Safety, Security & Resilience
Tactical, Covert, UAV & ISTAR
For organisations standing up, running or scrutinising tactical, covert and UAV capability: senior practitioners who have done all three, and a conversation before any proposal.
The offer
- What it is
- Discreet, senior-led capability across three specialist domains: advanced tactical training, covert services, and UAV & ISTAR systems.
- Why it matters
- This kind of requirement is sensitive by nature and the provider list is short.
- How we deliver it
- Senior practitioners with national-level operational experience and the clearances to operate credibly in sensitive environments.
- What to expect
- A conversation before a proposal, and access to the wider consortium brought in only as far as the engagement requires.
Led by our Experts
We have sourced the world’s best policing and emergency services SMEs. Tactical, Covert, UAV & ISTAR is led by Troy Cooper and Gary Ritchie KPM.
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GCG Consortium
Australia
Troy Cooper
GCG Director Covert and Tactical
Troy Cooper is GCG's Director Covert and Tactical. He led operations in the Western Australian Police Force, then held the Victorian Government's Director of Covert Services role, accountable for legislated covert investigative capability. As ANZCTC Western Australian Capability Advisor he was embedded with the Australian Department of Defence, building advanced tactical training and counter-terrorism capability across Australia and New Zealand.
Skills & focus
- Counter-terrorism & tactical capability
- Protective security
- Technical surveillance countermeasures
- UAV operations
- Investigations & covert support
Years of service 29+
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GCG Consortium
Australia
Gary Ritchie KPM
GCG Managing Partner
Managing Partner, and former Assistant Chief Constable of Police Scotland, retiring in 2025 after 34 years' policing service, with executive oversight of organisational change, partnerships and prevention, international policing development and operational support. He chaired the Scottish Resilience Partnership — advising the First Minister of Scotland on emergency and event preparedness — and held Gold Command during COP26 in Glasgow. He was awarded the King's Police Medal in 2025 and made an Honorary Professor of Edinburgh Napier University. He is now based in Sydney.
Skills & focus
- Strategic command
- Resilience & emergency preparedness
- Public health & harm reduction
- Leadership development
- Partnerships & prevention
Years of service 34
Delivered by our Experts 3 supporting members
Tactical, Covert, UAV & ISTAR
Specialist capability in tactical and covert operations support, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and ISTAR — intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance. Our practitioners have run these capabilities at national level. Clearances take months to obtain, so tell us early if your requirement needs one we do not yet hold.
A senior practitioner scopes the requirement with you directly, in confidence. Client engagements are confidential by default. References are available in direct conversation.
The experience behind it
Troy Cooper is GCG's Director Covert and Tactical. He led operations in the Western Australian Police Force, then held the Victorian Government's Director of Covert Services role, accountable for legislated covert investigative capability. As ANZCTC Western Australian Capability Advisor he was embedded with the Australian Department of Defence, building advanced tactical training and counter-terrorism capability across Australia and New Zealand.
The Papua New Guinea Government engaged him as Lead Consultant to stand up the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary's Kumul 23 Police Tactical Group. He designed the unit, ran the programme and delivered it in country, alongside national and provincial agencies. He has also designed wide-area CCTV networks for public areas and critical infrastructure across Papua New Guinea, and delivered Technical Surveillance Counter-Measures (TSCM) sweeps for corporate and government clients.
You deal directly with the practitioner who carried the legal accountability for covert services himself, and who has built a tactical group for a national government from nothing. He also knows the people you will need to work with across Western Australian, Victorian and Pacific-region government and law enforcement.
What we bring to your engagement
Capability 02
Advanced Tactical Training
Specialist tactical capability is expensive to build, hard to sustain, and unforgiving of gaps. Newly formed or reforming police services — particularly across the Pacific — need to build tactical group capability from first principles, at pace and without an established doctrine of their own. Established agencies face the opposite problem: keeping scenario-based training live-tested and genuinely realistic as tactics, technology and threats change, rather than letting certification substitute for readiness.
Tactical Group Capability Development Standing up specialist police tactical groups from the ground up.
What it is
Design, mentoring and project management of specialist police tactical groups, informed by direct experience as Lead Consultant building the tactical capability of the newly established Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Kumul 23 Police Tactical Group (PTG) for the Papua New Guinea Government.
