By PAULA OLIVER
The country's top armed police response team was yesterday thanked for its contribution inside the US Embassy compound in the days following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
United States Ambassador Charles Swindells presented Police Commissioner Rob Robinson with a boxed flag and a framed photograph of the members of the elite special tactics group who served inside the embassy.
Mr Swindells said embassy staff were grateful for the way the New Zealand police responded in "our greatest hour of need".
It was the first time armed New Zealand police had been on US embassy turf, he said.
The flag he presented had flown above the embassy since the attacks and was taken down only when the winds of Wellington were at their extreme, Mr Swindells said.
Members of the armed offenders squad, diplomatic protection squad and special tactics group were involved in operations at the embassy for two months after the attacks.
Mr Robinson said that some of the recent successes of the New Zealand police were testimony to the professionalism of the group.
The group, which is shrouded in secrecy, has been involved in a number of high-profile incidents recently, including the successful rescue of kidnapped 8-month-old Kahurautete Durie, and the ending of an armed standoff after the shooting of Feilding policeman Duncan Taylor.
US appreciates help 'in hour of need'
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