The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has said his government is “actively” considering expanding access to guns for the Community Security Group (CSG) after the Bondi terror attack.
The Jewish security organisation, which monitors threats to the community and provides security for schools, synagogues and events, already has armed personnel in some settings.
So what is CSG, what has the premier actually proposed, and what is the reaction to the plans?
What is the Community Security Group and what are its current powers?
The NSW CSG, which describes itself as a mixture of security professionals and trained volunteers, records antisemitic incidents and assesses the level of threat to the community, which its website says is currently at the highest level – critical.
It is run through the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and funded by Jewish community organisations. It has received grants from federal and state governments.
Under NSW’s Security Industry Act, CSG also holds a “master licence”, meaning it can provide licensed security staff in the state. Its ME class licence allows it to provide the maximum number of more personnel, 50 or more.
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Legislation allows armed personnel to patrol, protect or guard “approved classes of property” – which in CSG’s case already includes Jewish schools and synagogues – provided they have the appropriate firearms license and are wearing recognisable security guard uniforms.
NSW’s Firearms Act allows security guards to carry pistols under a Category H licence provided they have done the required firearms safety training.
Before the Bondi attack, CSG reportedly warned police the Chanukah by the Sea event posed a high security risk and needed a greater police presence. While the premier and police commissioner defended the police response, the attack has prompted a discussion of expanding CSG’s access to weapons at future public events.
What has the premier actually said?
Minns first raised the possibility of expanding CSG’s weapons access in a Sky News interview on 16 December, two days after the Bondi attack. He said the government and CSG had already discussed extending the group’s permissions from fixed locations to armed personnel at Jewish community events, adding this would require a “deescalation protocol”.
“It’s a specific tactical approach because, if there are guns on site, and police approach the scene, we need to be in a situation where everybody is safe … but I’m confident we can work our way through that.”
On Sunday, the premier said a NSW state royal commission into the attack would result in “a root-and-branch change” to security protocols, as well as a “longer, deeper look at arming CSG”.
On Monday, Minns said arming CSG guards in public was “a small price to pay” for Jewish community safety and was “the safest way of being an extreme deterrent to someone committing this offence again”.
Speaking alongside the premier on Tuesday, the NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said the government had yet to make a decision about CSG “and their powers as a police force” but police would continue to work with the group and other community organisations.
“My view is very much the police should be the first form of protection and security for all of the community, and we will be,” he said.
What do policing and legal experts say?
Although the government has yet to make a firm proposal, policing and legal experts have expressed concern about arming a private security groups in public.
David Dixon, emeritus professor of law at the University of NSW and an expert on the regulation of policing, said the move would be “be an extraordinary abdication of responsibility by the NSW state”.
“Of course, armed security guards routinely guard bank trunks but to engage a private group in armed public order is quite different,” he said. “The practical problems are significant.”
Dr Vince Hurley, a lecturer in criminology at Macquarie University and a former NSW police officer with 29 years’ experience, said armed community security guards at an event like Chanukah by the Sea would not necessarily have increased public safety before police arrived.
“Even if they had been armed, would the security guards have fired into a crowd of a thousand people, hoping to hit the [alleged] offender or the offenders?” he said.
Prof Simon Bronitt, an expert in policing and security law at the University of Sydney, said he thought it would be inappropriate for the government to arm private security groups at public events.
He said the government could make greater use of powers to co-opt volunteers from community organisations such as CSG as part-time special constables, with the same powers, uniforms and weapons training as NSW police, and acting under the direction of the police commissioner.
“I think that would be an acceptable compromise.”