Why it matters
A tactical group is far more than selection and equipment. Doctrine, governance, training pathways, sustainment and the trust of the agencies around it decide whether a new unit becomes a credible national capability — and very few people have stood one up from nothing.
What you get
Capability design and delivery support, from operating model and doctrine through selection, training and mentoring to in-country delivery, in partnership with your national and provincial agencies.
Counter-Terrorism Capability Advisory Embedded capability advice from inside national CT arrangements.
What it is
Counter-terrorism capability advice from inside the arrangements themselves: our specialist lead held the Western Australian Capability Advisor role for the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC), working alongside the Australian Department of Defence.
Why it matters
Counter-terrorism capability decisions are made inside a dense national architecture of agencies, funding streams and classification levels. Advice is only credible when it comes from someone who has worked inside those arrangements rather than observed them from outside.
What you get
Senior advisory support for assessing, developing and integrating counter-terrorism capability, aligned to national frameworks and delivered with the discretion the subject demands.
Scenario-Based & Live Training Design High-fidelity training environments for specialist and frontline units.
What it is
Design and delivery of high-fidelity, scenario-based and live tactical training environments built for specialist and frontline units.
Why it matters
Tactical skills decay quickly when training is generic. Units hold their edge when scenarios reproduce the pressure, ambiguity and consequence of real operations, and that realism has to be designed in deliberately by people who have lived it.
What you get
Training environments and exercise programmes designed around your units, threat picture and doctrine, from single-scenario design through to full live training programmes with structured debrief.
International Deployment & Project Management Tactical capability programmes delivered in complex environments.
What it is
Project and programme management of tactical capability development in complex, cross-border and Pacific-region environments, with proven in-country delivery.
Why it matters
Capability programmes in the Pacific fail for reasons that have little to do with tactics: freight and fuel, the relationships with the agencies and communities involved, and who keeps the unit running once the advisers leave. Having delivered in those conditions is the difference between a plan and a unit that still works in three years.
What you get
Experienced programme leadership for international capability delivery, covering planning, mobilisation, in-country delivery, stakeholder management and transition to local ownership.
Capability 03
Covert Services
Covert capability sits under sustained scrutiny. Integrity commissions, oversight bodies and the courts expect covert methodology and technical collection to be lawful and evidentially sound, not merely effective. Organisations running or standing up that capability need governance advice from people who have carried that legal accountability themselves. The same practitioners sweep boardrooms and sensitive premises for listening and tracking devices, which are usually found only after the damage is done.
Covert Operations Governance Governance for legislated covert investigative capability.
What it is
Governance of covert operations, informed by direct experience as Director of Covert Services with the Victorian Government, overseeing legislated covert investigative capability.
Why it matters
Covert capability sits at the sharpest edge of public trust: it is intrusive by design and lawful only within tightly drawn limits. Governance that stands up to legislative, judicial and integrity scrutiny is what keeps that capability usable.
What you get
Independent review and design of covert governance arrangements, covering authorisation, oversight, record-keeping and accountability, built to satisfy legislative requirements and external scrutiny.
Covert Methodology & Tradecraft Advisory Covert collection strategies for integrity and criminal investigations.
What it is
We help investigators decide what covert collection is worth deploying, and what a court or an integrity commission will accept afterwards. That includes advising against a deployment where the evidence will not survive scrutiny.
Why it matters
The gap between what an investigation needs and what a covert deployment can lawfully and safely deliver is where operations fail. Methodology advice from practitioners who have directed covert services closes that gap before resources are committed.
What you get
Practical, legislatively informed advice on collection strategy, methodology and deployment options, tailored to the specific investigation and the integrity framework it operates within.
Human Source & Technical Collection Frameworks Policy and operational frameworks aligned to legislative requirements.
What it is
We write the policies and operating procedures for human source management and technical collection, to the standard the governing legislation and your integrity body require.
Why it matters
Human source and technical collection carry the highest legal and reputational risk of any investigative capability. Weak frameworks put sources, officers and prosecutions at risk long before any single operation goes wrong.
What you get
Frameworks, policies and operating procedures that make the capability defensible: clear authorisation thresholds, welfare and risk management, and records and disclosure discipline.
Sensitive & Financial Investigations Support Integrity-focused covert support with financial investigation depth.
What it is
Covert operational support for sensitive investigations, including financial investigations.
