mazza, Shawn
Games, which Riley, and Brian
will be held on Tully, traveled to
Queensland’s Gold Queensland to
Coast in April 2018, personally bring
and involve more BOSAR to the QPS.
than 6,500 athletes The team trained
and team officials 24 QPS members,
from 71 nations. who will in-turn
train an additional
Following 250 members of
Superintendent MSP Lieutenant Daniel Wells teaching BOSAR in Queensland, their service in
Coleman’s visit, Australia preparation for the
and after reviewing Com m on w e alth
several similar behavior-based programs used by Games by April of next year.
agencies across the globe, the Queensland Police
Service selected the MSP BOSAR program as their In an interview with the Gold Coast Bulletin,
preferred model and made plans to bring members of Police Minister Mark Ryan said the training was another
the Massachusetts State Police to Australia to personally tool in the arsenal of Queensland police to combat
train a core group of QPS officers in this invaluable skill criminal behavior.
set.
“The BOSAR training is designed to enhance
BOSAR was introduced to the MSP following the capacity of police to detect, deter, prevent and
the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. It started with apprehend people intent on causing harm to the public
members of the department who were trained by the or infrastructure during major events such as the 2018
developers of BOSAR, the New York Police Department’s Commonwealth Games,” Minister Ryan said.
Counterterrorism Unit.
“This program is world class and has been
The course was designed to improve adopted by a number of international law enforcement
observational skills and detect behavior in individuals agencies. The roll out of this training to our Queensland
who may be about to engage in hostile or criminal Police officers helps enhance the ability of the

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