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Joel and Joshua Clavell were involved in a stand off with police on June 12.
Counter terrorism police had been heading to the pair's residence in David Street in Albury to arrest Joshua on an outstanding warrant, but in a chance encounter, spotted the brothers at a BP service station not far from where the brothers had been camping at Richardsons Bend.
In the confrontation at that site, Joel said he wanted to be a martyr and, while armed with a hatchett, threatened to cut off the heads of police officers.
Seeing the footage of the incident, where an officer fires at Joel after he rushes with the hatchet, is quite a remarkable insight for the average person into the kinds of dangers police face.
I don't know about you but what struck me was the total lack of chaos immediately following the shooting. Of course police are trained for such potentially lethal situations, but I wonder whether any amount of training could rely prepare you for that kind of moment.
I'm sure the irony was not lost on police that following the shooting, it was police who needed to tend to the injured pair.
Judge Martine Marich, who heard sentencing submissions for the Clavell brothers, praised police for assisting the man that had wanted to cut their heads off. That action by police saved Joel Clavell's life.
She noted the officer who had fired his weapon "must have been in real distress at that time."
I am sure being in a position where you have to use deadly force is not a situation any police officer would wish to find themselves in. But it is a good thing that the court agreed to release the footage, so we have some understanding that the way police conducted themselves that day was a credit to all officers involved.
Julie Coe
Acting Editor