Why it matters
Sensitive investigations, particularly those touching money, demand a combination that is rare in practice: covert operational competence, financial investigation skills and absolute discretion.
What you get
Discreet operational support that follows both the conduct and the money, structured so findings hold up in integrity, disciplinary or criminal proceedings.
Technical Surveillance Counter-Measures (TSCM) Detection and mitigation of covert listening and surveillance devices.
What it is
We sweep offices, boardrooms and other sensitive areas for covert listening and tracking devices, and tell you what to change if we find one. We have delivered TSCM sweeps for corporate clients and for Commonwealth and State Government departments in Australia. Client engagements are confidential by default. References are available in direct conversation.
Why it matters
Boardrooms, negotiation spaces and sensitive government areas are targets precisely because of what is said in them. The only way to know a space is clean is to have it checked properly, by people who know how such devices are deployed.
What you get
Professional TSCM sweeps of your premises and sensitive areas, clear reporting on findings, and practical mitigation advice to keep the space secure.
Capability 04
UAV & ISTAR Systems
Persistent monitoring used to be a military capability. It is now routine for site security, law enforcement and critical infrastructure protection, because UAV platforms have become cheap enough. Airspace is congested and the rules keep moving, so the regulatory work matters as much as the hardware.
High-End CCTV & Surveillance System Design Enterprise-grade surveillance from site assessment to technical build.
What it is
Design and delivery of CCTV and surveillance systems, from site assessment through to full technical build, for government and commercial clients.
Why it matters
Most surveillance estates grow piecemeal, leaving blind spots, incompatible systems and footage that fails when it is needed as evidence. Systems designed as a whole by practitioners who understand both the technology and its operational use avoid those failures from day one.
What you get
A complete design and delivery service: site assessment, system architecture, product selection, technical build and commissioning, with the operational requirement driving every choice.
Advanced UAV Situational Awareness Persistent situational awareness in complex environments.
What it is
Deployment of advanced UAV systems to provide persistent situational awareness in complex environments and congested airspace, supporting site security, law enforcement and military applications.
Why it matters
Ground-based coverage always has edges. UAV systems extend awareness beyond them, but only when platform selection, airspace management and tasking are handled by people who understand the operational picture the imagery has to serve.
What you get
Director Covert and Tactical matched to your environment and mission: platform and sensor selection, deployment planning, airspace considerations and integration with your existing command and surveillance arrangements.
Integrated ISTAR Design UAV and fixed surveillance feeds brought into one video management system.
What it is
UAV-enabled intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) systems integrated with enterprise video management platforms through our specialist technical delivery partners.
Why it matters
Three separate feeds on three separate screens will not tell an operator where to send the nearest unit. Integration across UAV, CCTV and video management is what makes coverage usable in the minutes that matter.
What you get
An integrated design in which UAV and fixed surveillance feeds arrive in one operational picture, engineered with our specialist technical delivery partners.
Cyber-Secure Network Architecture Government-cleared network design for sensitive deployments.
What it is
The network, CCTV and access control design behind a sensitive surveillance or ISTAR deployment.
Why it matters
A surveillance system is itself a target. If the network behind it is not engineered securely, the capability built to protect you becomes a way in.
What you get
Network and system architecture designed to government security standards, covering segmentation, encryption, access control and the hardening of every connected device.
Wide-Area & Critical Infrastructure Monitoring Proven wide-area CCTV delivery for public areas and infrastructure.
What it is
Wide-area surveillance and monitoring for public areas and critical infrastructure, with proven delivery experience including wide-area CCTV network design across Papua New Guinea.
Why it matters
Public areas and critical infrastructure cannot be monitored one camera at a time. Wide-area designs demand a different discipline: coverage planning, transmission over difficult terrain, resilience, and a control-room picture operators can actually use.
What you get
Wide-area monitoring designs proven in demanding environments, from coverage and transmission planning through to control-room integration and operating procedures.
Operational Integration UAV and CCTV intelligence feeding real-time decisions.
What it is
Bridging tactical and covert operations with UAV-derived and CCTV-derived intelligence for real-time decision support.
Why it matters
Technology, tactics and covert capability are usually bought and run separately. The advantage comes when they work as one system, with intelligence flowing to the people making decisions while those decisions can still change the outcome.
What you get
An operating model that connects your tactical, covert and technical capabilities, so UAV and CCTV intelligence reaches commanders and investigators in time to act on it.