Hindsight now is clearer than foresight at the time.
The crux of the issue seems to have been to storm the cafe or not to storm, and when to do that. What happened to the lawyer Ms Dawson was almost certainly the concern the police had if they were to storm when a brokered solution might still have been considered to be on the table.
Collectively the police could have done things differently to possibly produce a different outcome, but no one police officer was found to have performed in a manner that was out of line with processes, protocols or duties. That Monis's full history was not available to the police on the day is a major inditement on the legal system, not the police, as was Monis slipping through the system a number of times that alarms should have been raised and bail denied.
Some blame is ascribed to the consultant psychiatrist advising police on the day for having stepped outside their expertise. But the police listened to and acted on at least some of that advice.
I can't remember what they are, but several protocol/process changes have been recommended should, God forbid, there be something similar again.
I feel for the families and for police and emergency response workers involved. Hopefully the wider issue of how Monis was still at large with the history of violence and anti-social behaviour and process/protocol tweaks by police will now be considered.
I don't think it is right to focus in on only the police, nor offer up armchair criticism's of their actions on the day.
