The damage done

A day or so after the siege, a senior officer tells the Tactical Operations Unit (TOU) operatives that Katrina Dawson died from a Police round. Ben’s world collapses. The information is revised to “fragments” but it doesn’t make much difference. More detail emerged from a massive coronial inquiry:…

The hardest battle and the book

Two things Ben would never have thought he was capable of: walking into a mental health care unit for three weeks and writing about his deepest emotions. But he did both. In Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! Ben’s descriptions of his panic attacks, treatment and how it made him much worse before he became bett…

From the Bankstown beat to the TOU

Ben had dreams of being in the military and being commando, so when he joined the NSW Police, he wasn’t going to be happy staying in General Duties. But the first requirement of the TOU is time as a General Duties Constable, and Ben did much of his work in Sydney’s Bankstown. TOU selection is cons…

Marriage, Fatherhood and Lindt

They make TV shows about couples like Ben and Lisa, the tall blonde Irish emergency nurse he met in an inner-city pub. They understood each other – which is to say work was often not exactly dinnertime conversation – and quickly began to make a life together. They have one child and another on the…

Sydney's saddest day

Scrambled on a Monday morning to go to Martin Place, Ben, and his Tactical Operations Officer (TOU) colleagues realise this is terrorism in the CBD of Australia's largest city. It goes on and on, and as hours pass, they learn more about the terrorist and the hostages. When day turns to night, and …

Coming Soon

The Lindt siege was the bravest day in Ben Besant’s life and the worst. He faced and killed a shotgun-wielding terrorist, but then learnt his actions contributed to the accidental death of a hostage. He believes another hostage died because he and his colleagues didn’t get there in time. As a Tacti…